Gold Rush
A gold rush is a period of feverish migration of workers into the area of a dramatic discovery of commercial quantities of gold. The Klondike Gold Rush There had been rumors of gold in the Yukon since the 1830s, but the harsh land, together with the Chilkoot Indians’ guarding of their territory, kept most prospectors away. Then, on August 16, 1896 the most frenzied and fabled gold rush in Canadian History started when George Washington Carmack and two Indian friends, Snookum Jim and Tagish Charlie, found a large gold nugget in the river they later named Bonanza Creek. For the next two years at least 100,000 prospectors set out for the new gold fields. Only about 40,000 prospectors actually made it. Most took boats as far as Skagway or Dyea, on the Alaskan Panhandle, then struggled across the Coast Mountains by the White or Chilkoot passes to reach the headwaters of the Yukon River. From here boats took them 500 km to the gold fields. In all, the gold rush generated Can $ 50 million, although few miners managed to hold onto their fortunes. Dawson City: As the gold rush developed in the summer of 1897, the small tent camp at the junction of Klondike and Yukon rivers grew to a population of 5000. A year on, it had reached 40,000 making Dawson city one of the largest cities in Canada.
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