What is happening in this photo?

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Large amounts of Gold was found in this state in 1848. Word spread and in 1849 people came from all over America to pan for gold hoping to make their fortune.

In one second you could go from a life of misery to a life of plenty.

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The people who came to California to pan for gold were known as 49ers as they came in 1849. The San Francisco football team is known as the San Francisco 49ers.

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Would you believe Ireland also had a Gold Rush. What county do you think it was in?

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In the 1790’s a tree cutter spotted a glint near a stream. He looked closely and found a nugget of gold. The gold found here occured in nuggets and not tiny grains.

Word spread and farmers left their land to dig and pan for gold in the river. In the first month they found 80kg of gold which would be worth 3 million euro today.

Dubin Castle (The government) heard about the gold and they told the locals that they needed to stop panning for gold and to return to the land and look after the crops. They didn’t and they sent in the troops to stop them. Dublin Castle began panning the river but all the nuggets were gone and Dublin Castle only found 17kg of gold in 2 years.

The local Wicklow people were delighted that they took most of it before the authorities came in.