Visit Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp (OORGC) and feel what it was like to live in the grip of the most dynamic period in California’s history – the Gold Rush! Nestled deep in the foothills of the majestic Sierra Nevada, OORGC brings to life the bygone days of the pioneers and miners that settled our region and helped to change the world! Authentically clad staff help to bridge one hundred and fifty-five years in an instant and endeavor to immerse young people in the history of this great state.

Our Mission: Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp exists to teach young Californians about the most critical and exciting period in their state’s history. The lessons of the 1848-1854 California Gold Rush and westward migration to the territory of California, including key figures and places, will be taught through authentic, interpretive programs that transform the student into a pioneer gold miner.

Our Vision:  The vision for Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp is to be the premier historical camp of its kind. This will be accomplished through a thoroughly researched curriculum imparted by a committed, authentically minded staff. While these lessons of the westward migration and the California Gold Rush are paramount, we also strive to create a learning environment that is as fun as it is educational.

Immersion Learning:

Plainly stated, learning by doing is our goal at Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp. As time advances and our program grows, we strive to teach history by deed not word. A student will remember the lessons of the Gold Rush or Emigration period when he or she can retrieve the memory of a tangible, physical recollection. This is what excites us as educators. When our students leave camp we want to feel confident that when a he or she reads about the exhilaration a miner felt when he found his first flakes of gold, there will be an immediate, free association that the student will feel. He or she will know that kind of excitement having felt it too! History has now come to life. 

The Programs

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. Students, under the guidance of an Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp staff member, begin their time here by forming themselves into mining companies. Following the formation of companies, campers 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 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. Please feel free to look at sample schedules for our programs located in the “Sample Schedules” tab at the left of the page.

Gold Camp Curriculum:

Introduction to the Gold Rush: How did the Gold Rush start? Who started it? What is gold?  What are some of the lasting effects of the Gold Rush? All these questions and more are answered to provide context for your experience at camp.

Columbia: Rise and Fall and Rise Again of a Gold Rush Town: Columbia, California is a town protected by the state of California because of its representation of the existence of so many mining towns of its kind from here in the region of the southern mines all the way up to Marysville and points north. Columbia is a wonderful example of just what a developed gold rush town looked like. It serves as a model of how so many of towns exploded in mere days with the discovery of gold. Towns were created, it seemed, quicker than a miner could yell, “Eureka!” 

Caves, Caverns, and the Forty-niner: This class introduces students to first time cave exploration and discusses the various ways man used caves and caverns during the Gold Rush. Campers, for the most part, will visit Moaning Cavern. The cavern’s name was inspired by the sound generated by drops of water that fall into bottle-shaped holes at the bottom of a tall flowstone formation. This spectacular vertical cavern contains a chamber large enough to hold the entire statue of Liberty.

Pioneer Camp:

Our pioneer experience endeavors to recreate all the work that went into making the daring overland journey from the eastern United States out to the wilds of California. Students learn of the difficulties faced by those overland emigrants as they made their way, often on foot, across two thousand miles of land they had only heard about through word of mouth or read about in books! This camp is a three-day session and upon arrival students first learn the basics of what a wagon train was. They build “wagons” and pick who among them will represent oxen, a driver, wheels and wagon train officers. The second day students begin a simulation of life on a wagon train and the overland journey that takes them on trails all over camp. Students are face important decisions to be made along the way. Besides a historical simulation, we have found this program to be excellent in building team work skills and learning the necessity of working together. The duration of the simulated journey depends on the variables with which students are confronted. Will they take the shortcut that will supposedly save them one week’s journey? Will they take extended breaks? How will the wagons fare? Will wagon axles break? Will animals become dehydrated? The journey is an organic experience that takes on a different slant every time it is attempted just as it did one hundred and fifty-six years ago. By the end of the “emigration” students “arrive in the gold fields” and celebrate the conclusion of such a long journey. Now they must set to work and make the transformation from emigrant to gold miner and begin the process of learning how to mine. Day three is typically an excursion day to Columbia. Because the wagon journey is such an essential part of the pioneer camp curriculum, the journey is conducted in any kind of weather. We ask that those groups who choose the pioneer camp come prepared with rain gear and extra clothes in case of ill weather.

