Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Worksheets and No Prep Teaching Resources
Reading Comprehension Worksheets
Wild, Wild West
Virginia City - A Boom Town

Wild, Wild West
Wild, Wild West


Virginia City - A Boom Town
Print Virginia City - A Boom Town Reading Comprehension with Sixth Grade Work

Print Virginia City - A Boom Town Reading Comprehension


Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 6 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   5.51

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    placer, theaters, riches, nugget, mines, influx, spanish, mining, valuable, prospectors, earning, miner, history, unknown, study, fell
     content words:    Virginia City, In January, James Finney, Frank Comstock, Old Virginny, Comstock Lode, Carson City


Virginia City - A Boom Town
By Jane Runyon
  

1     When you study history, you find that a great many explorers of new territory explored for one reason. Many of these people came to unknown areas to find a way to get rich. Spanish explorers came to the New World when they heard stories of cities made of gold. Colonists in the new America dreamed of breaking free from debt and earning riches in the new land. As more and more people from around the world moved to the new America, more and more moved west to find their "pot of gold."
 
2     For some of these pioneers, gold was exactly what they were looking for. Gold was discovered in California in 1849 at Sutter's Mill. That brought an influx of miners, called 49ers, in search of that patch of earth that would make them millionaires. Most of them found very little. Some stayed around for years looking. Others moved on to search in other areas.
 
3     Ten years after the California gold rush, gold was found just south of what is now Virginia City, Nevada. The Grosh brothers were the first to strike it rich. It didn't take long before other miners heard of their luck and moved into the area. At this time, gold mining was still done by the placer method. Prospectors would find a creek with flowing water. They would place a pan into a rocky area where they believed they would find gold. They would place the pan in the stream and allow the water to wash the dirt and mud off the rocks. The prospector would examine each rock and decide whether it was a gold nugget or not.

Paragraphs 4 to 8:
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Wild, Wild West
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United States
             United States


    American Government  
 
    Black History and Blacks in U.S. History  
 
    Children in History  
 
    Government Careers  
 
    Hispanic Heritage  
 
    How Can I Help?  
 
 
    Immigration  
 
    National Parks and Monuments  
 
    Native Americans  
 
    Presidents of the United States  
 
    Women's History  
 


United States History
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(1840-1861)
 
 
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(1776-1830)
 
 
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    American Revolution  
 
    Cold War
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    Spanish American War (1898)  
 
    The 1890's  
 
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    The Great Depression
(1929-1945)
 
 
    The United States Grows
(1865-1900)
 
 
    The War of 1812  
 
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    World War I
(1914-1918)
 
 
    World War II  
 


50 States

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