Gold Rush at Riley's Farm

Riley's Farm. Oak Glen, Ca. 11.1.12

a few weeks ago a friend invited us on their homeschool charter's living history trip at one of our fave local places 

Riley's Farm. 
it was on our fall to do check list, so we packed our stuff up last minute & hit the road early in the morning!

my mama made the brownsugars costumes a few years ago when we visited the Colonial Farm Life trip
& luckily they worked again for this Gold Rush trip. 
(because really what better way to experience a living history field trip than being in costume!)
check the Riley's Farm link...it's absolutely beautiful & they have so many many fantastic things to offer! 

our guide giving the group a history lesson & the laws of the land.

mining in the gold field.

to enter we had to make a deal with the claim owner.

our deal was to pay 30 percent of the gold found. 

the kids mostly calculated their negotiations themselves.

{these pix are out of order...oops}

searching for nuggets by hand in the sluice boxes.

afterwards the girls decided that maybe it would be better to invest some of their hard earned gold mining money on a {highly} price inflated mining pan.  

 at the bank they converted all their gold into paper money.

there was even a bank robbery!

 the miners also had the opportunity to try to earn extra money by doing other chores if they could find any.

 

after the claims & the bank closed for the day

we were served a miner's lunch that consisted an apple, jerky meat, cornbread, a slice of cheese & lemon aide

before the auction in the big barn

(where of course you get to spend your hard days work earned pay).

the auction was such a great educational lesson in supply & demand (as the supply of objects to bid on decreased, the bidding price on the remaining objects increased significantly).

at the end of the auction the guide discussed supply & demand in further detail as well as other valuable educational & historical info.

one of our fave tidbits was that he pointed out that the same people owned the claims, mines, the goods & supplies for purchase, the bank, the auction, pretty much everything involved

& they made a fortune off (US) the desperate miners!

i'm not giving it all away,

but fall at Riley's Farm is a beautiful time of year to visit (as any actually)...check out the Riley's Farm link to see why!