Pioneer Experience Curriculum:

What Is a Wagon Train: Students learn the particulars of the long trains of wagons that shook and creaked across the country in vast numbers. They learn that they were highly organized and cohesive. To travel independently meant failure. Dependence on fellow company members was key to success and team work was absolutely essential.

Organize Your Company: Students learn the intricacies of the highly organized wagon companies that traveled west to California. Students choose a company name, split into more manageable wagon groups of seven students each (called messes), and then from inside their messes they nominate fellow students for the positions of Captain, Lieutenant, and Scout(s). They must hear why each nominee feels confident in their possible appointment and then vote on the candidate they feel best fits the job. Choose well! The Captain commands the train and makes all final important decisions.

Stocking the Wagon:  What to take? That was perhaps the biggest question that an emigrant had to ask him or herself.  Too many took too much and had to abandon supplies so as to not overtax their oxen and be able to complete the perilous journey. Your students will have to determine the most important supplies with which to load their wagons. Choose carefully!

Trail Dangers: Until the journey was finally behind them, no emigrant truly knew what to expect of their overland journey. The outset of the move was full of both excitement and trepidation. Indians? Disease? Wild animals? What is out there waiting for me? The journey puts students in the emigrant’s shoes and they experience some of the dangers faced to reach the gold fields.

Journal Writing: Throughout the pioneer experience students make journal entries (in journals provided by OORGC) that describe (as though it were 1849) their experiences before, during, and after the journey. They write as though they are prospective miners dealing with all the trials and tribulations of the trail. These journals are used as reinforcement tools later in the program to provide context for the overall lesson.

Why Come to Old Oak Ranch Gold Camp?

• We provide friendly, trained and authentically minded instructors
• Our exciting, educational campfire programs and S’mores!
• On site gold panning
• Organized recreation and crafts
• Flexible class sizes
• Flexible schedules                                 
• See the Elephant!
• A trusted camping facility in operation for forty-seven years
• OORGC plans all the programming so that you do not have to
• Affordable rates
• Do business with one service provider
• Strong partnerships with key vendors in our region such as Columbia State Historic Park and Moaning Caverns
• Spend special time with your students
• Enjoy the flora and fauna of the foothills
• Relive the California’s dynamic history right where it happened!

What is Expected of My Chaperones and me?

• Help foster a learning environment
• Enjoy yourself and your students
• Behave and help your students to do the same
• Assist with the supervision of your students
• If you wish, help teach a class, craft or game
• Provide a doctor, nurse or other First Aid person
• Maintain a positive and helpful attitude
• Encourage students and chaperones daily
• Support the OORGC staff in word and deed

Rate Information:

Rates are the same for both the Gold Camp and Pioneer Experience.

Day Trip: $36.50 (includes one meal)

2008 OOR GOLD CAMP PRICE STRUCTURE

2008 1 Night/2 Day Camp with 49 campers or fewer 2008 1 Night/2 Day Camp with 50 plus campers 2008 1 Night/2 Day Camp with 5% Discount Incentive for combining with another school to meet target of 100 campers $125.50 Students / $95.50 Adults $119.50 Students / $89.50 Adults $113.50 Students / $83.50 Adults 2008 2 Night/3 Day Camp with 49 campers or fewer ***   2008 2 Night/3 Day Camp with 50 plus campers *** 2008 2 Night/3 Day Camp with 5% Discount Incentive for combining with another school to meet target of 100 campers *** $182.00 Students / $152.00 Adults $173.50 Students / $143.50 Adults $165.00 Students / $135.00 Adults 2008 3 Night/4 Day Camp with 49 campers or fewer 2008 3 Night/4 Day Camp with 50 plus campers   2008 3 Night/4 Day Camp with 5% Discount Incentive for combining with another school to meet target of 100 campers $239.50 Students / $209.50 Adults $228.00 Students / $198.00 Adults $216.50 Students / $186.50 Adults

Rates Subject to change without notice