A forty-niner is a term used to describe a person who migrated to California in the year 1849 to search for gold. Tens of thousands migrants from all over the world traveled to California during this time.
The Charlie Daniels Band, Fire on the Mountain
Took my family away from my Carolina home
Had dreams about the West and started to roam
Six long months on a dust-covered trail
They say heaven's at the end, but so far, it's been hell