But when news of the strike on Rabbit Creek (soon to be renamed Bonanza Creek) reached the citizens of Circle City, they decamped in droves. Known as ‘The Paris of Alaska,’ it boasted two theaters, eight dance halls, 28 saloons, a library and a school. In 1893, a little farther down the Yukon, in Alaska, two Russian half-bloods hit pay dirt that produced $400,000 a year in gold, and spawned the boom town of Circle City. The next year, coarse gold was found on the Forty Mile River, and a trading post, called Fortymile, then sprang up where the river joins the Yukon River. In 1885, gold was found in paying quantities on the bars of the Stewart River, south of the Klondike River. By 1880, there were perhaps 200 miners panning fine placer gold from the sandbars along the Yukon River. The harsh land and harsher weather, plus the Chilkoot Indians’ jealous guarding of their territory, effectively kept out most prospectors–until 1878, when a man named George Holt braved the elements and the Indians and came back with nuggets impressive enough to make other prospectors follow his lead. There had been rumors of gold in the Yukon as far back as the 1830s, but little was done about it. But, like most of the white men who drifted north in the 1870s and ’80s, he came as much for the solitude as for the gold. Not that this son of a Forty-Niner had anything against being rich. The California native was simply in the right place at the right time. George Carmack, the man who began it all, was neither a die-hard prospector nor a keen businessman. They were the entrepreneurs, the men and women who catered to the Klondike fever. Swept along on this tide of gold seekers was a smaller and cannier contingent, also seeking their fortunes but in a far more practical fashion.

Only about 40,000 actually made it to the Klondike, and precious few of them ever found their fortune. Over the next two years, at least 100,000 eager would-be prospectors from all over the world set out for the new gold fields with dreams of a quick fortune dancing in their heads. On August 16, 1896, George Washington Carmack and two Indian friends in the Yukon pried a nugget from the bed of Rabbit Creek, a tributary of Canada’s Klondike River, and set in motion one of the most frenzied and fabled gold rushes in history. In 1899, miners received news that gold had been discovered in Nome and that it was much easier to get, causing the departure of the majority of the miners and the decline of the boom towns. Those that found gold spent their time and money in saloons, while those that found nothing continued to labor. Along the Klondike river, boom towns formed that were supported by the miners. Some set up and sold claims rather than digging for gold themselves. Of the 30,000 that arrived in the Klondike, only approximately 4,000 actually found gold. Along the routes different towns sprung up and where given the name ‘boom towns.’ Because of this, there were minors that decided to buy and sell their claims so they could build an investment on the backs of others.

Mining was challenging due to pretty unpredictable distribution of gold and digging was slowed by permafrost. Those that made it to the Klondike still had their work cut out for them, as the gold was not easy to find or extract. Many gave up to due to the difficulties of the journey and returned home some were not able to survive the extreme temperatures and died. Around 30,000 of the 100,000 or so prospectors that set out for the Klondike actually made it there.

In the summer of 1898, gold rushers arrived in the Klondike region by the thousands. Each of prospector was told they’d need at least enough food for a year by authorities in Canada so they wouldn’t starve. The long climb over mountainous terrain and frozen rivers, coupled with the intense cold and frequent snowstorms, made for a long and arduous journey. Reports of the gold in newspapers created a hysteria that was nation-wide and many people quit their jobs and then left for the Klondike to become gold-diggers.īecause of the harsh terrain and even harsher weather, it took gold rushers a year to reach the Klondike. Gold was discovered in many rich deposits along the Klondike River in 1896, but due to the remoteness of the region and the harsh winter climate the news of gold couldn’t travel fast enough to reach the outside world before the following year. It’s also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Last Great Gold Rush and the Alaska Gold Rush. Klondike Gold Rush summary: The Klondike Gold Rush was an event of migration by an estimated 100,000 people prospecting to the Klondike region of north-western Canada in the Yukon region between 18. 30,000 arrived in the Klondike Success RateĪround 4,000 found gold Klondike Gold Rush ArticlesĮxplore articles from the History Net archives about Klondike Gold Rush

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