There were numerous gold rushes in the late 1850s and early 1860s. The Oregon Gold Rush occurred in 1850. Then in 1850, the Pikes Peak Gold Rush occurred. People went gold panning in Colorado and Oregon because they wanted to get rich. Furthermore, people who didn't have much money saw this as an opportunity to become richer. So most people ended up trying to get rich. So people found the “hot spots” and others found the “icky spots.” The creeks near Jacksonville, the Illinois River, and Josephine Creek were where gold was found in Oregon. Once word spread of gold near Oregon, miners from California and the Willamette Valley arrived. People were confident that they would find gold because Oregon was supposed to have a mild climate and very rich soil. The earlier you get there, the better for two reasons. First, if you got there early you could claim the land where the gold was located. Then the first peoples claimed the land with a lot of gold on it. Secondly, the earlier you got there, the more gold there would be. So more opportunities for the first to get rich. Most men ...