Klondike Gold Rush

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A typical gold mining operation, on Bonanza Creek.

The Klondike Gold Rush was a frenzy of gold rush immigration to, and gold prospecting along, the Klondike River near Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, after gold was discovered in the late 19th century.

1 Discovery
2 Stampede begins
3 Cultural legacy
4 Further reading
5 External links

[edit] Discovery

Keish (Skookum Jim Mason)

In August 1895, three people led by Skookum Jim Mason (a member of the Tagish nation whose birth name was Keish) headed north, down the Yukon River from the Carcross area, looking for his sister Kate and her husband George Carmack. The party included Skookum Jim, Skookum Jim's cousin known as Dawson Charlie (or sometimes Tagish Charlie) and his nephew Patsy Henderson. After meeting up with George and Kate, who were fishing for salmon at the mouth of the Klondike River, they ran into Nova Scotian Robert Henderson who had been mining gold on the Indian River, just south of the Klondike. Henderson told George Carmack about where he was mining and that he did not want any "Siwashes" (meaning Indians) near him.

On August 16, 1896, the party discovered rich placer gold deposits in Bonanza (Rabbit) Creek. It is not clear who made the actual discovery, but some accounts say that it was Kate Carmack, while others credit Skookum Jim. George Carmack was officially credited for the discovery because the "discovery" claim was staked in his name. The group agreed to this because they felt that other miners would be reluctant to recognize a claim made by an Indian, given the strong racist attitudes of the time.

[edit] Stampede begins

Miners wait to register their claims.

The news spread to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. The Bonanza, Eldorado, and Hunker Creeks were rapidly staked by miners who had been previously working creeks and sandbars on the Fortymile and Stewart Rivers. Robert Henderson, who was mining a few miles away over the hill, learned about the discovery only after all the rich creeks had been staked.

News reached the United States in July 1897, when the first successful prospectors arrived in San Francisco on July 15 and in Seattle on July 17, setting off the Klondike stampede. In 1898, the population in the Klondike may have reached 40,000, which threatened to cause a famine.

Routes to the Klondike.

Most prospectors landed at Skagway, Alaska, or the adjacent town of Dyea, Alaska, both located at the head of the Lynn Canal. From these towns they traveled the Chilkoot Trail and crossed the Chilkoot Pass, or they hiked up to the White Pass into the Yukon Territory and proceeded thence to Lake Lindeman or Lake Bennett, the headwaters of the Yukon River. Here, some 25 to 35 grueling miles (40 - 56 km) from where they landed, prospectors built rafts and boats that would take them the final 500-plus miles (800-plus km) down the Yukon to Dawson City, near the gold fields. Stampeders had to carry a year's supply of goods — about a ton, more than half of it food — over the passes to be allowed to enter Canada. At the top of the passes, the stampeders encountered a Mountie post that enforced that regulation. It was put in place to avert shortages like those that had occurred in the previous two winters in Dawson City.

[edit] Cultural legacy

Among the many to take part in the gold rush was writer Jack London, whose books White Fang, The Call of the Wild, and "To Build a Fire", a collection of short stories, were influenced by his northern experiences, and adventurer "Swiftwater" Bill Gates. Part I of Jack London's 1910 novel Burning Daylight is centered around the Klondike Gold Rush. Another literary luminary connected with the rush, and whose cabin still stands in Dawson City, was folk-lyricist Robert W. Service, whose short epics "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and other works describe the fierce grandeur of the north and the survival ethic and gold fever of men and women in the frozen, gold-strewn north. Service's best-known line is the opening of "The Cremation of Sam McGee", which goes "There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who mold for gold...".

One of the most thorough popular histories of the Klondike Gold Rush, titled simply Klondike, was written by Canada's Pierre Berton, who was raised in Yukon (In the United States, Berton's book is entitled The Klondike Fever.) Berton covers nearly every misadventure of the nightmarish and harrowing journeys taken by the many parties on different routes bound for Dawson City, and also covers in fair detail the goings-on in that town up until about 1904. One of the last books of Jules Verne "Le Volcan d'Or" or "The Volcano of Gold" in English, deals with the terrible hardships endured by the gold-seekers in the Klondike. The book was written in 1899 but was unpublished until 1989.

Charlie Chaplin carving up a boot in The Gold Rush

Charlie Chaplin's silent movie The Gold Rush (1925), one of the highest grossing movies ever, was set in the Klondike, as was the silent epic The Trail of '98 (1928) and Mae West's Klondike Annie (1936).

James A. Michener's novel Alaska (chapter VIII) describes the harsh realities of the Klondike Gold Rush using fictional characters.

The gold rush was celebrated in the city of Edmonton, with Klondike Days an annual summer fair with a Klondike gold rush theme. Though far away from Dawson City and the Klondike River, Edmonton became known as a "Gateway to the North" for gold prospectors. It was in the city that many would collect the necessary goods for trekking up north in search of wealth. Individuals and teams of explorers arrived in Edmonton and prepared for travel by foot, York boat, dog team, or horses. Travel to the Yukon over land via what was sometimes called the "all Canada" route and the prospectors that took this route were often referred to as "overlanders". While few overlanders made it to the Klondike, (160 out of about 1,600 that started[1]) Alberta's Northlands Association which is based in Edmonton, honored the memory and spirit of the overlanders with Klondike Days. For many years, Klonkike Days was fun summer exhibtion with themed events such as the, the Sunday Promenade, the Sourdough raft race, free pancake breakfasts, saloons, gold panning and era costume partys. Despite the many sad realities of the gold rush, Edmonton appreciated the Klondike spirit, which was characterized by a tenacious hope for success in the face of hardship, and an energetic zest for life. As a fair theme it was meant to provide the impetuts for fun fantasy characters (eg: Klondike Mike and Kate) and fun events celebrating an interesting time. The sentimental aspect of the gold rush lost its popular appeal in the 1980s and 90s and in 2005 the theme was dropped.