Gold Camp


Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp provides students from fourth grade classes around California with the opportunity to immerse themselves in the early history of their state. Through a complete learning experience, students are given the chance to see, smell, taste and hear what it was to be a gold miner in the early days of the Gold Rush. Within an hour of arrival, students (under the guidance of an Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp staff member) are led down to the mining area where they actually work replicas of early mining machines. They pan for real gold, work with cradles (also called rocker boxes) and a Long Tom. Working the same machinery that miners used all those years ago, gives life to the history lessons they have learned in school.

The activity can also be an excellent introduction to Gold Rush lessons they will have later in the year if you decide to bring your students in the fall. Be it reinforcement or introduction, your campers will share parallel experiences with their historical counterparts and better understand what the men who built this state went through. By "walking in their footsteps" so to speak, we believe a physical connection to past is made. Following their experience at Gold Camp, your students will know the exhilaration making that first strike and they will also know the work that became a miner’s harsh reality. Never fear though, craft sessions and nineteenth century games are also included to break up a "hard day at the mines." Excursion days consist of a trip to Columbia State Historic Park or Moaning Cavern.


Why Come to Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp?