Final answer:
The term '49ers' refers to the individuals who traveled to California during the Gold Rush of 1849 to search for gold and get rich. The '49ers migrated from various locations and faced a challenging process in extracting gold.
Step-by-step explanation:
During the gold rush, many people traveled to make it rich out in California. These individuals who made the journey in 1849 are known as the 49ers.
Word about the discovery of gold in California in 1848 spread quickly and thousands soon made their way to the West Coast in search of quick riches. This event was dubbed as The Gold Rush. A mass exodus of people from various locations including Peru, Chile, China, as well as Easterners who traveled on foot, horseback or wagons journeyed to California in hopes of finding wealth.
The term '49ers' came about because majority of the people migrated in the year 1849. However, the process of finding gold wasn't as easy as some had first imagined. The gold that had been washed down the mountains into streams and rivers, was quickly exhausted, and extracting the remaining gold deep below ground required more resources including hydraulic mining technology and labour.
Learn more about Gold Rush