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1896–1899 migration to Yukon, Canada From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Klondike Gold Rush[n 1] was a migration by an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of Yukon in northwestern Canada, between 1896 and 1899. Gold was discovered there by local miners on August 16, 1896; when news reached Seattle and San Francisco the following year, it triggered a stampede of prospectors. Some became wealthy, but the majority went in vain. It has been immortalized in films, literature, and photographs.
| Klondike Gold Rush | |
|---|---|
Prospectors ascending Chilkoot Pass, 1898 | |
| Other names | Alaska Gold Rush, Yukon Gold Rush |
| Centre | Dawson City at Klondike River, Yukon, Canada |
| Duration | 1896–1899 (stampede: 1897–98) |
| Discovery | August 16, 1896, Bonanza Creek |
| Discoverers | George Carmack and Skookum Jim |
| Prospectors | 100,000 of whom 30,000 - 40,000 arrived |
| Routes | Dyea/Skagway route and others |
| In literature of the period | The Call of the Wild, The Spell of the Yukon, The Cremation of Sam McGee |
To reach the gold fields, most prospectors took the route through the ports of Dyea and Skagway in southeast Alaska. Here, the "Klondikers" could follow either the Chilkoot or White Pass trail to the Yukon River and sail down to the Klondike. The Canadian authorities required each person to bring a year's supply of food in order to prevent starvation. In all, the Klondikers' equipment weighed close to a ton, which most carried themselves in stages. Performing this task and contending with the mountainous terrain and cold climate meant that most of those who persisted did not arrive until the summer of 1898. Once there, they found few opportunities, and many left disappointed.
To accommodate the prospectors, boom towns sprang up along the routes. At their terminus, Dawson City was founded at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. From a population of 500 in 1896, the town grew to house approximately 17,000 people by summer 1898. Built of wood, isolated, and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices, and epidemics. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly, gambling and drinking in the saloons. The indigenous Hän, on the other hand, suffered from the rush; they were forcibly moved into a reserve to make way for the Klondikers, and many died.
Beginning in 1898, the newspapers that had encouraged so many to travel to the Klondike lost interest in it. In the summer of 1899, gold was discovered around Nome in west Alaska, and many prospectors left the Klondike for the new goldfields, marking the end of the Klondike Rush. The boom towns declined, and the population of Dawson City fell. Gold mining production in the Klondike peaked in 1903 after heavier equipment was brought in. Since then, the Klondike has been mined on and off, and its legacy continues to draw tourists to the region and contribute to its prosperity.[n 2]
The indigenous peoples in north-west America had traded in copper nuggets prior to European expansion. Most of the tribes were aware that gold existed in the region, but the metal was not valued by them.[2][3][4] The Russians and the Hudson's Bay Company had both explored the Yukon in the first half of the 19th century, but ignored the rumours of gold in favour of fur trading, which offered more immediate profits.[2][n 3]
In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the area.[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.[7] Here, they encountered the Hän people, semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers.[8] The Hän did not appear to know about the extent of the gold deposits in the region.[n 4]
In 1883, Ed Schieffelin identified gold deposits along the Yukon River, and an expedition up the Fortymile River in 1886 discovered considerable amounts of it and founded Fortymile City.[9][10] The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in small amounts and with no claims being made.[5] By late 1886, several hundred miners were working their way along the Yukon valley, living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän.[11][12][13] On the Alaskan side of the border, Circle City, a logtown, was established in 1893 on the Yukon River. In three years it grew to become "the Paris of Alaska", with about 1,200 inhabitants, saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 1896, it was so well-known that a correspondent from the Chicago Daily Record came to visit. At the end of the year, it became a ghost town, when large gold deposits were found upstream on the Klondike.[14]
