Penelope lived in North Carolina when the gold was found,

They heard that in California boomtowns were all around.

So Penelope's family left for California with the other forty-niners,

In hopes of becoming rich gold miners.

People came from overseas,

Europeans, Australians, and even the Chinese.

California boomtowns were towns that grew overnight

Watching them grow was an amazing sight.

Panning for gold created holes and ditches in the ground,

Which caused the movement of dirt and erosion all around.

In the boomtowns, vigilantes were people who acted as judges, juries, and the police,

They kept out the violence and maintained the peace.