The big gold rushes of the American West ran from 1848 to about 1900, and they started in California when James Marshall found gold at Sutter’s Mill on January 24, 1848. From there, miners moved from one strike to the next across Oregon, Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana and the rest of the West, and the last great rushes took them north to the Klondike, Nome and Fairbanks.
America’s first gold rushes actually came earlier, in North Carolina after 1799 and in Georgia after 1828, and plenty of those eastern miners later headed to California. Each rush pulled people out of the one before it. Many of the men who found gold in Colorado, Montana and Arizona had learned how to look for it in California, and many Klondike miners left for Nome the moment they heard about gold on the beach there. That’s why the dates overlap and the same names keep showing up from state to state.
Gold rush timeline
This table lists the major western gold rushes in the order they started. The years are when the first big strike happened and when the main rush took off.
| Years | State | Where it started |
|---|---|---|
| 1848–1855 | California | Sutter’s Mill, Coloma, on the American River |
| 1851–1852 | Oregon | Rich Gulch and Jackson Creek, near Jacksonville |
| 1858–1859 | Colorado | Cherry Creek and the South Platte, then Gregory Gulch |
| 1858–1863 | Arizona | Gila City, then the Vulture mine and the Bradshaw Mountains |
| 1859 | Nevada | The Comstock Lode, Virginia City |
| 1860 | Idaho | Orofino Creek, near Pierce |
| 1862–1864 | Montana | Bannack, Alder Gulch, then Last Chance Gulch |
| 1863–1864 | Utah | Bingham Canyon |
| 1866–1867 | New Mexico | Baldy Mountain and Elizabethtown (after an earlier 1828 find in the Ortiz Mountains) |
| 1867 | Wyoming | The Carissa lode, South Pass City |
| 1873 | Washington | Swauk Creek, near Liberty |
| 1874–1876 | South Dakota | French Creek, then Deadwood in the Black Hills |
| 1880–1902 | Alaska and the Klondike | Juneau, Fortymile, the Klondike (Yukon), Nome and Fairbanks |
How big was each rush?
Nobody kept good counts during a gold rush, so these are estimates. We used the figures that historians and mining agencies give, and where good sources disagree, we show the range. A blank means we couldn’t find a figure we’d trust. Gold totals are in troy ounces, the unit gold is weighed in.
| Rush | Years | How many people came | Gold it produced |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | 1848–1855 | About 300,000 by 1855 | As much as 12 million ounces in the first five years |
| Colorado (Pikes Peak) | 1858–1861 | About 100,000 set out, and many turned back | |
| Nevada (Comstock Lode) | 1859 on | About 8.3 million ounces of gold and 193 million ounces of silver from 1859 to the 1960s | |
| Montana (Alder Gulch) | 1863–1866 | About $30 million in the first three years, in 1860s dollars | |
| South Dakota (Black Hills) | 1874–1877 | Deadwood had about 5,000 people in 1876 | About 40 million ounces from the Homestake mine alone, 1876 to 2001 |
| Juneau, Alaska | 1880 on | About 6.7 million ounces from the Juneau gold belt, 1880 to 1983 | |
| Fortymile, Alaska | 1886 on | More than half a million ounces | |
| Klondike, Yukon | 1896–1899 | About 100,000 set out, and 30,000 to 40,000 reached the goldfields | About $29 million in 1896–1899, in dollars of the day |
| Nome, Alaska | 1899–1901 | 12,488 counted in 1900, and maybe 20,000 in the summer of 1901 | About 3.6 to 4.8 million ounces since 1898 |
| Fairbanks, Alaska | 1902 on | About 12 to 18 million ounces since 1902, depending on the count |
California drew by far the most people, but the places with deep, long-lasting deposits, like the Black Hills and Fairbanks, ended up producing as much gold as California’s first five years, or more. And the Klondike, the rush everyone remembers, paid off for very few: of the people who reached it, only a few hundred got rich.
Before the West: Carolina and Georgia
The first documented gold find in the United States was in North Carolina. In 1799, Conrad Reed found a 17-pound yellow rock in Little Meadow Creek on his family’s farm in Cabarrus County, and in 1802 a jeweler in Fayetteville identified it as a gold nugget. The Reed farm became the country’s first commercial gold mine, and it’s now the Reed Gold Mine state historic site.
