So, let’s learn more about the 7 wonders of the natural world – and do it in alphabetical order!  

Aurora Borealis

First on our list is the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights.  This is a fancy name for a beautiful light show in the sky.  In very cold places like Iceland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Canada, Alaska, Russia, and other places, the night sky can be lit up by beautiful waves of flowing green, pink, red, and yellow colors.  Think of an ocean wave and how it ripples with different colors of blue, green, turquoise, and tan when you look at it.  Well, that’s what it looks like in the sky, but with bright colors!  And you may wonder what causes these amazing ripples of color across the sky.  Well, the sun spits out these little particles, called ions.  It’s like the sun spitting out little peas.  The ions then travel on waves of gas – like spitting peas into the wind! When these little ions (or peas) come near the Earth and our magnetic field, they start to jiggle and shake and glow – causing a glowing light show in the sky!  Pretty neat, huh?  And these lights can happen all year long in some places.  In other places, like Alaska, where they get daylight for 24 hours a day during the summer, it can be hard to see the lights.  I have never seen these lights before, but maybe one of our listeners has.  I would love to hear from you and learn what you think about them!

The Grand Canyon

The Second wonder of the natural world is the Grand Canyon in the state of Arizona in the United States.  You have probably seen pictures of it!  It looks like huge, rust-colored mountains with their tops cut off.  Everything is flat on top, but the mountains go down deep into a canyon, so deep it is hard to see the bottom! To me, it looks like a giant rock maze from above.  The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, 18 miles wide, and over a mile deep! That’s a long way down.  Scientists estimate that it is about 5-6 million years old and was carved by the Colorado River running through it.  Millions and millions of years of flowing water washed away pieces of the rock and cut pathways through the Canyon.  During the ice age, there was a lot of rain in this area and the water rushed through the canyon even quicker, cutting away larger pieces of rock and carving caves.  

Through the ages, Native American tribes have made the Grand Canyon their home.  Some still live there today.  These days you can go white water rafting through the canyon, ride a helicopter above it, ride a mule into it, or hike around it.  Just be sure to bring plenty of water and warm clothes if you plan to go to the bottom!  It’s a long hike down and the temperature can change drastically between the top and the bottom where there is less sun.  

The Great Barrier Reef

The third natural wonder is the Great Barrier Reef in Queensland, Australia.  It is the world’s largest coral reef stretching over 133,000 miles.  It is home to 900 islands and three thousand different reefs.  It is also home to over 1,500 fish species, 215 bird species, and 134 shark species!  I know I’d much rather meet a clownfish there than a great white shark!  The reef is over 200 feet deep and can even be seen from outer space!  It was created by billions of tiny little coral polyps and is the largest structure in the world built by living organisms.  Think of billions of little minions under the sea making coral apartment buildings!  The Great Barrier Reef is world famous and many people travel to see it.  Unfortunately, it is struggling to survive.  It has lost more than half of its coral since 1985 due to climate change.  The sun heats the water and bleaches the coral, killing it.  It’s like boiling a lobster in hot water.  Also, damage from human dumping and attacks by the Crown-of-Thorns Starfish have also damaged the reef.  The good news is that a certain type of coral, called Acropora coral, is growing quickly on the reef and has regrown large portions of it.  Coral can grow up to 9 inches in height and one inch in width a year – that’s more than you and me! It needs to live at a maximum depth of 490 feet because it needs to be close to the surface – and sunlight- to grow.  It cannot grow above the water line.  I think it would be incredible to take a boat around the Great Barrier Reef or go scuba diving there one day.  What do you think?

Mount Everest

Number four on our list is Mount Everest, which is so big it sits in China and Nepal!  Mount Everest is over 29,000 feet tall, meaning it is as high as the cruising altitude of airplanes.  That’s a LONG way up!  It has other names given to it by the Chinese and Indians, including Sagarmatha and Chomolungma, meaning “Holy Mother.”  It is called “Holy Mother” because it is the largest mountain in the Himalayan Mountain Range – and the world!  Most of the world knows the mountain by the name Mount Everest.  It was named after an early British Surveyor named Sir George Everest, who was surveying – or measuring – mountains in the Himalayans in the 1800s.  He didn’t want the mountain named after him because the native Chinese and Indian people couldn’t write or say the name Everest, but it was done anyway.   Mount Everest is very dangerous – it has deep crevasses or canyons – plus the Khumbu Ice Fall, an area at the base of the mountain filled with large ice blocks that fall over a lot.  It also has a lot of avalanches, which are roaring blasts of falling snow.  At the top, it gets very windy and there is very little oxygen.  Nothing can live at that height, not even birds.  To climb Mount Everest, you need to be in top physical shape, have a lot of climbing equipment, and carry bottles of oxygen to use at the top – similar to what scuba divers do when they go to the bottom of the sea.  Most climbers climb Mount Everest with the assistance of Sherpas – or native Tibetan guides – who carry large loads of equipment up and down the mountain and set ropes for the climbers.  

There is a big mystery on Mount Everest, too.  In 1924, George Mallory and Andrew Irvine from England tried to be the first climbers to summit the mountain.  They were last seen near the top, but then disappeared in the fog.  They were never seen again.  To this day we do not know if they reached the top.  But in 1953, Tenzing Norgay and Sir Edmund Hillary reached the top of Mount Everest and made it back down safely, becoming the first documented climbers to reach the top of the world!  That is truly incredible! 

Paricutin Volcano

Moving on to number five on our list is Paricutin, a volcano in Michoacan, Mexico. It was formed in 1948 after erupting out of a farmer’s cornfield.  You may think, “There are lots of volcanos around the world.  What makes this one so special?”  Well, this was the first volcano that modern scientists could track and study from its start! Most of the volcanos on Earth are under the sea or erupted thousands – or even millions – of years ago.  This volcano erupted fairly recently and continued to grow and spit out lava for 9 years, reaching a height of 1,391 feet and destroying 90 square miles with lava, stone, and ash. Hundreds of people evacuated, two towns were completely buried and three other towns were damaged, but luckily only 3 people were killed.  This volcano sits on the Trans-Mexican belt, a trail of old volcanos running west to east across Mexico.  Today, the crater measures approximately 660 feet across and people can walk around the rim and climb up and down its sides.  Although it is said to be extinct now, or dead, it is still hot and when rainwater hits it, it spews steam into the air.  In 1997, the area experienced 230 earthquakes in quick succession.  In 2006, over 300 more earthquakes rumbled near the volcano.  This does not sound like it is extinct to me.  I think I’ll leave the volcano climbing to others!  I’m not wild about being covered in burning lava, are you?  

Rio Harbour

Number six on our list is Rio Harbour in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It is also called Guanabara Bay, which means “Arm of the Sea” and it is the world’s largest bay.  It is over 19 miles long and boasts 130 islands.  Explorer Charles Darwin stated, “It seemed almost unreal” for its natural beauty and stellar surroundings: glistening beaches, granite monoliths, and majestic mountains.  Also visible from this bay is the “Christ the Redeemer” statue on Corcovado Mountain. This statute is on another famous list: the 7 Wonders of the World, meaning things made by man.  Brazil is very lucky to have two wonders in its own backyard!

Victoria Falls

And the 7^th natural wonder of the world is Victoria Falls, located between Zambia and Zimbabwe in Southern Africa.  In its native languages, its name means “The Smoke that Thunders,” “Boiling Water,” or “The Place of the Rainbow.”  The falls are so big and so vast that the water roaring over them sounds like thunder and throws billowing clouds of mist into the air – and even makes rainbows.  It is one of the largest waterfalls on Earth and measures over 5,604 feet across, and 354 feet tall, and the spray can rise 1,300 feet or more.  The spray can even be seen from 30 miles away.  So why is it named Victoria Falls?  Well, a Scottish missionary and explorer named David Livingstone came across it in 1855 and named it after England’s Queen Victoria.  Just like with Mount Everest, early explorers found amazing places and renamed them, instead of keeping their native names.  

And where does all the water go after it tumbles over the falls?  It tumbles through a series of gorges making various turns and zig-zags while tumbling downstream.  At the second gorge, there is a deep pool of water called the Boiling Pot.  It measures 500 feet across and at times has enormous swirls and a boiling surface like a witch’s cauldron.  Crocodiles, humans, and even hippopotami have been found in these swirling waters or along the Pot’s nearby shores.  My advice to you: stay well away from the edge of the falls!  You don’t want to go over the brink with a Hippo!

Aren’t these seven natural wonders of the world amazing?  Have you seen any of them yet?  Which ones would you like to see?  Maybe you can make a list and plan trips with your family – or visit them when you grow up.  I sure would like to see some of these amazing sites.  I’ve seen The Grand Canyon but I sure would like to see more – and take my family with me.  

Maybe as a fun project, you can make a rhyme about these wonders to remember them.  If you do, I’d like to hear your rhyme.  Feel free to send it to me using the link in the show notes.  Your name and rhyme might be mentioned in a future episode!

The post Seven Wonders of the Natural World for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Imagine you are walking along a trail in the desert…

You have been walking for many days and are now holding your mother’s hand. Your dog is trotting along beside you. You are of the Pueblo tribe and every year visit a place that is holy to your people. You have been counting down the days and now the steps and the day has finally come. The air is cool this time of year and the sky is clear and blue as far as you can see. Your father and brother are walking ahead with the others and someone calls out “Kaibab! Kaibab!” You leave your mother’s hand and rush ahead with them, faster and faster, trying to beat your brother to the sight. And then suddenly you stop and gasp! Spread out for miles ahead of you is the beauty of what you call Kaibab, the widest and most beautiful of canyons in the world. You hold your breath and slowly take in the wonder of this place that is holy to you and your people. 

Width, Length, and Depth of the Grand Canyon

The Grand Canyon is the widest canyon in the world and is located in Arizona, which also happens to be my home state. It is also considered one of the Seven Natural Wonders of the World. The Grand Canyon is 277 miles long, up to 18 miles wide, and over 6,000 feet deep in places. It is very colorful, a combination of reds, browns, whites, and many other colors, because each of the different layers, or strata, was formed at different times during the Earth’s history. The Earth is very, very old, so the Grand Canyon is made up of different rocks from its 2 billion-year-old history.

Formation of the Grand Canyon

Early on the Grand Canyon was actually a mountain, which over time sunk down until it was flat. Then as the earth shifted it became a canyon and over a very long period was even underwater. Eventually, a river started flowing through the canyon, which is now known as The Colorado River. The water in the river was full of rocks, so over millions of years, the river acted like sandpaper shaving down the canyon. This is called erosion. Today when you look at the Grand Canyon you can see the different layers in it, similar to a layered cake. Some of the layers are white limestone, other layers are filled with shells from when it was underwater, and the upper layers are darker and were formed by a volcano. 

Ancestral Puebloans

After The Grand Canyon was formed into what it looks like today, around 3000 years ago, native people who we now called the Ancestral Puebloans lived near the Grand Canyon. They build homes out of stone and farmed corn, squash, and beans. They made carvings and paintings on canyon walls, which is one way we know they lived there. Another group who lived there was called the Cohonina, who are the ancestors of the modern Yuma, Havasupai, and Hualapai people, who still live around the Grand Canyon. The native people call The Grand Canyon Kaibab, which means “mountain on its side.” The ancient people believed The Grand Canyon was a holy place and often visited from miles around to experience its wonder.

European Discovery of the Grand Canyon

After Europeans discovered The New World, Francisco Vazquez de Coronado and a group of Spanish explorers were in the area searching for the fabled Seven Cities of Cibola. In 1540 Coronado ordered Captain Garcia Lopez de Cardenas and his soldiers to explore the area. They and their Hopi native guides were the first Europeans to see the wonders of The Grand Canyon. They were amazed at its size and vastness. Two hundred years passed until another European visited the canyon.

In 1776 two Spanish Priests, Francisco Dominguez and Silvestre de Escalante explored southern Utah and the north rim of the Grand Canyon. 

In the 1850s they were followed by Jacob Hamblin, a Mormon explorer sent by Brigham Young to find a way to cross the river. They made friends with the Hualapai tribe and found the crossing discovered by the Spanish Priests, which later became Lees Ferry. A ferry is a place where a flat boat helps wagons and people cross a river. 

John Wesley Powell

Then in 1869, Major John Wesley Powell led the first expedition down into the canyon. He had set out to explore the Colorado River and The Grand Canyon. They rode down the river on a boat and survived the dangerous rapids and finally ended up in what is now known as Moab, Utah. John Wesley Powell later became famous for the founding of the Boy Scouts of America. 

National Park

In 1903 President Theodore Roosevelt visited The Grand Canyon and marveled at its beauty. Teddy Roosevelt was known for his love of nature and spent much of his time outdoors. In awe at the Grand Canyon, he did everything he could to help preserve its natural wonder. They worked to make it a national monument and believed places like The Grand Canyon should be preserved so people all over the world could enjoy it. While Roosevelt was president he formed the National Parks Association to help save places like The Grand Canyon. 

Tourism

Today The Grand Canyon is one of the most famous places to visit in the world with about five million visitors every year who come from all over to see and explore it. Most people just come to look out over the vast canyon. I’ve been there a few times with my family, it’s about a 4-hour drive for us from where we live near Phoenix, Arizona. The last time I went we brought our 4 young kids, who also looked out over it in awe. We had to hold them close to us because the canyon is a very steep drop below, which made us pretty nervous.

Havasupai

When I was in high school our family and a group of other families hiked down into a part of the Grand Canyon known as Havasupai. We drove there early in the morning and had all of our camping gear and food loaded onto the back of mules, then we hiked about 4 hours down into the canyon. At the bottom of the trail are huge, picturesque Havasu Falls. You can swim at the bottom of the falls, jump off cliffs and hike further in to see and swim in the other waterfalls. Our trip was very fun but took a turn for the worse when one of the days I slipped on a rock and twisted my ankle pretty badly. The next day we were supposed to hike out, so my close friend and I got up early and started hiking out. I limped most of the way, even up the steep switchbacks. It was a rough hike out, but the waterfalls and swimming holes made it worth it anyway. 

In addition to hiking, people take helicopter tours over The Grand Canyon and love to raft the wild Colorado River. People also take horseback tours down into the canyon and it’s very popular to hike it from rim to rim — my sisters and their friends did this recently. Another main attraction is the Grand Canyon Skywalk, which lets you walk on a glass-bottomed path out over the canyon, so you can look at the drop far below.

Conclusion

Do you have any natural wonders near you? It may be mountains, a beautiful river, or the ocean. Spending time in nature is good for you. It helps relax your mind and body. I know I always feel better when I spend time outside or on a hike. Just this last week my kids and I spent some time hiking and visiting a stream nearby. Spend time thinking about what places in nature near you you can visit. And if you’re ever in Arizona, definitely be sure to visit the amazing Grand Canyon! 

Recommended Books

The post History of the Grand Canyon for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Close your eyes and imagine you step into the basket of a hot-air balloon. You grab the sides of the basket tight as the flame ignites, adding gas to the gigantic red balloon above you. The basket lifts off the ground and suddenly you’re floating in the air, moving higher and higher into the sky. You look down below at the field and trees which have become very small. Soon, you are rushing across the countryside and passing villages and farmland and then crossing over a wide river and then a city. You pass over an ancient castle and then the ocean, traveling further and further from home, then across countries, around and around the world. This is what it might have felt like to be Phileas Fogg, the main character in Jules Verne’s famous novel, Around the World in Eighty Days. Listen closely as we learn about the life of this visionary author who took his readers around the world, below the oceans, and into the earth with his fantastic and educational tales that defined the genre which became known as “science fiction.” 

Jules Verne was born on February 8th, 1828 in Nantes, France. The home they lived in was built on an island in the middle of the river! From their home, Jules loved watching ships arrive from all over the world with passengers and goods to trade in France. He imagined what it would be like to be on the ships, climb up their tall masts, and be sailing around the world on adventures.

When Jules and his brother, Paul, were old enough they attended a boarding school. A boarding school is a place where kids go to school and live. There he learned to write and write and do math. While they weren’t at school, Jules and Paul loved to play in the field and dream about adventures they might one day go on together. One of Jule’s favorite books was called Robinson Crusoe about a man who is shipwrecked and has to survive on an island by himself for many years. It was an adventure story and Jules thought about the kind of adventures he might write about someday, too.

Later more siblings joined their family, 3 sisters, and their family moved to a larger home. They attended school and while Jules struggled with many of the subjects he did like writing. Also, his father wanted him to become a lawyer like he was, but Jules wasn’t sure that’s what he wanted to do with his life. But as he grew older, Jules followed his father’s advice and went to school to become a lawyer. He moved to Paris with a friend and loved living in a big city with all of the sights, sounds, and commotion. He spent his free time writing poems, plays, and songs. His father wanted him to focus on school, but Jules loved writing too much to take his advice. In Paris, Jules met famous writers such as Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas who had written books like The Three Musketeers, The Count of Monte Cristo, Les Miserables, and The Hunchback of Notre Dame. At the time, Paris was the perfect place to live for someone who wanted to become a writer and learn from other great authors.

Living in Paris, Jules wrote his first play which became a live performance, and his first story was published in a local newspaper. The story was about a hot air balloon adventure. Airplanes weren’t invented yet, but hot air balloons were a popular form of travel and entertainment. Like ships, they filled Jules with wonder at the places they might take him someday and the adventures they might take people in his stories.

But, sadly, his father wasn’t happy with the success of his stories and plays. He told Jules he would stop sending him money and he had to come home and take over his business as a lawyer. By this time, Jules had made up his mind about what he wanted to do with his life. He told his father he would stay in Paris and do whatever he could to make a living as a writer. It was a risk he’d have to take, no longer receiving his father’s money, but writing was his passion so he stayed in Paris to fulfill that dream.

There, he took any job he could to make a living and spent most of his time continuing to write. Eventually, he met a woman named Honorine and they married and had two daughters. Jules was happy with his new family and writing in his free time. 

In 1859, Jules got his first chance to travel beyond France. He and a friend took a ship to England and Scotland. There, he saw many of the places he’d only read about as a child in books: castles, ruins, and huge mountain ranges. As they explored these wondrous places, his travels began to fill him with fresh ideas about how they might be used in the adventure stories he’d dreamed about writing since he was a child.

Sure enough, Jules’ travels inspired him to write his first novel in 1863 about a hot-air balloon adventure over Africa called Five Weeks in a Balloon. At first, it didn’t sell, but not long after a giant balloon was launched in France and people became excited about the idea of hot-air balloons and bought Jule’s book. Jules’ stories were different because they combined adventure with science and the many other advances in engineering that were taking place at this time. He lived in a time of many new inventions and scientific discoveries which included steam power and flight. Many new places like Africa were also being discovered around the world. It was an exciting time to live and Jules wanted to capture that sense of wonder and excitement in his novels. Little did he know, he was helping create a new category of writing called “science fiction.”

Jules’ publisher saw with how the world was changing, people would love these “science fiction” stories – even though they didn’t call them that at the time. He agreed to continue to publish each chapter of Jules’ stories in his magazine. Once the book was finished, it would be bound into a single copy for people to buy and read.

Jules began working on what became one of his most famous novels of all time. In the story, a professor and his nephew discover a volcano and Iceland and believe that if they can climb down into it they will find a path to the center of the earth! They travel far below the earth’s surface through caves and an underground river where they discover a huge cavern, fossils, and an underground sea. There they see fish, reptiles, and other mammals from the age of the dinosaurs. It became a chance to introduce readers to prehistoric life on earth as they imagined these now-extinct creatures living and battling in these caverns at the center of the earth. Of course, this story was fiction or made up, but it included many truths about living things and actual places like Iceland and volcanoes. If you’ve ever read science fiction, it’s made up but there are interesting things it can teach you about the world around you and science.

When Jules’ book was released in 1864, Journey to the Center of the Earth, was a huge success. People loved going on adventures through his characters and learning about new places and subjects like geography, geology, and the history of life on earth.

His following novels continued to mix exploration, science, and adventure. One was called From the Earth to the Moon about a group of soldiers who decided to use a huge cannon to launch one of them in a missile to the moon! Even though the book was written in the 1800s, it was thinking ahead about the big ideas like space travel and a real moon mission which wouldn’t happen until around 100 years later.

Although he was writing fiction, Jules Verne continued to be interested in science and innovation. He read papers about new scientific discoveries and met with scientists and great thinkers who lived in France and Europe. Every year he also spent time traveling to new places to be inspired by the world around him. In 1867 he traveled to the United States in a massive steamship and visited famous sites. He took notes about the places he visited, things he saw, and people he met. His travels and research gave him new ideas about what to write in his fantastic stories.

And he would need all the inspiration he could get because Jules had started on his most famous novel yet. Going back to his childhood, it included his dreams about ships and the vastness of the sea. This story would be about a massive submarine called the Nautilus. The Nautilus wasn’t like an ordinary submarine at the time, small and cramped. Instead, the inside was large and spacious, and richly designed. It was the home of its pilot, an adventurer named Captain Nemo. There, Nemo had a full library, an organ, a big bedroom, and an office. And on the Nautilus, Nemo and his crew traveled around the world visiting places like the North Pole and coral reefs. They even battle a giant squid! The book was later called 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea and became an instant success. In it, Jules Verne took readers deep below the sea where they not only learned about the oceans of the world and exotic sea life, but also the mechanics of a fantastic submarine, which was powered by electricity – still a very new idea and invention at the time! 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea eventually became Jules most popular book and in 1916 was made into a movie then later in 1954 by Walt Disney, along with later film adaptations.

Jules’ next book was also a big success. It was called Around the World in Eighty Days about an Englishman named Phileas Fogg who accepts a bet that in a hot air balloon he can circle the world in … you guessed it … 80 days! During the book, they visit new places across the globe, another chance for Jules to teach his readers about all of the amazing places he’s visited and see the wonder of the wider world through his eyes. It was also turned into a play and later a movie in 1956 and even won an Academy Award for best picture.

With the great success of his books, Jules became very wealthy. He built his family a large home in Amiens and a yacht he used to sail to exotic places across the world. He was treated as a celebrity wherever he visited. At home, he threw large parties for friends, family, and the people of Amiens. He joined the town council and used his money to take care of people around him who were poor. Also, later in life he and his father became close again, and he accepted the fact that he decided to become an author rather than a lawyer. His father was proud of what his son had accomplished. 

Jules Verne spent the rest of his life with his family in his home in Amiens where he consistently wrote around 2 novels a year later into his life. On March 24, 1905, Jules passed away at his home. His son went on to publish some of his other stories and add to them himself. Many of his books have been translated into at least 140 different languages and inspired many famous science fiction writers. Being one of the earliest authors to combine science, adventure, and technology, he has often been called “the father of science fiction” as one of the founders of the genre. Many great explorers and engineers also said reading Jules Verne’s books when they were young inspired them to dream big and accomplish great things in their life. These include Werner Von Braun, the rocket scientist and the astronomer Edward Hubble.

Take a moment to think about something you are curious about. What are you interested in? Like you, Jules Verne had many things he was curious about as a child. He loved big ships and the ocean. Now, what can you do next to learn more about the things you are curious about? You might go to the library or find a good book about that topic another way. There are lots of educational videos online, too. Like Jules Verne, you can take something you are curious about and learn more. Maybe you can even write a story about it like Jules did! Remember, all big things have small beginnings!

The post History of Jules Verne for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Today, I’m going to ask you to close your eyes and imagine. But I don’t need you to picture anything in your imagination this time. Instead, just imagine you’re in a dark place. It’s chilly and a little damp. The walls are cold and hard, like they’re made out of rock. You say something, and you hear your voice echo off the walls and back to you. Finally, you find a flashlight in your backpack and turn it on. 

Where are you? 

If you guessed that you’re in a cave, you’re right! If you’ve ever wanted to go spelunking–that’s what it’s called when you explore a cave–then this episode is for you. And we’re not just exploring any old cave. We’re going deep into the history of the longest cave system in the world: Mammoth Cave in the state of Kentucky, in the USA. Mammoth Cave became a National Park in 1941, but it had a long and fascinating history before that.

Caves like Mammoth form when water slowly wears away at the rocks underground, creating underground caverns and tunnels. Mammoth Cave has over 400 miles of tunnels and caverns, and it’s still being mapped. In fact, explorers recently found 8 more miles of passages! The cave is also home to some unique animal life, such as bats, salamanders, and  blind cave fish. Did I mention there are actually rivers inside the cave?!

Not only are there rivers in the cave now, but 300 million years ago, the whole area was a sea! Limestone formed slowly from fine sands at the bottom of the ocean and created fossils of ancient sea creatures. So today, scientists and visitors can find fossils of everything from small shellfish to giant, ancient sharks, even though the oceans are thousands of miles away now! Later on in the cave’s history, other animals were fossilized in the cave as well. 

Mammoth Cave isn’t just interesting for what it can tell us about Earth’s past though. It’s a part of many fascinating stories about human beings too!

The first humans to explore Mammoth cave were Native Americans. Woodland Native Americans explored and used the cave over 4,000 years ago. There’s evidence that they explored at least 19 miles of the cave’s passages. They mined minerals from the cave walls, which they may have used for medicinal or religious purposes, but scientists aren’t really sure. They left many items behind in the cave, like gourd bowls, torches used to light the way, and sandals. They also made artwork by carving into the rock walls or drawing on them using charcoal.  

European Americans discovered Mammoth Cave in the 1790s. They discovered that the cave contained saltpeter, which was used in making gunpowder. They began mining for saltpeter using enslaved laborers. This went on through the war of 1812, but after that, the need for saltpeter for gunpowder decreased. Within a few years, the owners of the cave started giving tours to curious visitors. 

In the 1840s, one owner of the property, Dr. John Croghan, built a small hospital for tuberculosis patients inside the cave. He had noticed that logs and artifacts inside the cave didn’t seem to break down like things left outside on the surface. He reasoned that maybe something about the cave had the power to keep things from decaying. Maybe the cave air could help people suffering from the disease to recover. If the cave worked as a treatment, he planned to set up a whole hotel inside for treating sick people. Unfortunately, the cave didn’t turn out to be a magical cure for tuberculosis: his patients got worse instead of better, and he closed it down after a few months.

It wasn’t a total loss for Dr. Croghan though. By this time, the cave had become a very popular tourist destination, and Dr. Croghan, like the previous owner, sold tours of the cave in addition to having his hospital. This was still before the Civil War that ended slavery in America, and sadly, most of the tour guides were enslaved African American men. This brings us to one of the most interesting parts of Mammoth Cave’s history.

The most famous of these tour guides was Stephen Bishop. He explored many new areas of the cave, using ropes to find his way back and torches to light the pitch-black passageways. He built a bridge over one of the caves’ deepest chasms, known as the Bottomless Pit, so that tour groups could see more parts of the cave. He also drew one of the first maps of the system based on his explorations. 

But Stephen Bishop wasn’t just a brave explorer. He had an expert-level knowledge of geology and mineralogy. Professors of geology who visited the cave were astounded by his knowledge. Bishop was famous well beyond Kentucky. Well-known and influential visitors to the cave spread the word about his brilliance and recommended that others request him as their guide should they visit. 

Two other early guides were Nick and Mat Bransford. Nick and Mat weren’t brothers but instead shared the same last name because, sadly, they were both owned by the same man. It was a common practice for enslaved people to be given their owner’s last name. Mat was one of the earliest tour guides. He was eventually freed and continued to work at Mammoth Cave as a guide, but paid. His son Henry and his grandchildren, Louis and Matt also worked as paid tour guides at the cave well into the twentieth century. The family tradition didn’t stop there though: his great-great-great-grandson works there as a park ranger now! 

Nick Bransford was also an enslaved tour guide and may have also done other work above ground on the cave property. Nick didn’t want to wait to be freed: he made a plan to buy his freedom. He asked his master how much it would cost to buy his freedom. When he finished his required tours and other work each day, he went back to the cave and captured eyeless fish from the underground springs. He then sold the unusual fish to tourists to earn extra money. After years of doing this, he was finally able to buy his freedom. He went on to become an important person in his community, donating land for a school. He stayed on at Mammoth Cave as a tour guide for over 50 years! 

Some of the visitors to Mammoth cave were famous and powerful–writers, politicians, even royalty. Though outside the cave, Stephen, Mat, and Nick were viewed as property as slaves, tourists inside the cave relied on them to keep them alive and safe during their visit. The cave could be a dangerous place for people who weren’t familiar with its layout and hazards. There were chasms and underground rivers that tourists could fall into if they weren’t careful. This included dead ends, slippery pathways, and loose rocks that could fall. Lamps and candles could blow out, leaving people in total darkness. Stephen, Mat, and Nick made sure their guests were safe by knowing the routes and the dangers, and being alert and prepared for any accidents. Most visitors respected these men for their bravery, knowledge, and skills because without them, going into the cave would have meant risking their lives. 

Though they all eventually gained their freedom and ended up working at the cave as paid workers, their lives as enslaved workers were unfair and, at times, harsh. Conditions in the cave were dangerous, as we’ve seen. Three of Mat Bransford’s children were sold away from him to different owners. But all three men, as well as other enslaved guides who worked at the cave,  showed that they were brave, capable, and accomplished individuals who deserved respect and admiration.  The same might be said for millions of other people who endured slavery in the United States, but whose stories we don’t know. Stephen, Mat, and Nick all wrote their names on the walls of Mammoth Cave in candle smoke. Even when people are forced into terrible situations, they are still capable of rising up–or going deep in the case of Mammoth Cave–and leaving their mark.

Mammoth Cave is an amazing natural wonder, but people like Stephen Bishop, Mat Bransford, and Nick Bransford give it an important human history as well. The world is full of natural places that also have interesting human stories–stories with twists, turns, and strange surprises, just like Mammoth Cave. So grab your flashlight and go exploring!

Sources

https://www.livescience.com/mammoth-cave-system-kentucky-record

https://www.nps.gov/media/video/view.htm?id=4EF84A9E-54F7-483C-BB54-A940BFAECBB8

https://www.nps.gov/maca/learn/historyculture/native-americans.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/mat-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/nick-bransford.htm

https://www.nps.gov/people/stephen-bishop.htm

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/enslaved-tour-guide-stephen-bishop-made-mammoth-cave-must-see-destination-it-today-180971424/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Bishop_(cave_explorer)

Recommended Reading

Bradbury, Jennifer, 2015. River Runs Deep. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

Hensen, Heather, 2016. Lift your Light a Little Higher: The story of Stephen Bishop: slave-explorer. Atheneum Books for Young Readers, New York.

The post History of Mammoth Caves for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Have you ever heard of Easter Island?  Many movies talk about it and some even say that is where the Easter Bunny lives.  But in fact, it is a real place that has nothing to do with the holiday of Easter. But many people know of Easter Island from the large famous face statues that are often seen in pictures of the place.  So why does Easter Island have this name?

Easter Island is a large island that covers nearly 65 square miles.  It is located in the South Pacific Ocean, far off of the west coast of the country of Chile in South America.  It is also an almost equal number of miles to the east of the island of Tahiti.  

Easter Island is the shape of a triangle and measures 14 miles long by 7 miles wide. It was formed by a series of volcano eruptions over time.  The island has many hills and caves within the rocks that go way back into the mountains.  Because much of the rock on the island is made of volcanic rock, it is easy for the rock to form caves and holes over time. 

Easter Island’s largest volcano is called Rano Kao.  It has a highest point that is called Mount Terevaka that reaches 1,665 feet (or 508 meters) above the sea.  The island is sub-tropical, which means it is located below the mid-point of the Earth called the equator and has sunny and dry weather. 

Many people have been confused about the name “Easter Island” and have wondered whether the island has something to do with the holiday of Easter. Is this where the Easter Bunny lives when he is not hopping around the world delivering eggs?  Let’s find out. 

The first people to live on Easter Island arrived on the island around the year 400 A.D. about 1,500 years ago. They were from another Polynesian island close by and they came to Easter Island looking for a new place to live.  These first people called the island “Rapa Nui”.  Because of its remote, or far away, location. The first peoples of Rapa Nui lived there on their own for hundreds of years before there were any other visitors from other countries. 

The traditions and stories of the Polynesian people say that the first king of Rapa Nui was named “Hoto-Matua”.  He was a ruler of a group of people that traveled around many islands in the area.  The group of explorers led by Hoto-Matua was searching for a new place to make their home. The story says that after traveling thousands of miles, the exploring group landed at a sandy beach on the island.  The island of Rapa Nui is actually quite rocky on the coast, or edge of the land near the water.

The traditional Polynesian story says that the group, led by their leader, Hoto-Matua, landed on the sandy beach, which was one of the only sandy spots on the coast. The group explored the island and found that it was a great place to live.  It was abundant with many fish and other types of food, and had a good climate or weather.  They decided to stay and build their home on this newly found island.  This is the start of the first peoples living on Rapa Nui, or Easter Island. The first peoples learned how to harvest food and fish on the island, including native fruit and plants.   They grew in size over time and developed a long and rich culture over the hundreds of years since the first group arrived.

One of the best pieces of evidence of the early people that lived on the island is the giant stone statues that have been found around Easter Island.  These statues are called “moai” and are part of what makes Easter Island famous.  You may have even seen pictures of these statues before.  They look like giant stone heads sticking out of the ground. 

There are over 900 moai statues all over Easter Island!  The statues are all around 13 feet (or 4 meters) high, with a weight of 13 tons!  They are huge faces and chests carved out of a type of rock called “tuff”.  Tuff is a light and porous rock, or rock with holes in it, that was made from volcanic ashes.  One thing that many people don’t know about the statues is that they actually go into the ground and continue at least partly underground.  They are a mystery that no one has yet to solve. 

No one today knows why these statues were made and why there are so many.  It is also a mystery why they were built so big and how they were moved around the island. This would have been an amazing feat of engineering by people living at that time!

One thing is for sure: the statues show that their creators, the early people of Easter Island, were very good craftsmen and engineers. They were very skilled at design and making strong structures.  

In modern times, researchers have determined that there were three different cultural phases, or separate times in human history there.  During the early and middle periods, statues were built and torn down and then rebuilt in the same places.  In the later period, the statues were built even bigger than before and are the statues that you can see pictures of today. 

The first European person to visit Easter Island was a Dutch explorer named Jacob Roggeveen.  He came exploring the area in the year 1722. Captain Roggeveen and his crew arrived on the island on the holiday of Easter.  To help remember the day and celebrate it, the Dutch named the island Paaseiland, which means “Easter Island” in Dutch. This is where the island gets its name! 

In 1770, the Spanish government in Peru sent a group of explorers to Easter Island. The explorers spent four days on the island.  They found that there were about 3,000 native people living on the island. 

Unfortunately, as more and more explorers started visiting the island, they also had diseases that the local islanders had not been around before.  As a result, many of the native islanders died and by 1877, there were only 111 native people living on the island. 

By 1877, Catholic explorers had come to the island to convert, or teach and change the local people to, Christianity.  By the late 19th century, almost all of the people living on the island were Christians. 

In 1888, Chile started using the land to raise sheep.  The government of Chile also appointed a governor to be in charge of Easter Island in 1965, and the island’s people all became Chilean citizens. 

Easter Island does not have any natural bays to form harbors that are places for boats to be parked away from the harsh weather of the ocean. The island’s largest village is called Hanga Roa. It was made into a World Heritage site in 1995, so it will not be developed into a tourist place full of hotels and other developments. 

Today, Easter Island is home to a mixed group of people.  Many of the people living on the island have Polynesian ancestors, or older relatives. The locals now mostly speak Spanish and there are some tourists that visit during the year. 

The post The History of Easter Island for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

One of my favorite places to visit is a chain of islands in the middle of the Pacific Ocean called Hawaii. I grew up in Arizona, which is a desert and a very dry place. I love Arizona, but visiting a tropical place like Hawaii was very exciting. I had never seen so much green and so much ocean! And every island on Hawaii has so many different sites to see and adventures to offer. Most of my visits have been to the islands Oahu and Maui. Oahu is home to the beautiful north shore and gigantic waves, a favorite destination for surfers all around the world. It also is home to Pearl Harbor and the big city of Honolulu. In Maui my wife and I drove to the top of a former volcano, up above the cloud, and were able to see the sunrise from very high. We also hiked through jungles and snorkeled in crystal clear, warm water and saw fish of so many different colors. The beaches are beautiful and whales pass by the islands while migrating north and south through the Pacific Ocean. So this week I was very excited to dig into the history of Hawaii and figure out how the beautiful islands came to be and the history and culture of the Hawaiian people.

First, let’s go back 40 million years to when the Hawaiian islands first began form on top of a hot spot. A hot spot is a place where hot molten rock is pushed to the surface of the earth and creates a volcano. But Hawaii was different because its volcanos were coming up from the middle of the ocean. So if you can imagine hot lava pushing up through a hole in the ocean and up to the surface, then cooling and hardening over millions of years, this is how the Hawaiian islands were formed. Magma is the burning hot rock that then turns into lava and then cools and then becomes rock once again. It took a VERY long time for the lava to cool and then harden little by little until these gigantic islands were formed and reached the surface of the water. 

Over millions of years the volcanos and hardening lava became 8 main islands. The biggest islands are named Hawaii, Maui, Oahu, Molokai, and Kauia. In addition to the big islands there are 130 smaller islands that make up the Hawaiian chain of islands! But interestingly, the Hawaiian islands are not done forming. It has 3 active volcanos, which mean volcanos that still have hot lava flowing from them and slowly making the island larger. If you visit these islands today you can see actual lava pouring from their volcanos!

After the lava cooled and became solid ground, eventually seeds drifted to Hawaii on the water and the wind and the soil was very fertile, which means it was good for growing plants. Over time plants sprouted and began to grow across Hawaii making it very lush and green. The climate is tropical, so many places on the islands look like a jungle and some of the islands like Kaui get lots of rainfall and are very wet. Other places on Hawaii are very dry, so it’s geography is very diverse. But one reason Hawaii is such a favorite place to visit is that the weather is usually very nice and cool all year around, perfect for people to visit for a vacation.

Animal life also eventually made its way to Hawaii and over time the species there became very unique. Among the unique species are the monk seal, the nay-nay, also known as the Hawaiian goose, and the hoary bat. Along with these are many birds special to Hawaii, many of which have become endangered.

For thousands and thousands of years the Hawaiian islands only had plants and animals on them, no people, until around 300 AD, about 1700 years ago when people from different islands found it by boat. These people were Polynesian, which means they had lived on islands in the Pacific Ocean for hundreds of years. But the journey from where they probably lived to Hawaii was very far, around 3,000 miles, which you can imagine would take a very long time and be very dangerous in a small boat in the ocean. We’re not exactly sure when more Polyensians arrived in Hawaii, but over time more and more people arrived and settled the many islands. With them they brought new plants and animals, such as chickens and dogs, coconuts and bananas. Over time these groups settled into chiefdoms ruled by local chiefs, which ruled the settlements, created laws, and often competed with each other for food and land. They fished and planted farms and built homes and temples to their gods. They believed the gods gave them power, which they called mana. 

For hundreds of years the tribes of the different islands were divided until the 1780s and 90s when a chief named Kamehameha rose to power. Kamehameha was the son of a chief and at his birth it was said a bright star appeared, a prophesy that he would someday become a great king and rule all of the islands of Hawaii. Many believe this is the same time Haley’s Comet appeared in the sky in 1758. 

With all his heart, Kamehameha believed this prophecy about himself and was determined to defeat all of the other chiefs and rule Hawaii as one nation. Over time Kamehameha built up a strong army and one by one, went about fighting the other chiefs on each of the islands, conquering their tribes and making them his own. With each victory, Kamehameha and his people believed his mana, or divine power, increased. 

During Kamehameha’s rise to power, in 1778, the first known European explorer, Captain James Cook, reached Hawaii. The relationship between Europeans and Hawaiians was off and on, but Kamehameha saw their large ships and powerful weapons, such as cannons and guns that fired using gunpowder and looked for ways to use them in his own quest for power. In 1789 after British ships fired on Hawaiian locals, Kamehameha took two of them captive and gave them the choice to join his kingdom or be executed. They chose to join his kingdom and became his counselors showing his soldiers how to fire a cannon and guns and sail ships. Kamahameha had been using his wealth to buy guns, ships, and gunpowder from the European traders, so he could continue to conquer all of the Hawaiian islands and unite them under one ruler.

In 1795 Kamehemaha set off for the islands of Maui and Oahu with 960 war canoes and 10,000 soldiers. After defeating his final enemies, Kamehameha became supreme ruler of the Hawaiian islands. As king, he changed the laws so they were the same across the islands and did everything he could to keep them united. His wife, Ka-ah-humanoo was one of his advisors and became one of Hawaii’s most powerful leaders. 

After Kamehameha’s death, his son became the new King of Hawaii. During his reign, Christian missionaries began visiting the island and teaching about the religion of Jesus and the Bible. Many Hawaiians took interest in the religion. Eventually the leaders of Hawaii became Christian, too. Over time more and more Europeans and Americans moved to Hawaii. With this came a change in their native Hawaiian culture. The newcomers wanted the native people to speak English and change their traditions. They also were interested in using Hawaiian lands to plant sugar cane and sell it. Sugar cane is used to make sugar, which was a very desirable item across the world, because everyone loves sugar! Soon sugar cane plantations became a major business in Hawaii because of the weather and soil.

The children of the people who moved to Hawaii wanted more control over the government, so they could make decisions that helped their sugar cane businesses. At first they were just advisors to the Kings and Queens of Hawaii, but slowly they took more and more power to themselves. 

In 1891 a woman named Lili-oo-kalani became the first and last queen of Hawaii. She was born in Honololu on the island of Oahu and was raised up to be Hawaiian royalty. She loved the Hawaiian people and wanted them to be in control of their country rather than the foreigners who had come to power through their powerful sugar plantations and other businesses. She spent her time and energy helping to educate her people and feed the hungry. She was a talented songwriter and played the guitar, piano, ukulele (a small Hawaiian guitar) and sang. 

Even though she desperately wanted her people to stay in power, she was forced out of her position as queen by the powerful business people who were also aided by the American military who came to Hawaii with ships to back the powerful businessmen. At the time, the President of the United States and his advisors were interested in growing the United State’s overseas power and didn’t do anything to stop the forceful takeover of the Hawaiian government. The Hawaiian people peacefully protested, but it did little good. Queen Lily-oo-kalani was arrested and forced to stay in her home while she was replaced as ruler of Hawaii. It was there that she wrote the most famous Hawaiian song, “Aloha Oe.” 

Later, Lily-oo-kalani travelled to the United States to speak to the President and demand that her country be in control of the Hawaiian people again. He agreed, but other government leaders did not. Later, Hawaii became a territory of the United States and in 1859 an official state. During the years after Lily-oo-kalani was Queen there was pressure to do away with Hawaiian language and culture, but fortunately, in recent years there has been a return to an appreciation for the beauty of native Hawaiian traditions and many schools teach their native language again.

Today, Hawaii has become one of the top tourist destinations for people all around the world. 10 million people visited Hawaii in 2019 to sightsee, hike, surf, snorkel, whale watch, golf, and relax on its beautiful beaches.

Hawaii has a rich history and culture, and with it the “Aloha Spirit” and these principles: kindness, unity, humility, pleasantness and perseverance. And I wanted to end with these inspiring words by the last Queen of Hawaii, Lily-oo-kalani:  

“Never cease to act because you fear you may fail. The true secret is to know your own worth.” 

To echo her own words, know your own worth as a human being and the unique gifts you bring to the world. You can take courage and act and use your gifts to better the life of others!

The post History of Hawaii for Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.

Close your eyes and imagine you are standing up to your knees in a cold river. The water is rushing around you. You see a fish swim by. Your feet crunch in the rocks as you walk around. Above you the sky is clear and blue. You are holding a metal panel. You dip it down into the water and scrape it along the bottom, picking up rocks and small gravel. After lifting it out of the water, you sift out the larger rocks and swirl it around, looking very closely at the minerals in the water. You swirl it again and then you see it, a glint of something shiny. You reach down in the water and pick it up. Sure enough, it’s a gold nugget! You hold it up in the air and shout “I found one, I found one.” Your friends nearby see it and congratulate you. You’ve found gold! 

