The Klondike Gold Rush and Alaska
No event has shaped Alaska more than the Klondike Gold Rush. Taking place between 1896 and 1899, the Klondike Gold Rush saw thousands of migrants relocate to the neighboring territory of Yukon in Canada in search of riches. While Alaska was not directly part of the Klondike Gold Rush, it was a major transit point for travelers on their way to Yukon, inspiring massive population and economic growth. The subsequent discovery of gold in Alaska drew migrants after the Klondike Gold Rush faded.
While gold mining is no longer a major part of either the Alaskan or Yukon economy, Klondike Gold Rush tourism continues to draw many to both regions. Here is a brief history of the Klondike Gold Rush.
The Klondike Gold Rush and Alaska
Prior to the Klondike Gold Rush, both Alaska and the neighboring regions of Canada were sparsely settled. At the time of the Alaska Purchase, much of interior Alaska was unexplored, the Russians having only colonized its coasts. For the first few decades after the U.S. purchased Alaska from Russia, Sitka, a city in the Alaska Panhandle and the colonial capital, remained the only city in the region with American settlers. Many Americans saw Alaska as a pointless purchase due to its perceived lack of resources, with the Alaska Purchase ridiculed as “Seward’s Folly” in the months following America’s acquisition of the territory.
Neighboring Yukon was originally part of the North-Western Territory and was controlled by the Hudson’s Bay Company, a corporation that specialized in fur and fish trading along North America’s Arctic coasts. Following the formation of the Dominion of Canada in 1867, the Hudson’s Bay Company passed control of the North-Western Territory and neighboring Rupert’s Land to the Canadian government, which subsequently reorganized both into the North-West Territories. Due to the North-Western Territory’s remote location, there was little European settlement aside from occasional trading posts.
Indigenous peoples in Alaska and the North-West Territories had traded in copper nuggets for generations, and while most were aware that there were deposits of gold in the area, they did not mine or trade it because they saw it as worthless. While Russian and Hudson’s Bay Company explorers were also aware of rumors of gold in the area, they ignored them in favor of fur trading, which was more lucrative due to mining requiring an influx of men and infrastructure.
Following the Alaska Purchase, American explorers began making expeditions into Alaska and the North-West Territories to map out the region. These explorers met with several Alaskan tribes, including the Tlingit and Tagish, and began opening trade routes through the Yukon Valley. In 1883, prospector Ed Schieffelin discovered gold deposits along the Yukon River, with subsequent expeditions uncovering gold along the nearby Fortymile River. These inspired some initial settlement, with Circle, founded in 1893 on the Yukon River, eventually becoming known as the “Paris of Alaska,” with a population of 1,200. However, following the discovery of larger gold deposits along the Klondike River, Circle and nearby gold mining camps were abandoned.
On August 16, 1896, American prospector George Carmack and his brother-in-law, Canadian Tagish prospector Skookum Jim, discovered large quantities of gold along Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River in the western part of the North-West Territories. After making four claims and registering them with local police, word about the gold deposits rapidly spread across the area. Circle residents abandoned their city in droves to make claims along Bonanza Creek and neighboring Eldorado Creek, which was also rich in gold. By the end of August, virtually the entirety of Bonanza Creek had been claimed. However, the outside world was still largely unaware of Klondike gold, and while Canadian officials notified the central government in Ottawa about the news, they were largely ignored.
The Klondike gold stampede did not begin until 1897, as boats carrying freshly-mined gold were not able to leave the area until June of that year due to poor winter weather. News of the Klondike gold deposits reached San Francisco and Seattle first, inspiring a rush of settlers, reporters, and photographers to set sail for the region. The Klondike gold stampede was in part a reaction to the poor economic situation in the U.S. at the time. The Panics of 1893 and 1896 had battered the economy and caused mass unemployment, and the use of the gold standard for the U.S. dollar at the time meant that gold dollars were rapidly increasing in value. The limited gold supply at the time meant the Klondike gold deposits fulfilled a strong need in the American economy.
The Klondike gold rush was also aided by the burgeoning journalism industry of the time. In the late 1800’s, newspapers had become a major source of information for Americans, and with yellow journalism and sensationalism popular, many reporters hyped up the Klondike gold discovery in order to sell papers. The Klondike gold rush also coincided with the closing of the American frontier, and many individuals who had missed out on the settlement of the West were attracted to the idea of a new frontier where they could get rich.
Seattle and San Francisco became the primary gateways to the Klondike due to their position on the West Coast and their status as large port cities. Thousands of settlers migrated into the Klondike from the U.S. and Canada, and many firms in the U.S. saw mass resignations of staff as they headed north. One of the most notable prospectors was Jack London, who became a famous novelist and memoirist writing about his experiences in Yukon during the gold rush.