Georgia’s rush began around 1828 and 1829 in the mountains around what became Dahlonega, on and around Cherokee land. Georgia took over the area and gave the land away by lottery, and the federal government forced the Cherokee out in the removal known as the Trail of Tears. The easy gold was mostly gone by the 1840s, and many Georgia miners headed to California in 1849.
California, 1848 to 1855
James Marshall found flakes of gold in the tailrace of a sawmill he was building for John Sutter at Coloma. Word got out slowly at first, but by 1849 people were pouring in from the eastern states and from around the world, which is why the miners were called forty-niners. More than 300,000 people came to California during the rush, and it grew fast enough to become a state in 1850. The easy surface gold was mostly gone by the mid-1850s, and miners turned to bigger, costlier methods.
Read more about the California gold rush, or see where the claims are today on our California gold map.
Oregon, 1851 to 1852
Oregon’s first big rush began in southern Oregon when two mule packers, James Cluggage and John Poole, found gold in Rich Gulch near Jackson Creek around the turn of 1852. By February the whole gulch was staked, and the mining camp that grew up there became Jacksonville. Miners soon spread out to the Applegate River and other creeks nearby.
Our Oregon gold rush article has the full story, and the Oregon gold map shows where people still mine.
Colorado, 1858 to 1859
The Pikes Peak gold rush started in July 1858, when a party led by William Green Russell found small amounts of placer gold near the mouth of Little Dry Creek and along Cherry Creek, where Denver stands today. The gold wasn’t much, but the news spread across the country and “Pikes Peak or Bust” became the slogan of 1859. The real payoff came in May 1859, when John Gregory found rich gold-bearing quartz in what became Gregory Gulch near Central City. About 100,000 people set out for the gold fields, though many turned back. The diggings were actually about 85 miles north of Pikes Peak itself.
Read our Colorado gold rush history, and see the Colorado gold map for today’s claims.
Arizona, 1858 to 1863
Arizona’s first gold rush was at Gila City, about 18 miles east of Yuma, after placer gold was found there in 1858. More gold turned up along the Colorado River at La Paz, and in 1863 Henry Wickenburg found the gold-bearing quartz that became the Vulture mine, while other prospectors found gold lodes in the Bradshaw Mountains. Fighting between settlers and the Apache held back mining in much of the territory until the early 1870s.
The Arizona gold rush article goes back even further, and our Arizona gold map covers the claims across the state.
Nevada, 1859
Miners were already working small gold placers around Gold Canyon in June 1859, when they dug into a rich ore body that turned out to be mostly silver, with plenty of gold mixed in. It was the first major silver find in the United States. Henry Comstock claimed the ground was his, and his name stuck to the lode. Virginia City grew up on top of it, and the Comstock mines went on to produce about 8 million ounces of gold and more than 190 million ounces of silver.
Nevada had a second, much bigger gold boom a century later. Starting in the 1960s, companies found huge low-grade deposits along the Carlin Trend in northeastern Nevada, gold too fine to see that has to be mined in bulk. That’s a big part of why Nevada, not California, is the top gold state today, with close to two-thirds of the gold mined in the United States. Our Nevada gold rush article covers the Comstock and the later gold camps, and the Nevada gold map shows the claims.
Idaho, 1860
Elias D. Pierce and his party found gold on Orofino Creek in the fall of 1860, on Nez Perce land in what’s now north central Idaho. The town of Pierce grew up nearby, and within a couple of years miners had moved on to bigger strikes, including the Boise Basin.
Read the Idaho gold rush article, or see the Idaho gold map.
Montana, 1862 to 1864
John White and a group of prospectors from Colorado found gold on Grasshopper Creek on July 28, 1862, and the town of Bannack went up almost overnight. On May 26, 1863, Bill Fairweather and his party found gold at Alder Gulch, which became Virginia City and one of the richest placer strikes in the West, with about $30 million in gold taken out in its first three years. In July 1864, four prospectors known as the Four Georgians struck gold at Last Chance Gulch, and the camp there became Helena, now the state capital.
Our Montana gold rush article covers all three, and the Montana gold map shows the claims around them.
