klondike gold rush timeline

[120] From late 1897 onwards 3,500 men and women attempted it; delayed by the winter snows, fresh efforts were made in the spring. [6] 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 1870 and 1890. [190] Nonetheless, by the summer of 1898, with a population—including migrants—of between 15,000 and 20,000, Skagway was the largest city in Alaska. [301] In the spring of 1898 the Spanish–American War removed Klondike from the headlines. The Klondike Gold Rush was the largest gold rush in Canadian history. From St. Michael, at the Yukon River delta, a river boat could then take the prospectors the rest of the way up the river to Dawson, often guided by one of the Native Koyukon people who lived near St. [290] A hierarchy of sexual employment existed, with brothels and parlour houses at the top, small independent "cigar shops" in the middle, and, at the bottom, the prostitutes who worked out of small huts called "hutches". [88][n 19] This location was known as the Scales, and was where goods were weighed before travellers officially entered Canada. [289] The entertainment industry merged into the sex industry, where women made a living as prostitutes. [77][n 17] The volumes of travellers and the wet weather made the trail impassable and, by late 1897, it was closed until further notice, leaving around 5,000 stranded in Skagway. [129], The North-West Mounted Police set up control posts at the borders of the Yukon Territory or, where that was disputed, at easily controlled points such as the Chilkoot and White Passes. [186] While Dyea remained a transit point throughout the winter, Skagway began to take on a more permanent character. Service created well-known poems about the gold rush, among them Songs of a Sourdough, one of the bestselling books of poetry in the first decade of the 20th century, along with his novel, The Trail of '98, which was written by hand on wallpaper in one of Dawson's log cabins. However, the mud that formed each spring and fall would be frozen and snow would cover the sharp, jagged rocks that the traveller would have to avoid in the summer. [51][n 9] Jack London, later a famous American writer, left to seek for gold but made his money during the rush mostly by working for prospectors. [144] If these holes looked productive, proper digging could commence, aiming down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was found. [308][n 39], The richest of the Klondike saloon owners, businessmen and gamblers also typically lost their fortunes and died in poverty. [224] The only eight horses in Dawson were slaughtered for dog food as they could not be kept alive over the winter. How did the Klondike Gold Rush influence the U.S.? [167][n 29] The exact lengths of claims were often challenged and when the government surveyor William Ogilvie conducted surveys to settle disputes, he found some claims exceeded the official limit. 30 chapters | Should the prospector leave the claim for more than three days without good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land. By August many of the stampeders had started for home, most of them broke. Only pure gold dust was bought by banks the rate being $16 ($430) per oz. [192][193] He was an American confidence man whose gang, 200 to 300 strong, cheated and stole from the prospectors travelling through the region. [248] Of these arrests, over half were for prostitution and resulted from an attempt by the NWMP to regulate the sex industry in Dawson: regular monthly arrests, $50 ($1,400) fines and medical inspections were imposed, with the proceeds being used to fund the local hospitals. [107], An alternative to the South-east Alaskan ports were the All-Canadian routes, so-called because they mostly stayed on Canadian soil throughout their journey. The claim belonged to the Swedish miner Charlie Anderson known as the "Lucky Swede", who bought it unproved while too drunk to remember. The Klondike gold rush solidified the publics image of the North as more than a barren wasteland and left a body of literature that has popularized and romanticized the Yukon. Red frame: Position of map on map of northern America. Today you will create a timeline of events from the Klondike Gold Rush. [111], Three more routes started from Edmonton, Alberta; these were not much better – barely trails at all – despite being advertised as "the inside track" and the "back door to the Klondike". An estimated 1,660 travellers took these three routes, of whom only 685 arrived, some taking up to 18 months to make the journey. [53][336][337] The Canadian historian Pierre Berton grew up in Dawson where his father had been a prospector, and wrote several historical books about the gold rush, such as The Last Great Gold Rush. [264], Mail service was chaotic during the stampede. Beginning in 1897, tens of thousands of Americans rush north after the rich Klondike gold deposits are discovered in Canada’s Yukon Territory. To impress a woman who liked eggs—then an expensive luxury—he was alleged to have bought all the eggs in Dawson, had them boiled and fed them to dogs. [200] Valdez, formed on the Gulf of Alaska during the attempt to create the "All-American" route to the Klondike during the winter of 1897–1898, became a tent city of people who stayed behind to supply the ill-fated attempts to reach the interior. [272] Regardless of experience, women in a party were typically expected to cook for the group. Though over $1 billion in gold was found, it was the surrounding cities and towns that prospered the most from