Eureka! the Ultimate California Gold Rush Vacation

If you want to teach your kids about the gold rush, there's no better place than the best-preserved gold mining town in California. Columbia is an hour from Yosemite, offering an enticing combination trip option.

How can you get the most value out of trip to historic Columbia, California?

Before the Trip

Share a few facts about the importance of the California gold rush with the kids before the trip:
When did the gold rush happen? 1848 to 1864.

How many people went to California in search of gold? Between 1948 and 1854 alone, 300,000 flocked to California. The state's population almost quadrupled between 1850 and 1860, primarily because of the gold craze.

What was the gold rush's significance? It drove California to seek statehood and nearly guaranteed streamlined admission; exacerbated divisive attitudes on slavery; jump started California's emergence as an agricultural giant; and changed the course of the first transcontintental railroad.

How much gold? More than $10 billion worth (in 2002 dollars) was mined.

How did a prospective miner stake a claim? The federal government owned all land in California. When a miner found a lucrative spot, he filed a claim. The claim allowed exclusive access to the land for mining conditioned on 6 days per week of work.

How did the miners live? The miners gathered in camps and elected leaders. There was no formal justice system and vigilantism was commonplace.

What to See and Do in and Around Columbia

Columbia is a historical museum with employees in period costumes on hand to share its history. Kids can learn about blacksmithing, try their hand at candle-making, and pan for real gold flakes. A stagecoach ride will emphasize the challenge of transportation during the gold rush era.

Arranging a tour to Hidden Treasure Gold Mine, the only U.S. hardrock gold mining operation open to the public, will reinforce the difficulties of the miners' job.

Imagination is an important part of the trip. You can jumpstart kids' imaginations by letting them play among the building facades and rock outcroppings and letting them act out their own stories at the jail and courthouse.

If you plan your timing right, you can add color to gold rush story with a stop in Angels Camp in nearby Calaveras County for the annual May frog jumping contest inspired by Samuel Clemens, aka Mark Twain. The trip is 13.9 miles by highway or 16.8 miles by back roads.

The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County by Mark Twain or this brief description will introduce the miner's tale behind the contest.

Moaning Cavern is also nearby, offering the opportunity to teach kids about caves as living organisms.

Where to Stay and Eat

There are two hotels in town, the Fallon and City Hotel. A handful of motels and RV resorts dot the landscape outside town.

City Hotel offers gourmet dining. The few smaller eateries include 2 saloons, a coffeehouse, Bart's Black Skillet and El Jardin. Since the town is but a couple blocks long, the restaurants are readily found and easy to access on foot.