The discovery of anywhere caused thousands of men to rush there in the hope of becoming quickly and easily. A very few did rich, so the myth that it was possible to find your fortune on. The main gold rush was to California in 1848/9. After that were gold rushes to various parts of the Rockies and, in 1874, the Black Hills of Dakota, in the Great Plains region itself. Following 1848 gold rush to California, the trickle of people travelling the trails the West became a flood. Some went by sea, but most went , which was much cheaper. Several wagon trains were setting off every day. 5,000 died of cholera on the way.

Prospecting for gold was not easy. miners were not trained in mining and had little hope of finding . The miners only had the tools to look for gold on the . Most of the gold was below the surface so it was not for the ordinary man to find it. There was no law and so it was difficult to enforce your claim to a particular area. In any case, most were already staked out by the time the was under way.