Travel to the Klondike was difficult due to the harsh weather conditions of the region as well as its rugged terrain and lack of roads. Most prospectors chose to travel there via the Skagway/Dyea route, taking boats to the Alaskan Panhandle port cities of Skagway and Dyea and traveling inland via Chilkoot Pass. This water route is now known as the Inland Passage and remains an important maritime link between Alaska and the mainland U.S. It was also possible to reach the Klondike entirely by boat by sailing to St. Michael on Alaska’s western coast and then navigating via the Yukon River, though this route was impassable during cold months due to ice. Canadian migrants often traveled via an all-Canada route that began in Edmonton, the capital of the modern-day province of Alberta.
To prevent migrants from starving, the Canadian government passed a law requiring Klondike migrants to bring at least a year’s worth of food with them. Combined with other necessary equipment for mining and living, this meant that the average migrant brought with them over a ton in weight, requiring many to bring their equipment with them in stages. Due to an ongoing dispute between the U.S. and Canada over the border between Alaska and British Columbia, both countries sent military and police detachments to enforce claims and maintain law and order. Canada would later separate the Klondike region into its own territory, named Yukon, in 1898 in order to provide a more local government to manage the migrant inflow.
By 1898, the period by which most migrants had reached the Klondike, most of the best claims in the region were already taken by earlier arrivals. Klondike gold was located not only in creeks, but in hilltops, and often required exploratory digging in order to find; gold distribution was also uneven, leading to greater uncertainty. Gold was typically mined via surface digging due to the infeasibility of bringing heavy equipment into Yukon. The Canadian government levied heavy taxes on extracted gold, adding another significant cost to mining.
Due to the cost of mining, particularly in the latter stages of the gold rush, many poorer prospectors eventually became destitute. Failed prospectors would either sell their equipment and go home or take manual labor jobs; while the latter had extremely high wages compared to other parts of the U.S. and Canada, the high cost of living in Yukon ate away many workers’ paychecks.
Dawson City became the hub of gold mining in Yukon, swelling to a population of 30,000 during the Klondike Gold Rush. The heavy presence of North-West Mounted Police kept the area relatively peaceful, with low rates of murder and prostitution, typically associated with boom towns. Prices for food and other common goods were high due to the cost of transporting them, which led to several food shortages in the region.
Despite the high cost of living in Yukon, many residents adopted lavish lifestyles, with luxurious gambling halls, saloons, and dance halls becoming common. Communication with the outside world was limited due to Yukon’s distant location, resulting in mail and news being received with a considerable delay. While many early settlers were men, many women also migrated to Yukon to work as actresses, prostitutes, and to court the attention of wealthy prospectors. In 1899, Dawson City was formally connected to Skagway via telegraphy lines and the White Pass and Yukon Railway, greatly speeding transportation and making communication with the outside world nearly instantaneous.
The Klondike Gold Rush began to slow in 1898, as many failed prospectors chose to return home after being unable to profit off of mining claims. Declining wages for manual labor began to fall around this time, inspiring many more people to leave. Another factor in the end of the Klondike Gold Rush was the Spanish-American War of 1898, which eclipsed Yukon as a point of fascination for mainland newspapers. The gentrification of Dawson City also harmed the gold rush, as many prospectors were displeased by new laws and social codes regulating their behavior. The final event that ended the Klondike Gold Rush was the discovery of gold deposits in Alaska. In Nome and the Fairbanks area, gold was discovered in 1899. This saw an outflow of migrants from Yukon eager to make easier money.
The aftermath of the Klondike Gold Rush devastated Yukon. With many migrants leaving the area, Dawson City contracted in size, falling to just 2,000 people by 1912 and 500 by 1972. Native peoples were harmed by environmental damage caused by mining and smallpox brought by settlers, causing mass deaths and a drop in their overall populations. The vast majority of Klondike settlers failed to make much money, and even those who did profit from the gold boom lost their fortunes in subsequent years due to alcoholism, lavish spending, bad investment decisions, and other factors.
Despite this, the Klondike Gold Rush left a lasting effect on Alaska and on American and Canadian culture. Cities such as Skagway, Juneau, Nome, and Fairbanks became major centers of commerce due to the various gold booms in the region. Yukon remains a significant gold producer due to modern technology allowing the extraction of gold deposits that could not be reached during the gold boom.
Klondike tourism remains popular in both Yukon and Alaska, and the Klondike Gold Rush continues to be celebrated in books, movies, and music. Writers such as Jack London and Robert W. Service became popular due to their stories and poems set during the Klondike Gold Rush. Yukon marks Discovery Day, the anniversary of the first discovery of gold in the Klondike, as an annual holiday on the third Monday of August.
Conclusion
While the Klondike Gold Rush ended almost as soon as it began, its economic and cultural legacy cannot be denied. The Klondike Gold Rush put Alaska on the map as a land of riches and opportunity, with many settlements founded in the wake of the gold stampede remaining significant economic centers to this day. The rush for gold in Yukon also forms an important part of Alaska’s and America’s culture, symbolizing one of the last frontiers where people could make their fortunes in an untamed wilderness.