Utah, 1863 to 1864
Utah’s rush was smaller and a little unusual. Colonel Patrick Connor’s soldiers at Fort Douglas were sent into the Oquirrh Mountains to look for minerals, and the territory’s first mining district was organized at Bingham Canyon in September 1863. Placer gold was found there the next year, and those placers became the richest in Utah. Bingham later became one of the world’s big copper mines, and the Mercur district had its own gold boom in the 1890s.
Read our Utah gold rush history, and see the Utah gold map.
New Mexico, 1828 and 1866
New Mexico actually had gold mining before California did. Placer gold was found in the Ortiz Mountains south of Santa Fe in 1828, in what’s now called the Old Placers district, which was one of the earliest gold rushes in the West. The bigger rush came in 1866, when prospectors found gold in the streams draining Baldy Mountain. Elizabethtown was laid out soon after and had about 7,000 people by 1870, but the placers began to run out within a few years.
The New Mexico gold rush article has more, and our New Mexico gold map shows these districts today.
Wyoming, 1867
Soldiers from Fort Bridger followed reports of gold along the Sweetwater and staked the Carissa lode near South Pass in June 1867. South Pass City grew around it, and as many as 2,000 miners and others may have lived in the area during the boom. By the early 1870s only a few hundred were left. The Carissa mine kept working off and on until 1954, and the town is now a state historic site.
Read about the Wyoming gold rush, or see the Wyoming gold map.
Washington, 1873
Gold was found on Swauk Creek in Kittitas County in September 1873, after Benton Goodwin’s party turned up a nugget farther down the creek. The rush pulled in people from all over the Kittitas Valley, and the mining camp became the town of Liberty. Swauk Creek is still known for its crystal-shaped gold.
Our Washington gold rush article has more on Swauk and the state’s other camps, and the Washington gold map shows where the claims are.
South Dakota, 1874 to 1876
The 1868 Treaty of Fort Laramie set the Black Hills aside for the Lakota. In 1874, George Custer led an Army expedition into the Hills, and miners with him reported gold on French Creek. Prospectors rushed in anyway, breaking the treaty, and by the end of 1875 thousands were there illegally. The richest ground turned out to be farther north, around Deadwood, which had about 5,000 people by 1876. The Homestake lode was found on April 9, 1876, and the Homestake mine worked until 2001 and produced about 40 million ounces of gold, making it one of the longest running and richest gold mines in the country.
Read the South Dakota gold rush article, and see the South Dakota gold map.
Alaska and the Klondike, 1880 to 1902
The last great rushes went north. Joe Juneau and Richard Harris, guided by the Tlingit leader Kowee, found gold at Gold Creek in 1880, and Juneau grew from that strike. Miners found gold on the Fortymile River in 1886 and at Birch Creek near Circle in 1893.
The biggest of them was the Klondike. Gold was found on Bonanza Creek in Canada’s Yukon in August 1896, and when the steamship Portland reached Seattle on July 17, 1897, with more than a ton of gold, the rush was on. About 100,000 people set out, and most went through the Alaska ports of Skagway and Dyea. The Klondike rush faded after 1898, and in 1899 many of those miners left for Nome, where gold had been found on Anvil Creek and then in the beach sand. Felix Pedro’s 1902 strike near what became Fairbanks was the last big one.
Our Alaska gold rush article covers each of these strikes, and the Alaska gold map shows the claims across the state.
The old rush districts today
A lot of the ground the old rushes made famous is still being claimed. We went through the BLM’s mining claim records for every western state to see where people hold claims now. BLM records don’t say which mineral a claim is for, so these are all mining claims, not just gold. Placer claims are the ones that cover loose gold in sand and gravel, the same kind of gold the early rushes chased.
In several states, the county where the old rush happened still has more active placer claims than any other county, or close to it.
| Old rush | County today | Active placer claims in that county | Rank in the state |
|---|---|---|---|
| Boise Basin, Idaho (1862) | Boise County | 664 | 1st |
| French Creek, South Dakota (1874) | Custer County | 211 | 1st |
| Swauk Creek, Washington (1873) | Kittitas County | 70 | 1st |
| Baker County gold camps, Oregon | Baker County | 743 | 1st |
| Southern Oregon placers | Josephine County | 697 | 3rd |
| California’s northern mines | Sierra, Siskiyou and Plumas counties | 716, 564 and 457 | 2nd, 3rd and 4th |
| La Paz, Arizona (1862) | La Paz County | 791 | 3rd |
Source: Gold Maps Online analysis of BLM mining claim records, October 2026. Ranks leave out claims with no county on file.
