The year is 1849. Kitty and her mate, Silver, have headed to California to get rich! They stake their claim, naming their land Kitty's Claim, and the river, Silver Stream.
Soon, other hopefuls show up. They sleep in tents, just downstream of Kitty's Claim.
A mine is built and Vanilla finds the mother lode!
As soon as the others find out, there is a mad dash for gold.
Kitty comes to the rescue, throws claim jumpers and robbers in jail, keeps the meals organized at the inn, and prevents the stores from price gouging.
You, too, can have fun while learning history. I used the cardboard boxes that my orders have been coming in, plus a few from Costco, and the packing paper for the river. I painted using powdered tempera. Once upon a time, when I had only two toddlers, I purchased a set of tempera paint at the craft store. I thought I was being so smart, buying the big bottles when they were on sale for $1.88! I got one of each color. And they are all dried up to a clump and are in the garbage can now. Powder tempera is far superior, because you only mix as much as you need. While the paint was wet, I sprinkled gold glitter inside the mine and on the river. The kids loved picking them off for their gold pile. I didn't spend much time on detail...but IJ said, "Wow! This is great, Mom!" so I guess I did just fine
