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The Gold Rush, a la Shmoop:

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"There's gold in this thar video!"

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It's 1849. Spring. Early morning. 187 pounds of dynamite rattle around in your

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wagon as you bounce to the mine on unpaved roads.

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A year ago, gold was first discovered in California by a guy named James Marshall.

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Word spread quickly, and people from all over the world travelled to central and northern

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California. And it wasn't for the weather.

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Well... not just for the weather. But gold prospecting wasn't the safest way

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to make a quick buck... or even a million of them.

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Any idea what 187 pounds of explosive can do to ya?

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Many of the very first prospectors -- the "48ers" -- had made many years' wages

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in a very short time... ...but the 49ers usually came up empty.

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Yet just the chance of finding gold caused hundreds of thousands of people to abandon

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their former lives and travel across the world. Just how desperate were people back then...

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,,,to risk life and limb and everything they had...

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... for a small chance of hitting the jackpot? What would you risk to make a million dollars?

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An arm? A leg?

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What about ten million... or a hundred million?

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Nowadays, reality game shows push contestants

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to their limits in exchange for big-money prizes.

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How much money would get you to eat a bug, or live on a deserted island?

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What if somebody promised you lots of money to take a locked suitcase on a plane to a

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foreign country... would you do it?

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Where do you draw the line? What would you do for life-changing money?

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What sort of chance would you be willing to take?

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Shmoop amongst yourselves.

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