the constant flow of commercial traffic. The great Klondike Gold Rush ended as suddenly as it had begun. When journalist Laura Berton (future mother of Pierre Berton) moved to Dawson in 1907 it was still thriving, but away from Front Street, the town had become increasingly deserted, jammed, as she put it, "with the refuse of the gold rush: stoves, furniture, gold-pans, sets of dishes, double-belled seltzer bottles ... piles of rusting mining machinery—boilers, winches, wheelbarrows and pumps". In 1899, gold was discovered in Nome, Alaska which nearly depopulated the Klondike camps for the next big thing. [205] There was no running water or sewerage, and only two springs for drinking water to supplement the increasingly polluted river. Before the rush the price of such animals was $3–5 ($81–135). In theory, no support of the shaft was necessary because of the permafrost although in practice sometimes the fire melted the permafrost and caused collapses. flashcard set, {{courseNav.course.topics.length}} chapters | Working Scholars® Bringing Tuition-Free College to the Community. 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[97] An aerial tramway was built in the spring of 1898, able to move 9 tonnes of goods an hour up to the summit. The discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896 led to a stampede to the Klondike region between 1897 and 1899. [61][62][n 13], Aids for the travellers to carry their supplies varied; some had brought dogs, horses, mules, or oxen, whereas others had to rely on carrying their equipment on their backs or on sleds pulled by hand. 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 1896 and 1899. Unlike its American equivalents, Dawson City was a law-abiding town. These two trails extended over 150 miles north to Bennett Lake, where they then traveled the rest of the trip toward Dawson City in the Klondike which became the geographical center of the mining camps. [187] Skagway also built wharves out into the bay in order to attract a greater share of the prospectors. [170] A prospector with capital might consider taking a risk on an "unproved" claim on one of the better creeks for $5,000 ($140,000); a wealthier miner could buy a "proved" mine for $50,000 ($1,400,000). [291] Life for these workers was a continual struggle and the suicide rate was high. Dive right into the unique atmosphere and charm of gold prospecting. [69] The route following the coast is now referred to as the Inside Passage. In the summer, the sunshine would slowly thaw exposed permafrost at around the rate of 2 feet (0.61 m) every 12 hours; some miners felt this too slow and used burning techniques during the summer months as well. The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon, in north-western Canada, between 1896 and 1899. [171] Enterprising miners such as Alex McDonald set about amassing mines and employees. The writer Jack London incorporated scenes from the gold rush into his novels and short stories set in the Klondike, including The Call of the Wild, a 1903 novel about a sled dog. The range of Klondike-themed goods was huge, from special food to glasses, boots, cigars, medicines, soup, blankets, and stoves. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Use this website: Who Discovered Klondike Gold? [266] By 1899, trained postal staff took over mail delivery and relieved the NWMP of this task. [38][39], Psychologically, the Klondike, as historian Pierre Berton describes, was "just far enough away to be romantic and just close enough to be accessible." [185] Within weeks, storehouses, saloons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Dyea and Skagway, surrounded by tents and hovels. The journalist Tappan Adney resembled it to a "mill-pond". [149][150] The resulting "dirt" brought out of the mines froze quickly in winter and could be processed only during the warmer summer months. [300] Despite these improvements in communication and transport, the rush faltered from 1898 on. From Skagway travelers took the White Pass Trail and from Dyea, travelers took the Chilkoot Trail. Robert Henderson, the prospector who gave the discoverers the idea to look for gold at Klondike River, was ill for much of the rush but was later awarded $200 ($5,400) a month for life by the Canadian government for his part of the discovery. [201], Dawson City was created in the early days of the Klondike gold rush, when prospector Joe Ladue and shopkeeper Arthur Harper decided to Luckily for him, it proved to be incredibly rich. [248][249] The so-called blue laws were strictly enforced. [344] The photographs reappear in the documentary City of Gold from 1957 which, narrated by Pierre Berton, won prizes for pioneering the incorporation of still images into documentary film-making. The Klondike though provided inspiration for literary figures such as Jack London, Robert Service, and Rex Beach. [305], Only a handful of the 100,000 people who left for the Klondike during the gold rush became rich. Dawson City was also where Alexander Pantages, her business partner and lover, started his career, going on to become one of America's greatest theatre and movie tycoons. [116][117] From here, the boat and equipment had to be pulled up the Yukon about 400 miles (640 km). 's' : ''}}. Given its isolated location, word did not spread until July 1897 when the steamship Excelsior docked in San Francisco with $500,000 in gold and a few days later the steamship Portland docked in Seattle with over 2 ton of gold.

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