Home > Klondike Gold Rush

On August 16, 1896, rich placer gold deposits were discovered by George Carmack in Bonanza (Rabbit) Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River near Dawson. News reached the United States on July 17, 1897 when the first successful prospectors arrived in Seattle, and within a month the Klondike stampede had begun. The population in the Klondike in 1898 may have reached 40,000, threatening to cause a famine.

Most prospectors landed at SkagwaySkagway is a city located in Skagway-Hoonah-Angoon Census Area, Alaska, on the Alaska Panhandle. As of the 2000 census, the population of the city is 862. The port of Skagway is a popular stop for cruise ships, and the tourist trade is these days a big pa at the head of Lynn CanalThe Lynn Canal is an inlet in the mainland of southeast Alaska. It runs about 145 km (90 miles) from the inlets of the Chilkoot River and the Chilkat River on the north to the Chatham Strait and Stephens Passage. It connects Skagway to Juneau and is a maj and crossed by Chilkoot or White PassThe White Pass is a mountain pass through the Coast Mountains in Alaska and British Columbia that leads from Skagway, Alaska, United States to the town of Bennett, British Columbia, Canada on Lake Bennett. The trail through the pass, called the White Pass to Bennett Lake. Here, prospectors built boats that would take them the final 500 miles down the Yukon River to the gold fields. Miners and prospectors ascend the Chilkoot TrailThe Chilkoot Trail is a trail in the Chilkoot mountains in Alaska that leads from Dyea, Alaska, United States to Bennett, British Columbia, Canada through the Chilkoot Pass in the Coast Mountains. The trail was long used by the Tlingit as a trade route an The Chilkoot Pass was steep and hazardous, rising a thousand feet in the last half mile. It was too steep for pack animals and prospectors had to pack their equipment and supplies to the top. Some 1,500 steps were carved into the ice to aid travel up the pass. (Photos)

Conditions on White Pass were even worse. It was known as the Dead Horse Trail with about 3,000 animals dying along the route. (Photos).

Miner's camp at the head of the Yukon RiverThe Yukon River is a watercourse of northern North America. Over half of the river lies in Alaska, USA, with the other portion lying in and giving its name (meaning great river in Gwich'in) to Canada's Yukon Territory. The longest river in Alaska and the Others took the Copper River Trail or the Teslin Trail by Stikine RiverThe Stikine River (sti-KEEN) is a river, approximately 335 mi (539 km) long, in northwestern British Columbia in Canada and southeastern Alaska in the United States. Considered one of the last truly wild rivers in North America, it drains a rugged pristin and Teslin Lake , and some used the all-Canadian Ashcroft and Edmonton trails. The other main route was by steamerpaddlewheel from a paddle steamer on the lake of Lucerne. Right: detail of a steamer PS Waverley leaving Dunoon on the Firth of Clyde. A steamboat or steamship sometimes called a steamer is a boat or vessel that is propelled by steam power driving a prope about 2600 kilometers (1600 miles) up the Yukon RiverThe Yukon River is a watercourse of northern North America. Over half of the river lies in Alaska, USA, with the other portion lying in and giving its name (meaning great river in Gwich'in) to Canada's Yukon Territory. The longest river in Alaska and the. Many using this route late in 1897 were caught by winter ice below Fort Yukon and had to be rescued.

Throughout this period, the North West Mounted Police, under the command of Sam Steele maintained a firm grip on the activities of the prospectors to ensure the safety of the population as well as enforcing the laws and sovereignty of Canada. As a result, this gold rush has been described as the most peaceful and orderly of its type in history. The effectiveness of the Mounties in this period made the police force famous around the world, and ensured the survival of the organization at a time when its continued operation was being debated in the Canadian Parliament.

The gold rush remains an important event in the history of the city of Edmonton, which to this day celebrates Klondike Days , an annual summer fair with a Klondike gold rush theme.

Among the many to take part in the gold rush was writer Jack London, whose books White Fang and The Call of the Wild were influenced by his northern experiences, and adventurer "Swiftwater" Bill Gates.

See also Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park.