On August 16, 1896, an American prospector named George Carmack and two Tagish men, Skookum Jim (Keish), and Tagish Charlie (K̲áa Goox̱) were travelling south of the Klondike River.[15] Following a suggestion from Robert Henderson, a Canadian prospector, they began looking for gold on Bonanza Creek, then called Rabbit Creek, one of the Klondike's tributaries.[16] It is not clear who discovered the gold: George Carmack or Skookum Jim, but the group agreed to let George Carmack appear as the official discoverer because they feared that authorities would not recognize an indigenous claimant.[17][18][n 5]
In any event, gold was present along the river in huge quantities.[20] Carmack measured out four strips of ground for mining along the river - two for himself as the discoverer and one each for Jim and Charlie.[21] These claims were registered the next day at the police post at the mouth of the Fortymile River and news spread rapidly from there to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley.[22]
By the end of August, all of Bonanza Creek had been claimed by miners.[23] A prospector then advanced up into one of the creeks feeding into Bonanza, later to be named Eldorado Creek. He discovered new sources of gold there, which would prove to be even richer than those on Bonanza.[24] Claims began to be sold between miners and speculators for considerable sums.[25] Just before Christmas, word of the gold reached Circle City. Despite the winter, many prospectors immediately left for the Klondike by dog-sled, eager to reach the region before the best claims were taken.[26] The outside world was still largely unaware of the news, and although Canadian officials had managed to send a message to their superiors in Ottawa about the finds and influx of prospectors, the government did not give it much attention.[27] The winter prevented river traffic, and it was not until June 1897 that the first boats left the area, carrying the freshly mined gold and the full story of the discoveries.[28]
| Prices in this article are given in US dollars throughout. Equivalent modern prices have been given in 2010 US dollars. The equivalent prices of modern goods and services have been calculated using the Consumer Price Index (1:27). Larger sums, for example, gold shipments, capital investment, or land prices, have been calculated using the GDP index (1:800).[29][n 6] |
In the resulting Klondike stampede, an estimated 100,000 people tried to reach the Klondike goldfields, of whom only around 30,000 to 40,000 eventually did.[30][n 7] It formed the height of the Klondike gold rush from the summer of 1897 until the summer of 1898.
It began on July 14, 1897, in San Francisco and was spurred further three days later in Seattle, when the first of the early prospectors returned from the Klondike, bringing with them large amounts of gold on the ships Excelsior and Portland.[35] The press reported that a total of $1,139,000 (equivalent to $1 billion at 2010 prices) had been brought in by these ships, although this proved to be an underestimate.[36] The migration of prospectors caught so much attention that it was joined by outfitters, writers and photographers.[37]
Various factors lay behind this sudden mass response. Economically, the news had reached the US at the height of a series of financial recessions and bank failures in the 1890s. The gold standard of the time tied paper money to the production of gold and shortages towards the end of the 19th century meant that gold dollars were rapidly increasing in value ahead of paper currencies and being hoarded.[38] This had contributed to the Panic of 1893 and Panic of 1896, which caused unemployment and financial uncertainty.[39] There was a huge, unresolved demand for gold across the developed world that the Klondike promised to fulfil and, for individuals, the region promised higher wages or financial security.[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". Furthermore, the Pacific ports closest to the gold strikes were desperate to encourage trade and travel to the region.[40] The mass journalism of the period promoted the event and the human interest stories that lay behind it. A worldwide publicity campaign engineered largely by Erastus Brainerd, a Seattle newspaperman, helped establish that city as the premier supply centre and the departure point for the gold fields.[41][42]
The prospectors came from many nations, although an estimated majority of 60 to 80 percent were Americans or recent immigrants to America.[43][44][n 8] Most had no experience in the mining industry, being clerks or salesmen.[46] Mass resignations of staff to join the gold rush became notorious.[47] In Seattle, this included the mayor, twelve policemen, and a significant percentage of the city's streetcar drivers.[48]
