And Now My Comrades All Are Gone

CALIFORNIA BOOM TOWN NOW PRESERVED IN ARRESTED DECAY

A STATE PARK SINCE 1962

And now my comrades all are gone: Naught remains to toast. They have left me here in my misery, Like some poor wandering ghost. AUTHOR UNKNOWN

Sandy Martinez Az Geographic Alliance Teacher Consultant Tucson, Arizona NATIONAL GEOGRAPHY STANDARDS

STANDARD 1: How to use maps and other geographic representations, tools, and technologies to acquire, process, and report information.

STANDARD 4: The physical and human characteristics of places.

State Standards:

Foundations 3SS-F2 Identify natural and human characteristics of places and how people interact with and modify their environment

PO 4 How people depend on the physical environment and its natural resources to satisfy their basic needs OVERVIEW/OBJECTIVES

People have migrated across states, countries and even continents in search of food, shelter, safety, agreeable climate, as well as the quest for the acquisition of property, land and wealth. Children will discover the push/pull factor by reading, teacher lectures, internet information and actual interviews with immigrants, as to why this movement occurs, and what factors often make this movement a very difficult decision. PURPOSE Children’s imagination will be piqued to involve them in decision making processes…why did these people leave their families and almost all of their physical possessions behind, from what countries were they traveling, how did they become interested in leaving their homeland (town, state…)what were they actually seeking?

And now that very few of these towns still exist, why do people remain, why do they leave, who cares enough to rebury the dead within “respectable “ graveyards, how can these places become state parks… are there enough people to carry on this enormous responsibility? Perhaps it is our job, as educators, to educate and motivate children to become active participants in the preservation of ghost towns in their own states. CONNECTIONS TO THE CURRICULUM:

GEOGRAPHY THEMES: place, human/environment interaction, movement, region

THEMATIC UNIT POSSIBILITIES: science, history, math, writing, reading, music, art, book or internet research, interviews

STRATEGIES: Problem solving, brainstorming, observation, categorizing, decision- making

GRADE LEVEL: 3-8 ADAPTABLE DURATION:

1-3 weeks, one hour each day, with many extension/research based activities

MATERIALS: Internet access, tape recorders and blank tapes for interviews, construction paper, markers, crayons, rulers, maps of state, and world-(where did these people come from?), , pictures, picture books, glossary of terms, (found in the backs of many children’s picture books) chart paper, vocabulary flash cards, pie pans, black paint, gold metallic paper (shredded), sand, water source, small rocks, gold paint- extension: cardboard store fronts for borrowing, saving, trading goods…role playing…

ACTIVITIES 1. Discover what the children know about ghost towns. (explain there are no “real ghosts”-and what the term really means) 2. Have students brainstorm why people wanted to travel west. 3. Students will listen to stories, observe pictures, videos, storytelling, role playing and discuss consequences with their classmates-would they have traveled west in quest of wealth or death? 4. Children will determine what supplies/possessions would be most necessary for them to pack. Draw these into a trunk pattern. 5. Have children locate former mining camps and plot them on a map-(grade level will dictate the difficulty of the map used) 6. Students will determine which towns are truly gone, which are considered ”ghost”, which towns were revived and why… 7. Children will color (and count) arrows on world map to depict other countries interested in America’s gold. 8. Students will share stories of immigrants they interviewed, how they came to be in this country and why. (no names) EXTENSIONS: Have children go panning for a day. Paint pie pans black. Shred gold metallic paper, and spray small rocks gold. Under a stream of water (source to be determined by school location) have children experience the thrill of the gold panning experience. They can later draw an imaginary map of their stream, and possibility of nearby gold. Include a legend.

EVALUATION 1. Each child will be held responsible for a 5 sentence paragraph explaining the push/pull factor in one of the situations discussed in the last few weeks. Illustrate. 2. For ELL children,an illustration and verbal explanation or simple sentences would be acceptable. Arizona