In 1848 in California in the United States a man named John Sutter was building a sawmill. Sutter had hired several workers to help him build the sawmill along the American River in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains. One of the workers, James Marshall, was looking into the water when suddenly he saw something shiny. He got down into the water to look closer and noticed a small gold rock. He showed it to the other workers. Could it be real gold or was it just fools gold, also known as pyrite? James and the others spent the rest of the day testing the rock to see if it was real gold. To their surprise, the rock he found was actual gold! 

Gold is special for many reasons. First, it’s not like most metals, which are gray. It’s a shiny, beautiful color that is perfect for making jewelry. It is also soft, but doesn’t break apart when shaped by tools. Gold also lasts a very long time and does not rust in water. 

When John Sutter realized it was real gold he was worried for a couple reasons. One was that he didn’t own the land he was building the sawmill on, so he needed to find a way to buy it quickly so he could own the gold on it, too. The second reason was that once others found out gold was near his land, everyone would rush there to try and mine it, too.

Sutter made deals with the local Native Americans until he owned the land, but the way he went about it wasn’t fair. And even though he tried to keep it a secret, his workers started telling their friends. Before long word spread about gold in California. A newspaper headline in San Francisco read: “Gold Mine Found.” At this time not very many people lived in California, but with news spreading about gold that would change very quickly. This is called a gold rush. This wasn’t the first time a gold rush happened in the United States or other places in the world. In North Carolina in 1799 a young boy found a 17-pound gold nugget near his home. This led to a gold rush there. Later there was a gold rush in the Appalachian Mountains and after the Caifornia gold rush there would be one in Alaska.

As word about gold in California spread across the United States, people started travelling from all around eager to become rich. Someone searching for gold is called a “prospector.” Prospectors travelled to California by land and by sea. Going by land was the cheapest way to go, but was also the longest trip, taking 7 months. Prospectors joined groups of wagons called wagon trains and used the Oregon, California and Santa Fe Trails to get there. Going by land was very dangerous. They often ran out of water, got diseases, or ran into trouble with Native Americans who didn’t want them on their land. 

The more expensive, but faster way to travel to California, was by sea. Prospectors usually left from New York or Boston and either went all the way around the tip of South America at Cape Horn, which took five or six months, or they took a ship to the Isthmus of Panama. From there they crossed the land at the isthmus (a narrow neck of land) in a wagon, then they boarded a second ship and took it north to California. This was the fastest way to go, but was also dangerous. Prospectors travelling through the jungles of Panama often caught malaria or Yellow Fever along the way.

Once prospectors reached San Francisco, California they usually bought mining supplies and all of the other gear they needed to mine gold. These tools included a knife, a pick to break rocks, a shovel, a round tin pan for panning for gold, a rocker, a tent, and food needed to survive. As more miners came through San Francisco, the town began to grow. More people build stores there to sell tools and other supplies. They also built hotels and places for entertainment to accommodate the prospectors passing through. 

From San Francisco, prospectors travelled another 140 miles into California before they started searching for gold. They usually looked in streams first, using pans to dig up the loose rock and sift through it for flakes of gold. This is called panning for gold. Once the prospector found a spot worth mining they would “stake their claim,” which means reserve it for themselves. Panning for gold was very hard work. Their beards grew long, they became very dirty doing the work, and often the food didn’t give them good nutrition. Many prospectors who travelled all the way to California, and spent all of their money to get there, never found any gold.

The other name for prospectors in California was a “49er,” because the year was 1849. You may have also heard of the team the San Francisco 49ers, which comes from the prospectors who brought fame and more people to California. 

The 49ers who did discover gold took it to cities like Stockton or Sacramento or all the way back to San Francisco to have their gold weighed and sold to the bank. These towns began to grow because prospectors wanted a comfortable place to stay, good food to eat, and entertainment after living out in the wild for so long. In 1849 San Francisco went from having 150 people living there to 6,000! Five years later 50,000 people lived there! It also became known as the Golden Gate, which the Golden Gate Bridge is named after.

Towns nearby the gold became known as “boomtowns.” They were wild, rowdy places where prospectors went for entertainment and to spend the money they earned from mining gold. 

Many miners were unlucky and never became rich during the gold rush, but some did. One of those was John Bidwell. He eventually found $2.5 million dollars worth of gold in today’s money and 600 miners worked there in what became known as Bidwell’s Bar. Brothers John and Daniel Murthy also became very wealthy along with John Fremont. Most people never found large amounts of gold, but instead just small amounts in rivers. But some people became very wealthy not by mining gold, but by building stores and hotels and other businesses to support all of the prospectors coming into San Francisco.

If you’ve ever worn jeans, they became very popular in San Francisco at this time. In 1850 a German businessman named Levi Strauss moved there to start selling his pants. They were made of denim and had pockets and lasted longer than cotton pants. They later became known as Levis and are still a popular jean company today.

Ghihardelli Chocolate Company also started in San Francisco during the gold rush and has been in business for more than 160 years. Our family loves their chocolate chips and if you ever visit San Francisco today be sure to get ice cream with their chocolate topping there.

Once most of the gold nuggets and flakes in rivers had been discovered, miners had to start digging down into the earth to get it. These are called gold deposits. Miners had to tunnel down to get the ore, which is the hard rock with veins of gold inside it. Tunnels were dug and dynamite was used to break up the rock. Mining was very dangerous. Workers went deep into the ground using elevators, which often broke. The air was poor underground and sometimes there were cave-ins. The mining was also bad for the land and water in many of these places. A chemical called mercury was used to separate gold from rock dust. The mercury was poisonous to the miners and much of it got washed into the rivers and killed fish and other animals. Farmland was also destroyed as miners chipped away at the earth. Laws had to be passed to protect the land. The gold rush also caused people to leave other work such as farming and shipping. The other problem was more people moved into California and Native Americans who had lived there for generations were forced off their land onto reservations. 

Over time it became harder to find gold, so prospectors left California for other places. Silver had been discovered in Nevada, so many of them moved there or just decided to do something else with their life. With this, many of the boomtowns turned into what became known as “ghost towns.” This just means that people no longer needed the town, so the buildings were left unmaintained and grew old and fell apart. 

But even though the gold rush was over, the United States would forever be changed. San Franscico became a big city with over 50,000 people living there. While the United States had mostly been populated in the East, it now reached from East to West, from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean. Today almost a million people live in San Francisco and since the advent of the Internet it has seen its success in software as people move to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley to work for large tech companies such as Google, Apple and Facebook.

The post California Gold Rush For Kids appeared first on Bedtime History: Podcast and Videos For Kids.