Some stampeders were famous: John McGraw, the former governor of Washington, joined, together with the prominent lawyer and sportsman A. Balliot. Frederick Burnham, a well-known American scout and explorer, arrived from Africa, only to be called back to take part in the Second Boer War.[49][50] Among those who documented the rush was the Swedish-born photographer Eric Hegg, who took some of the iconic pictures of Chilkoot Pass, and reporter Tappan Adney, who afterwards wrote a first-hand history of the stampede.[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.[53][n 10]
Seattle and San Francisco competed fiercely for business during the rush, with Seattle winning the larger share of trade.[54] Indeed, one of the first to join the gold rush was William D. Wood, the mayor of Seattle, who resigned and formed a company to transport prospectors to the Klondike.[41] The publicity around the gold rush led to a flurry of branded goods being marketed. Clothing, equipment, food, and medicines were all sold as "Klondike" goods, allegedly designed for the northwest.[55][n 11] Guidebooks were published, giving advice about routes, equipment, mining, and capital necessary for the enterprise.[58][59] The newspapers of the time termed this phenomenon "Klondicitis".[55]
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The Klondike could be reached only by the Yukon River, either upstream from its delta, downstream from its head, or from somewhere in the middle through its tributaries. River boats could navigate the Yukon in the summer from the delta until a point called Whitehorse, above the Klondike. Travel, in general, was made difficult by both terrain and climate. The region was mountainous, the rivers winding and sometimes impassable; summers, albeit short, still brought heat, while during the long winters, temperatures could drop below −50 °C (−58 °F).[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.[65] Shortly after the stampede began in 1897, the Canadian authorities had introduced rules requiring anyone entering Yukon Territory to bring with them a year's supply of food; typically this weighed around 1,150 pounds (520 kg).[66] By the time camping equipment, tools and other essentials were included, a typical traveller was transporting as much as a ton in weight.[66] Unsurprisingly, the price of draft animals soared; at Dyea, even poor quality horses could sell for as much as $700 ($19,000), or be rented out for $40 ($1,100) a day.[67][n 14]
From Seattle or San Francisco, prospectors could travel by sea up the coast to the ports of Alaska.[69] The route following the coast is now referred to as the Inside Passage. It led to the ports of Dyea and Skagway plus ports of nearby trails. The sudden increase in demand encouraged a range of vessels to be pressed into service including old paddle wheelers, fishing boats, barges, and coal ships still full of coal dust. All were overloaded and many sank.[70]
It was possible to sail all the way to the Klondike, first from Seattle across the northern Pacific to the Alaskan coast. 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. Michael.[71][72] Although this all-water route, also called "the rich man's route", was expensive and long – 4,700 miles (7,600 km) in total – it had the attraction of speed and avoiding overland travel.[71] At the beginning of the stampede a ticket could be bought for $150 ($4,050) while during the winter 1897–98 the fare settled at $1,000 ($27,000).[73][n 15]
In 1897, some 1,800 travellers attempted this route but the vast majority were caught along the river when the region iced over in October.[71] Only 43 reached the Klondike before winter and of those 35 had to return, having thrown away their equipment en route to reach their destination in time.[71] The remainder mostly found themselves stranded in isolated camps and settlements along the ice-covered river often in desperate circumstances.[75][n 16]
Most of the prospectors landed at the southeast Alaskan towns of Dyea and Skagway, both located at the head of the natural Lynn Canal at the end of the Inside Passage. From there, they needed to travel over the mountain ranges into Canada's Yukon Territory, and then down the river network to the Klondike.[77] Along the trails, tent camps sprung up at places where prospectors had to stop to eat or sleep or at obstacles such as the icy lakes at the head of the Yukon.[78][79] At the start of the rush, a ticket from Seattle to the port of Dyea cost $40 ($1,100) for a cabin. Premiums of $100 ($2,700), however, were soon paid and the steamship companies hesitated to post their rates in advance since they could increase on a daily basis.[80]
Those who landed at Skagway made their way over the White Pass before cutting across to Bennett Lake.[81] Although the trail began gently, it progressed over several mountains with paths as narrow as 2 feet (0.61 m) and in wider parts covered with boulders and sharp rocks.[82] Under these conditions horses died in huge numbers, giving the route the informal name of Dead Horse Trail.[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.[82]
