forty-niner

/ˌfɔrdi ˈnaɪnər/

Other forms: forty-niners

Someone who traveled west during the California Gold Rush was a forty-niner. Although about two billion dollars worth of gold was found during the era, few individual forty-niners struck it rich.

The forty-niners got their name from the year they arrived in California. The Gold Rush began the year before, but 1849 was the peak of the mad dash to collect the shiny gold nuggets in the western territory. An estimated 90,000 prospectors traveled to California that year, coming from all over the globe to pan for gold in streams and rivers. A few made their fortunes, and many others settled in the region, which became a state in 1850.

Definitions of forty-niner

1. noun

   a miner who took part in the California gold rush in 1849
   type of:

   gold digger, gold miner, gold panner

   a miner who digs or pans for gold in a gold field