Alaska-Yukon Cruise Tour

Klondike Gold Rush

The Klondike got its name from the Indian word “Thron Diuck” meaning “Hammer Water”.  Early settlers had difficulty with the pronunciation and thus it became KLON-DIKE.

Routes to the Klondike.

The Klondike Gold Rush, infrequently referred to as the Yukon Gold Rush or Alaska Gold Rush, was a frenzy of gold rush immigration to and for gold prospecting, along the Klondike River near Dawson City, Yukon, after gold was discovered there in the late 19th century. In total, about 12.5 million ounces of gold have been taken from the Klondike area in the century since its discovery.

Discovery

In August 1896, three people led by Skookum Jim Mason (a member of the Tagish First Nations 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 21, 1896, the Skookum party discovered rich placer gold deposits in Bonanza (Rabbit) Creek which is located in the Yukon, northwest Canada. 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 gold discovery because the actual 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.

The rush begins

Miners wait to register their claims.

The news spread to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley. Gold was first discovered in Rabbit Creek which was later named Bonanza Creek because so many people came to the creek for gold. 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 couple of 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, California on July 15 and in Seattle, Washington 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.

Men from all walks of life headed for the Yukon from as far away as New York. Surprisingly, a large proportion were professionals, such as teachers and doctors, even a mayor or two, who gave up respectable careers to make the journey. Most were perfectly aware their chance of finding significant amounts of gold were slim to none, and went for the adventure. As many as half of those who reached Dawson kept right on going without doing any prospecting at all. Thus, by bringing large numbers of entrepreneurial adventurers to the region, the Gold Rush significantly contributed to the economic development of Alaska, western Canada, and the Pacific Northwest.

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 and proceeded thence to Lake Lindeman or Lake Bennett, the headwaters of the Yukon River. Here, some 25 to 35 grueling miles from where they landed, prospectors built rafts and boats that would take them the final 500-plus miles 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 Canada's North West Mounted Police 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.

Once the bulk of the prospectors arrived at Dawson City, most of the major mining claims of the region were already established. However, any major potential unrest with the idle population was averted with the firm authority of the NWMP under the command of Sam Steele.

Cultural legacy

Amongst 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 moil 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 the 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. His mother Laura also wrote a book recounting her own experiences entitled "I Married The Klondike".

The gold rush was celebrated in the city of Edmonton, Alberta, 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), Alberta's Northlands Association, which is based in Edmonton, honored the memory and spirit of the overlanders with Klondike Days. For many years, Klondike Days was a fun summer exhibition with themed events such as the Sunday Promenade, the Sourdough raft race, free pancake breakfasts, saloons, gold panning and era costume parties. 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 impetus for fun fantasy characters (e.g., 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.

n addition, the gold rush proved to be one of most famous eras of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's history. Not only did the exemplary conduct of the force ensure its continuation at a time when its dissolution was being debated in the Parliament of Canada, but the Force's depiction in popular western culture is often set at this time. The most popular examples include dramatic depictions such as the radio series Challenge of the Yukon and comedic ones like Dudley Do-Right

A certain amount of slang came out of the gold rush. Experienced miners were often known as Sourdoughs, while potential miners, new to the Klondike, were known as Cheechakos. These two names live on in Dawson City in tourist literature, and enjoy occasional usage by miners still working the tributaries of the Yukon River and Klondike River as well as in literature relating to the gold rush era.

Dawson City page