If I were alive in 1849, I would mine in the mines!  I am not going to become rich though.  I am going to share the gold that I find and split it up with my friend Jadon.  We will become rich together.  We will build a mansion and buy a bunch of horses.  We will also build barns and houses.  We will stay in California and get more gold.  Then we could go other places like Florida, which isn’t a state yet, and celebrate by swimming.  Oh, I forgot an important thing.  The Gold Rush started on January 24, 1848.  Everyone wanted to go because they thought there would be gold.  It was really hard work to find gold in the winter, and a lot of people did not find a lot.