For whole-state totals, our maps show 10,477 active placer claims in California, 3,615 in Oregon, 2,911 in Idaho and 6,582 in Arizona, plus the abandoned claims around them.
Some famous rush counties have moved on to hard rock. Montana’s Beaverhead County (Bannack) has the most active mining claims of any named county in Montana, and Madison County (Alder Gulch) ranks fourth, but neither is in the state’s top five for placer claims. In California, the most active placer claims today are in San Bernardino County, out in the desert, far from the Mother Lode where the 1849 rush happened.
Modern gold rushes
People still rush to stake ground when metal prices climb, they just do it with paperwork now. In the western states in BLM’s records, claims staked per year jumped from about 87,000 in 1976 to 201,089 in 1981, fell to a low of 11,485 in 2001, then jumped again to 102,551 in 2007 and 65,325 in 2011. In 2021, 2022 and 2023, about 67,000 to 70,000 claims were staked each year.
| Year | Mining claims staked in the western states |
|---|---|
| 1976 | 87,128 |
| 1981 | 201,089 |
| 2001 | 11,485 |
| 2006 | 67,030 |
| 2007 | 102,551 |
| 2010 | 38,963 |
| 2011 | 65,325 |
| 2022 | 69,662 |
Source: Gold Maps Online analysis of BLM mining claim records, as of March 2025. This counts every claim staked that year, including ones closed since.
Those busy years line up with high gold prices: gold set record highs in 1980 and again in 2011 (USGS historical statistics). BLM records don’t say what mineral a claim was staked for, though, so some of that staking was for other metals. Most of these modern rushes are also short. Across the western states, the typical claim that has since closed was kept for somewhere between about 3.5 and 9 years before it was dropped, depending on the state.
Gold rush towns you can visit
Several of the old rush towns are now parks or historic districts, and they’re well worth a stop if you’re out prospecting nearby.
- Coloma, California: Marshall Gold Discovery State Historic Park, where the 1848 find happened.
- Jacksonville, Oregon: the whole town is a National Historic Landmark district.
- Virginia City, Nevada: the Comstock’s boomtown, also a National Historic Landmark district.
- Bannack, Montana: a ghost town kept as a state park.
- South Pass City, Wyoming: a state historic site with the Carissa mine.
- Deadwood, South Dakota: a National Historic Landmark town in the northern Black Hills.
- Skagway, Alaska, and Seattle: Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park has units in both.
- Midland, North Carolina: the Reed Gold Mine, where America’s first gold find was made.
Quick answers
What was the first gold rush in America?
North Carolina’s, after Conrad Reed found a 17-pound gold nugget on his family’s farm in 1799, and Georgia’s followed around 1828. In the West, New Mexico’s Ortiz Mountains placers (1828) came first, but the California gold rush of 1848 was the first big one.
What was the biggest gold rush in America?
By number of people, it was California’s, with about 300,000 people arriving between 1848 and 1855. By gold produced over the long run, the Black Hills win: the Homestake mine alone produced about 40 million ounces between 1876 and 2001.
What was the last big gold rush?
Felix Pedro’s 1902 strike near Fairbanks, Alaska, is usually counted as the last big rush of that era. Nome’s beach rush of 1899 and 1900 is often called the last great rush of the American West.
Is there still a gold rush today?
Not with tent cities, but staking still surges when metal prices climb. Over 100,000 mining claims were staked in the western states in 2007, according to our analysis of BLM records.
Where to look for gold today
Almost every one of these rushes left gold behind. Many old diggings are now covered by active claims, so it helps to know who holds the ground before you go. Our maps for each western state use October 2026 claim data and show five layers: active lode claims, active placer claims, abandoned lode claims, abandoned placer claims, and old mines and prospects. Our Alaska maps have the same five layers. They all work in Google Earth and in Organic Maps, which also works offline when you’re out of cell range.
A good place to start is the gold rush article for the state you want to explore, or you can go straight to our gold maps. Good luck out there!