It was in August 16, 1896, George Washington Carmack and his two Native friends, Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie, found gold in their pans in quantities never before seen in the Yukon, and the RUSH WAS ON. One of them found a gold nugget the size of a dime. While Carmack always maintained that he saw it first, both Jim and Charlie agreed that it was Jim's discovery. It was in August of 1896. It was at Bonaza Creek where they had stacked their claim.

In just one year, 1897-1898, over 60,000 adventurers made their way to the rich gold fields of the Klondike. The vivid image of endless lines of prospectors struggling up the Chilkoot Pass says it all. These sourdouugh's came to Alaska on crowded ships, made their way through turbulent crowds on the docks at Skagway or Dyea and had to sort out fact from fiction as they received advice from con men, sensible old timers and well meaning fools. Then they had to find some means of transporting a thousand or more pounds of supplies over either the Chilkoot or White Passes. Unexpected perils included avalanches, drownings, typhoid, scurvy and spinal meningitis. On the American side of the border, there was little law enforcement.Not so on the Canadian side. Skagway and Dyea were overrun with thieves and con men. Across the divide, the Canadian Mounties kept order and maintained a sense of security among the confused masses. The Mounties required the stampeders to bring enough provisions, curtailed travel on the rapids, tended to the sick and injured, restricted the use of firearms and meted out justice disasters.

© copyright Background and graphics by Dora 2001
August 28th 2001