An alternative toll road suitable for wagons was eventually constructed and this, combined with colder weather that froze the muddy ground, allowed the White Pass to reopen, and prospectors began to make their way into Canada.[82] Moving supplies and equipment over the pass had to be done in stages. Most divided their belongings into 65 pounds (29 kg) packages that could be carried on a man's back, or heavier loads that could be pulled by hand on a sled.[65] Ferrying packages forwards and walking back for more, a prospector would need about thirty round trips, a distance of at least 2,500 miles (4,000 km), before they had moved all of their supplies to the end of the trail. Even using a heavy sled, a strong man would be covering 1,000 miles (1,600 km) and need around 90 days to reach Lake Bennett.[84]
Those who landed at Dyea, Skagway's neighbour town, travelled the Chilkoot Trail and crossed its pass to reach Lake Lindeman, which fed into Lake Bennett at the head of the Yukon River.[86] The Chilkoot Pass was higher than the White Pass, but more used it: around 22,000 during the gold rush.[87] The trail passed up through camps until it reached a flat ledge, just before the main ascent, which was too steep for animals.[88][n 19] This location was known as the Scales, and was where goods were weighed before travellers officially entered Canada. The cold, the steepness and the weight of equipment made the climb extremely arduous and it could take a day to get to the top of the 1,000 feet (300 m) high slope.[90]
As on the White Pass trail, supplies needed to be broken down into smaller packages and carried in relay.[91] Packers, prepared to carry supplies for cash, were available along the route but would charge up to $1 ($27) per lb (0.45 kg) on the later stages; many of these packers were natives: Tlingits or, less commonly, Tagish.[88][92][93] Avalanches were common in the mountains and, on April 3, 1898, one claimed the lives of more than 60 people travelling over Chilkoot Pass.[94][n 20]
Entrepreneurs began to provide solutions as the winter progressed. Steps were cut into the ice at the Chilkoot Pass which could be used for a daily fee, this 1,500 step staircase becoming known as the "Golden Steps".[96] By December 1897, Archie Burns built a tramway up the final parts of the Chilkoot Pass. A horse at the bottom turned a wheel, which pulled a rope running to the top and back; freight was loaded on sledges pulled by the rope. Five more tramways soon followed, one powered by a steam engine, charging between 8 and 30 cents ($2 and $8) per 1 pound (0.45 kg).[97] An aerial tramway was built in the spring of 1898, able to move 9 tonnes of goods an hour up to the summit.[97][63]
At Lakes Bennett and Lindeman, the prospectors camped to build rafts or boats that would take them the final 500 miles (800 km) down the Yukon to Dawson City in the spring.[98][n 21] 7,124 boats of varying size and quality left in May 1898; by that time, the forests around the lakes had been largely cut down for timber.[100][101] The river posed a new problem. Above Whitehorse, it was dangerous, with several rapids along the Miles Canyon through to the White Horse Rapids.[102]
After many boats were wrecked and several hundred people died, the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) introduced safety rules, vetting the boats carefully and forbidding women and children to travel through the rapids.[103][53][n 22] Additional rules stated that any boat carrying passengers required a licensed pilot, typically costing $25 ($680), although some prospectors simply unpacked their boats and let them drift unmanned through the rapids with the intent of walking down to collect them on the other side.[53] During the summer, a horse-powered rail-tramway was built by Norman Macaulay, capable of carrying boats and equipment through the canyon at $25 ($680) a time, removing the need for prospectors to navigate the rapids.[104]
There were a few more trails established during 1898 from South-east Alaska to the Yukon River. One was the Dalton trail: starting from Pyramid Harbour, close to Dyea, it went across the Chilkat Pass some miles west of Chilkoot and turned north to the Yukon River, a distance of about 350 miles (560 km). This was created by Jack Dalton as a summer route, intended for cattle and horses, and Dalton charged a toll of $250 ($6,800) for its use.[105]
The Takou route started from Juneau and went north-east to Teslin Lake. From here, it followed a river to the Yukon, where it met the Dyea and Skagway route at a point halfway to the Klondike.[106] It meant dragging and poling canoes up-river and through mud together with crossing a 5,000 feet (1,500 m) mountain along a narrow trail.
Finally, there was the Stikine route starting from the port of Wrangell further south-east of Skagway. This route went up the uneasy Stikine River to Glenora, the head of navigation. From Glenora, prospectors would have to carry their supplies 150 miles (240 km) to Teslin Lake where it, like the Takou route, met the Yukon River system.[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.[108] These were popular with British and Canadians for patriotic reasons and because they avoided American customs.[108] The first of these, around 1,000 miles (1,600 km) in length, started from Ashcroft in British Columbia and crossed swamps, river gorges, and mountains until it met with the Stikine River route at Glenora.[107][n 23] From Glenora, prospectors would face the same difficulties as those who came from Wrangell.[107] At least 1,500 men attempted to travel along the Ashcroft route and 5,000 along the Stikine.[110] The mud and the slushy ice of the two routes proved exhausting, killing or incapacitating the pack animals and creating chaos amongst the travellers.[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".[112][113] One, the "overland route", headed north-west from Edmonton, ultimately meeting the Peace River and then continuing on overland to the Klondike, crossing the Liard River en route.[114] To encourage travel via Edmonton, the government hired T.W. Chalmers to build a trail, which became known as the Klondike Trail or Chalmers Trail.[115] The other two trails, known as the "water routes", involved more river travel. One went by boat along rivers and overland to the Yukon River system at Pelly River and from there to Dawson.[116] Another went north of Dawson by the Mackenzie River to Fort McPherson, before entering Alaska and meeting the Yukon River at Fort Yukon, downstream to the Klondike.[116][117] From here, the boat and equipment had to be pulled up the Yukon about 400 miles (640 km). An estimated 1,660 travellers took these three routes, of whom only 685 arrived, some taking up to 18 months to make the journey.[118]
An equivalent to the All-Canadian routes was the "All-American route", which aimed to reach the Yukon from the port of Valdez, which lay further along the Alaskan coast from Skagway.[119] This, it was hoped, would evade the Canadian customs posts and provide an American-controlled route into the interior.[120] From late 1897 onwards 3,500 men and women attempted it; delayed by the winter snows, fresh efforts were made in the spring.[121]
In practice, the huge Valdez glacier that stood between the port and the Alaskan interior proved almost insurmountable and only 200 managed to climb it; by 1899, the cold and scurvy was causing many deaths amongst the rest.[122] Other prospectors attempted an alternative route across the Malaspina Glacier just to the east, suffering even greater hardships.[123] Those who did manage to cross it found themselves having to negotiate miles of wilderness before they could reach Dawson. Their expedition was forced to turn back the same way they had come, with only four men surviving.[124]
The borders in South-east Alaska were disputed between the US, Canada and Britain since the American purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867.[126] The US and Canada both claimed the ports of Dyea and Skagway.[126] This, combined with the numbers of American prospectors, the quantities of gold being mined and the difficulties in exercising government authority in such a remote area, made the control of the borders a sensitive issue.[127]
Early on in the gold rush, the US Army sent a small detachment to Circle City, in case intervention was required in the Klondike, while the Canadian government considered excluding all American prospectors from the Yukon Territory.[128] Neither eventuality took place and instead the US agreed to make Dyea a sub-port of entry for Canadians, allowing British ships to land Canadian passengers and goods freely there, while Canada agreed to permit American miners to operate in the Klondike.[129] Both decisions were unpopular among their domestic publics: American businessmen complained that their right to a monopoly on regional trade was being undermined, while the Canadian public demanded action against the American miners.[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.[130] These units were armed with Maxim guns.[131] Their tasks included enforcing the rules requiring that travellers bring a year's supply of food with them to be allowed into the Yukon Territory, checking for illegal weapons, preventing the entry of criminals and enforcing customs duties.[132]
