Scale Models Old Wild West Gold Mining Town

Mining For Gold – A Colorful Time In History

The first documented historical discovery of gold in the USA was in Virginia some time in 1782. A small amount of gold production followed around a year later in North Carolina. It wasn’t until 1799 when the first major gold rush started in Cabarrus County, North Carolina. Then, thirty years later, in 1829, saw the start of the Georgia Gold Rush in the area of the southern Appalachians. A few year later was the California Gold Rush of 1848 to 1855 in the Sierra Nevada. It was the California gold rush that led to the settlement of California. This gold rush generated worldwide interest in gold prospecting, which led to gold rushes in South Africa, Australia, South Africa, Scotland and Wales. There were successive gold rushes in western North America and Alaska which saw its first gold rush in the mid 1890s. Then came the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–99 in Canada’s Yukon Territory. The US gold rush days were indeed a colorful time in old wild west frontier history.

Notable Gold Rushes from 1690s through to the 21st century

Note: Some countries and regions have experienced numerous gold rushes over the years, not all in the same area.

Brazilian Gold Rush (1695)
Carolina Gold Rush (1799)
Georgia (1828)
California Gold Rush (1848 – 55)
British Columbia, Canada (1850)
Northern Nevada (1850 – 1934)
Victoria, Australia (1851 – 1860s)
Kern River, California (1853 – 58)
Idaho, Washington (1855)
Arizona (1858 – 59)
British Columbia (1858 – 61)
British Columbia (1859 – 60s)
Colorado (1859)
California (1860 – 61)
Idaho (1860)
Central Otago, New Zealand (1861)
Nevada (1861)
Arizona Territory (1862 – 64)
Idaho (1862)
British Columbia (1862 – 65)
Montana (1862 – 69)
British Columbia (1863)
Southwestern Idaho, Southeastern Oregon (1863)
California (1863 – 64)
Vancouver Island (1864 – 65)
West Coast, South Island, New Zealand (1864 – 67)
British Columbia (1865 — 66)
Sutherland, Scotland (1869)
Finland (1870)
Venezuela (1871)
Queensland, Australia (1872)
South Africa (1873)
Black Hills of South Dakota and Wyoming (1874 – 78)
California (1876)
Kumara Gold Rush, New Zealand (1876)
South Africa (1883)
South Africa (1886)
British Columbia (1884 — 87)
Chile and Argentina (1884 – 1906)
Colorado (1891)
Western Australia (1893, 1896)
Washington, United States (1897 – 1920s)
Klondike Gold Rush, Yukon, Canada (1896 – 99)
British Columbia (1898)
Alaska (1899–1909)
British Columbia, Canada
Alaska (1902 – 05)
Alaska, (1910 – 1912)
Kenya, 1932
Vatukoula Gold Rush, Fiji (1932)
Mongolia (2001)
Brazil (2006)
Chad, Niger, and Libya (2012)
Democratic Republic of the Congo (2021)