forty-niners

1. Those who flocked to California in 1849 in search of gold, which had been discovered there in 1848. Reportedly, there were about eighty thousand of them.

Example Sentences

The story of how a handful of 21st century “forty-niners” wound up searching for gold on a singed landscape studded with Joshua trees arcs back nearly 100 years, entangling an eclectic cast of characters.

From Los Angeles Times

They built a reputation for coffee and good fish among the newly arriving forty-niners, and in 1852 they relocated to the New World Market, then San Francisco’s central produce market, on Commercial Street.

From New York Times

Several forty-niners glimpsed precious metal as they dragged themselves over the mountains.

From The New Yorker

California's famed gold rush began in the mid-19th century when gold was discovered and tens of thousands of "forty-niners" flocked to the state from around the country.

From US News

There were no native oysters in the San Francisco Bay when forty-niners like Morgan first arrived and went looking for them.

From Scientific American