This last task was particularly unpopular with American prospectors, who faced paying an average of 25 percent of the value of their goods and supplies.[133] The Mounties had a reputation for running these posts honestly, although accusations were made that they took bribes.[134] Prospectors, on the other hand, tried to smuggle prize items like silk and whiskey across the pass in tins and bales of hay: the former item for the ladies, the latter for the saloons.[135]
Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who reached Dawson City during the gold rush, only around 15,000 to 20,000 finally became prospectors. Of these, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred became rich.[30] By the time most of the stampeders arrived in 1898, the best creeks had all been claimed, either by the long-term miners in the region or by the first arrivals of the year before.[136] The Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker, and Dominion Creeks were all taken, with almost 10,000 claims recorded by the authorities by July 1898; a new prospector would have to look further afield to find a claim of his own. [137]
Geologically, the region was permeated with veins of gold, forced to the surface by volcanic action and then worn away by the action of rivers and streams, leaving nuggets and gold dust in deposits known as placer gold.[138][n 25] Some ores lay along the creek beds in lines of soil, typically 15 feet (4.6 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath the surface.[139] Others, formed by even older streams, lay along the hilltops; these deposits were called "bench gold".[140] Finding the gold was challenging. Initially, miners had assumed that all the gold would be along the existing creeks, and it was not until late in 1897 that the hilltops began to be mined.[141] Gold was also unevenly distributed, which made the prediction of good mining sites uncertain without exploratory digging.[142][143]
Mining began with clearing the ground of vegetation and debris.[144] Prospect holes were then dug in an attempt to find the ore or "pay streak".[144] If these holes looked productive, proper digging could commence, aiming down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was found.[144] The digging would be carefully monitored in case the operation needed to be shifted to allow for changes in the flow.[144]
In the sub-Arctic climate of the Klondike, a layer of hard permafrost lay only 6 feet (1.8 m) below the surface.[145][146] Traditionally, this had meant that mining in the region only occurred during the summer months, but the pressure of the gold rush made such a delay unacceptable.[143] Late 19th-century technology existed for dealing with this problem, including hydraulic mining and stripping, and dredging. Still, the heavy equipment required for this could not be brought into the Klondike during the gold rush.[145][147]
Instead, the miners relied on wood fires to soften the ground to a depth of about 14 inches (360 mm) and then remove the resulting gravel. The process was repeated until the gold was reached. 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.[148] Fires could also produce harmful gases, which had to be removed by bellows or other tools.[149][150] The resulting "dirt" brought out of the mines froze quickly in winter and could be processed only during the warmer summer months.[150][n 26] An alternative, more efficient, approach called steam thawing was devised between 1897 and 1898; this used a furnace to pump steam directly into the ground, but since it required additional equipment it was not a widespread technique during the years of the rush.[151]
In the summer, water would sluice and pan the dirt, separating the heavier gold from gravel.[152] This required miners to construct sluices, which were sequences of wooden boxes 15 feet (4.6 m) long, through which the dirt would be washed; up to 20 of these might be needed for each mining operation.[153] The sluices in turn required much water, usually produced by creating a dam and ditches or crude pipes.[154] "Bench gold" mining on the hill sides could not use sluice lines because water could not be pumped that high up. Instead, these mines used rockers, boxes that moved back and forth like a cradle, to create the motion needed for separation.[155] Finally, the resulting gold dust could be exported out of the Klondike; exchanged for paper money at the rate of $16 ($430) per troy ounce (ozt)(31.1 g) through one of the major banks that opened in Dawson City, or simply used as money when dealing with local traders.[156][n 27]
Successful mining took time and capital, particularly once most of the timber around the Klondike had been cut down.[154] A realistic mining operation required $1,500 ($42,000) for wood to be burned to melt the ground, along with around $1,000 ($28,000) to construct a dam, $1,500 ($42,000) for ditches and up to $600 ($16,800) for sluice boxes, a total of $4,600 ($128,800).[154] The attraction of the Klondike to a prospector, however, was that when gold was found, it was often highly concentrated.[158] Some of the creeks in the Klondike were fifteen times richer in gold than those in California, and richer still than those in South Africa.[158] In just two years, for example, $230,000 ($6,440,000) worth of gold was brought up from claim 29 on the Eldorado Creek.[159][n 28]
Under Canadian law, miners first had to get a licence, either when they arrived at Dawson or en route from Victoria in Canada.[161] They could then prospect for gold and when they had found a suitable location, lay a claim to mining rights over it.[162] To stake a claim, a prospector would drive stakes into the ground a measured distance apart and then return to Dawson to register the claim for $15 ($410).[162] This normally had to be done within three days, and by 1897 only one claim per person at a time was allowed in a district, although married couples could exploit a loophole that allowed the wife to register a claim in her own name, doubling their amount of land.[163][164]
The claim could be mined freely for a year, after which a $100 ($2,800) fee had to be paid annually. Should the prospector leave the claim for more than three days without good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land.[165] The Canadian government also charged a royalty of between 10 and 20 percent on the value of gold taken from a claim.[166]
Traditionally, a mining claim had been granted over a 500-foot (150 m) long stretch of a creek, including the land from one side of the valley to another. The Canadian authorities had tried to reduce this length to 150 feet (46 m), but under pressure from miners had been forced to agree to 250 feet (76 m). The only exception to this was a "Discovery" claim, the first to be made on a creek, which could be 500 feet (150 m) long.[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.[169] The excess fractions of land then became available as claims and were sometimes quite valuable.[169]
Claims could be bought. However, their price depended on whether they had been yet proved to contain gold.[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).[170] The well known claim eight on Eldorado Creek was sold for as much as $350,000 ($9,800,000).[170] Prospectors were also allowed to hire others to work for them.[171] Enterprising miners such as Alex McDonald set about amassing mines and employees.[172] Leveraging his acquisitions with short-term loans, by the autumn of 1897 McDonald had purchased 28 claims, estimated to be worth millions.[172] Swiftwater Bill famously borrowed heavily against his claim on the Eldorado creek, relying on hired hands to mine the gold to keep up his interest payments.[173]
The less fortunate prospectors soon found themselves destitute. Some sold their equipment and return south while others took manual jobs, either in mines or in Dawson.[174] The typical daily pay of $15 ($410) was high by external standards, but low compared to the local cost of living.[174] The possibility that a new creek might produce gold, however, continued to tempt poorer prospectors and caused small stampedes around the Klondike throughout the gold rush.[175]
The massive influx of prospectors drove the formation of boom towns along the routes of the stampede, with Dawson City in the Klondike the largest.[176][177] The new towns were crowded, often chaotic and many disappeared just as soon as they came.[178] Most stampeders were men but women also travelled to the region, typically as the wife of a prospector.[179] Some women entertained in gambling and dance halls built by business men and women who were encouraged by the lavish spending of successful miners.[180]
Dawson remained relatively lawful, protected by the Canadian NWMP, which meant that gambling and prostitution were accepted while robbery and murder were kept low. By contrast, especially the port of Skagway under US jurisdiction in Southeast Alaska became infamous for its criminal underworld.[181][182] The extreme climate and remoteness of the region in general meant that supplies and communication with the outside world including news and mail were scarce.[177][183]
