In three years it grew to become "the Paris of Alaska", with about 1,200 inhabitants, saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. On the Alaskan side of the border Circle City, a logtown, was established 1893 on the Yukon River. By late 1886, several hundred miners were working their way along the Yukon valley, living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän. The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in small amounts and with no claims being made. In 1883, Ed Schieffelin identified gold deposits along the Yukon River, and an expedition up the Fortymile River in 1886 discovered considerable amounts of it and founded Fortymile City. The Hän did not appear to know about the extent of the gold deposits in the region. Here, they encountered the Hän people, semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. Making deals with the Native Tlingit and Tagish tribes, the early prospectors opened the important routes of Chilkoot and White Pass and reached the Yukon valley between 18.
In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the area. The Russians and the Hudson's Bay Company had both explored the Yukon in the first half of the 19th century, but ignored the rumours of gold in favour of fur trading, which offered more immediate profits. Most of the tribes were aware that gold existed in the region, but the metal was not valued by them. The indigenous peoples in north-west America had traded in copper nuggets prior to European expansion. Since then, the Klondike has been mined on and off, and today the legacy draws tourists to the region and contributes to its prosperity. Gold mining production in the Klondike peaked in 1903 after heavier equipment was brought in. The boom towns declined, and the population of Dawson City fell. In the summer of 1899, gold was discovered around Nome in west Alaska, and many prospectors left the Klondike for the new goldfields, marking the end of the Klondike Rush. The indigenous Hän, on the other hand, suffered from the rush they were forcibly moved into a reserve to make way for the Klondikers, and many died.īeginning in 1898, the newspapers that had encouraged so many to travel to the Klondike lost interest in it. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly, gambling and drinking in the saloons. Built of wood, isolated, and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices, and epidemics. From a population of 500 in 1896, the town grew to house approximately 30,000 people by summer 1898. At their terminus, Dawson City was founded at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. To accommodate the prospectors, boom towns sprang up along the routes. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed. Performing this task, and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate, meant those who persisted did not arrive until summer 1898. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves, in stages. The Canadian authorities required each of them to bring a year's supply of food, in order to prevent starvation.
Here, the "Klondikers" could follow either the Chilkoot or the White Pass trails to the Yukon River, and sail down to the Klondike. To reach the gold fields, most prospectors took the route through the ports of Dyea and Skagway, in Southeast Alaska. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. Gold was discovered there by local miners on Augwhen news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors.
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 18. The Call of the Wild, The Spell of the Yukon, The Cremation of Sam McGee Prospectors ascending Chilkoot Pass, 1898ĭawson City at Klondike River, Yukon, Canada
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