gold rush

a large-scale and hasty movement of people to a region where gold has been discovered, as to California in 1849.

Origin of gold rush

An Americanism dating back to 1875–80

For years, William Schmidt single-handedly dug a tunnel through a mountain to transport his gold-rush loot.

The Mole Man’s Tunnel to Nowhere |Nina Strochlic |November 28, 2014 |DAILY BEAST
It had come straight from her mother, a woman who, in gold-rush days, had been the acknowledged beauty of the province.

The Sky Line of Spruce |Edison Marshall
He taught me the game of cribbage, and the old game of gold-rush days—solo.

I Married a Ranger |Dama Margaret Smith
Then, more than forty years ago, came the gold-rush away up in the Stikine River country.

The Hunted Woman |James Oliver Curwood

That was the beginnin' o' the Johntown gold-rush, an' I, for the second time, was one o' the discoverers.

Murder Point |Coningsby Dawson
At the very commencement of the gold-rush a hole had been sunk in Deadman's Flat, and soon afterwards deserted.

Grif |B. L. (Benjamin Leopold) Farjeon

gold rush

a large-scale migration of people to a territory where gold has been found