The ports of Dyea and Skagway, through which most of the prospectors entered, were tiny settlements before the gold rush, Skagway consisting of only a single log cabin, and Dyea comprising a handful of Tlingit houses and the Healy & Wilson trading store. [184] Because there were no docking facilities, ships had to unload their cargo directly onto the beach, where people tried to move their goods before high tide.[185] Inevitably cargos were lost in the process.[186] Some travellers had arrived intending to supply goods and services to the would-be miners; some of these in turn, realizing how difficult it would be to reach Dawson, chose to do the same.[185] Within weeks, storehouses, saloons, and offices lined the muddy streets of Dyea and Skagway, surrounded by tents and hovels.[176]
Skagway became famous in international media; the author John Muir described the town as "a nest of ants taken into a strange country and stirred up by a stick".[186] While Dyea remained a transit point throughout the winter, Skagway began to take on a more permanent character.[187] Skagway also built wharves out into the bay in order to attract a greater share of the prospectors.[188] The town was effectively lawless, dominated by drinking, gunfire and prostitution.[189] The visiting NWMP Superintendent Sam Steele noted that it was "little better than a hell on earth ... about the roughest place in the world".[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.[191]
In early 1898 Skagway fell under the control of Jefferson Randolph "Soapy" Smith and his men, who arrived from Seattle shortly after Skagway began to expand.[192][193] He was an American confidence man whose gang, 200 to 300 strong, cheated and stole from the prospectors travelling through the region.[194][n 30] He maintained the illusion of being an upstanding member of the community, opening three saloons as well as creating fake businesses to assist in his operations.[196][197] One of his scams was a fake telegraph office charging to send messages all over the US and Canada, often pretending to receive a reply.[198] Opposition to Smith steadily grew and, after weeks of vigilante activity, he was killed in Skagway during the shootout on Juneau Wharf on July 8, 1898.[192][199]
Other towns also boomed. Wrangell, port of the Stikine route and boom town from earlier gold rushes, increased in size again, with robberies, gambling and nude female dancing commonplace.[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.[122] Edmonton, Alberta (at that time, the District of Alberta in the Northwest Territories), Canada, increased from a population of 1,200 before the gold rush to 4,000 during 1898.[201] Beyond the immediate region, cities such as San Francisco, Seattle, Tacoma, Portland, Vancouver and Victoria all saw their populations soar as a result of the stampede and the trade it brought along.[201]
Dawson City was founded in the early years of the Klondike goldrush, when prospector Joe Ladue and shopkeeper Arthur Harper decided to make a profit from the influx to the Klondike.[22][202] The two men bought 178 acres (72 ha) of the mudflats at the junction of the Klondike and Yukon rivers from the government and laid out the street plan for a new town, bringing in timber and other supplies to sell to the migrants.[203] The Hän village of Tr'ochëk along Deer Creek was considered to be too close to the new town, and the NWMP Superintendent Charles Constantine moved its inhabitants 3 miles (4.8 km) down-river to a small reserve.[204] The town, in the beginning simply known as "Harper and Ladue town site", was named Dawson City after the director of Canada's Geographical Survey.[177] It grew rapidly to hold 500 people by the winter of 1896, with plots of land selling for $500 ($14,000) each.[177]
In the spring of 1898, the Dawson area population, including the surrounding gold fields, rose further to 30,000 as stampeders arrived over the passes.[177] The centre of the town, Front Street, was lined with hastily built buildings and warehouses, together with log cabins and tents spreading out across the rest of the settlement.[205] There was no running water or sewerage, and only two springs for drinking water to supplement the increasingly polluted river.[206] In spring, the unpaved streets were churned into thick mud and in summer the settlement reeked of human effluent and was plagued by flies and mosquitoes.[207] Land in Dawson was now scarce, and plots sold for up to $10,000 ($280,000) each; prime locations on Front Street could reach $20,000 ($560,000) while a small log cabin might rent for $100 ($2,800) a month.[208] As a result, Dawson's population spread south into the empty Hän village, renaming it Klondike City.[209] Other communities emerged closer to the mines, such as Granville on Dominion Creek and Grand Forks on Bonanza Creek.[210]