The Alaskan Gold Rush

1896-1900

• On August 16, 1896 Yukon-area Indians Skookum Jim Mason and Tagish Charlie, along with Seattleite George Carmack found gold in Rabbit Creek, near Dawson, in the Yukon region of Canada.

• The creek was promptly renamed Bonanza Creek, and many of the locals started staking claims.

• Gold was literally found all over the place, and most of these early stakeholders (who became known as the "Klondike Kings") became wealthy.

Within six months, approximately 100,000 gold-seekers set off for the Yukon.

• Only 30,000 completed the trip. • Many died, or lost enthusiasm and either

stopped where they were, or turned back along the way.

• The trip was long, arduous, and cold. Klondikers had to walk most of the way, using either pack animals or sleds to carry hundreds of pounds of supplies.

• The Northwest Mounted Police in Canada required that all Klondikers bring a year's worth of supplies with them.

Required Supplies by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

• 150 lb. bacon • 400 lb. flour • 25 lb. rolled oats • 125 lb. beans • 10 lb. tea • 10 lb. coffee • 25 lb. sugar • 25 lb. dried onions • 15 lb. salt • 1 lb. pepper • 75 lb. dried fruits • 8 lb. baking powder • 2 lb. soda • 1/2 lb. evaporated vinegar • 12 oz. compressed soup • 1 can mustard • 1 tin matches (for four men) • Stove for four men • Gold pan for each • Set granite buckets • Large bucket • Knife, fork, spoon, cup, and plate • Frying pan • Coffee and teapot • Scythe stone • Two picks and one shovel • One whipsaw • Pack strap

• Two axes for four men and one extra handle • Six 8 inch files and two taper files for the

party • Draw knife, brace and bits, jack plane, and

hammer for party • 200 feet three-eights-inch rope • 8 lb. of pitch and 5 lb. of oakum for four men • Nails, five lbs. each of 6,8,10 and 12 penny,

for four men • Tent, 10 x 12 feet for four men • Canvas for wrapping • Two oil blankets to each boat • 5 yards of mosquito netting for each man • 3 suits of heavy underwear • 1 heavy mackinaw coat • 2 pairs heavy machinaw trousers • 1 heavy rubber-lined coat • 1 doz heavy wool socks • 1/2 doz heavy wool mittens • 2 heavy overshirts • 2 pairs heavy snagproof rubber boots • 2 pairs shoes • 4 pairs blankets (for two men) • 4 towels • 2 pairs overalls • 1 suit oil clothing • Several changes of summer clothing • Small assortment of medicines

Chilkoot Trail• The Chilkoot Pass led 32 miles

from Dyea to the shores of Lake Lindeman.

• While most of the trail was not too difficult for walking, Long Hill, the 2 1/2-mile section between Sheep Camp and Scales ascended 1,600 feet, from about 900' to 2500'.

• Sheep Camp was the last "town" of any substance that the stampeders would see until they reached Lake Bennett.

• The worst part of the trail awaited stampeders after leaving the Scales, a small, ramshackle collection of tents perched on a flat space only a few city blocks square at the base of the "Golden Stairs."

• The "Golden Stairs" were 1,500 steps carved out of the mountain ice.

• Stampeders moved up the stairs in a single line, clutching the rope balustrade, carrying their goods on their backs, 50-60 pounds at a time. The term "stampede" was laughable in such crowded, slow-moving conditions. A single trip up the "Golden Stairs" could take as long as six hours.

The White Pass Trail

• In contract to the Chilkoot Pass, which had earned the nickname "the meanest 32 miles in the world," the White Pass trail seemed deceptively easy.

• The first few miles were wide enough for wagons, but as the trail wound through the hills, the pathway narrowed to little more than two feet across.

• As it rose, the sharp zigzag turns of the trail were boarded on one side by a hill, and dropped hundreds of feet down on the other.

• When the trail narrowed, and there was no room for animals or people to pass, the line bunched together in gridlock.

• Many of those using animals to drag heavily laden sleds had never really worked with horses before and treated their animals with harsh brutality. The stampede was fatal for many of the animals as they were beaten and driven along the thin, sloppy trail.

So many pack animals were driven to their deaths on the

White Pass trail that a portion of it was given a macabre

nickname, the “Dead Horse Trail.”

On the far side of the passes, the White and Chilkoot trails met at Lake Bennett, a large lake that drained into the Yukon River. Stampeders wintered and built boats here and at nearby Lake Lindemann until theYukon River thawed in spring.

• Most stampeders felt disappointed when they reached Dawson. Local miners had claimed all the gold-bearing creeks up to a year earlier.

• Without gold "for the taking," late arrivals milled about town. Many went home. Some found jobs in and around Dawson. People made good wages working another miner’s claim, or in saloons, hotels, and other support positions. Others looked for gold on nearby creeks but rarely found any.

• The irony of the gold rush was that after risking their lives and fortunes on the journey, most stampeders never struck it rich.

• Disappointed stampeders lived in their boats while deciding what to do.

• Many people sold their outfits before heading home.