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THE 1896 YUKON RIVER
GOLD RUSH
INTRODUCTION
August 17, 1896 in the northwest of Canada: Jim Skookum, a Native American, and his partner George Carmack were prospecting and hunting in the Klondike region when they discovered the first gold in Rabbit Creek. Instantly they left to register the claim at the nearest mining town, which was Forty Mile, north the Yukon River. By the next morning, Forty Mile was deserted, and the miners which renamed the Creek "Bonanza", measured off claims below and above the discovery claim. Word of the strike spread quickly and "Gold fever" struck people across America and around the world. The Rush was on!
THE JOURNEY
The public was flooded with advice and maps - many providing questionable or wrong data as the publishers tried to cash in on the rush. For most of the so-called "Stampeders", deciding to leave for the Klondike was easier than choosing a route. Besides Vancouver (CA - British Columbia) and Tacoma (US - Washington), Seattle (US - Washington) was the most successful town at promoting itself as the best departure point for the Klondike. Within days the city was full of fortune hunters and all ships northbound to Alaska were over-booked. Every little old boat, capable of transporting passengers was used to carry Stampeders through the Inland-Passage to Dyea, Alaska.
Dyea's harbor was not as deep as Skagway's, therefore most of the ships landed their cargo in Skagway and Stampeders were often left to make their own way over to Dyea and the Chilkoot Pass trail. At the beginning of the Gold Rush there didn't exist the Yukon Railroad over the White Pass which connects Canada's Yukon region with the sea, so the miners only chance to cross the border to Canada was to walk. Leading 32 miles from Dyea to the shores of Lake Lindemann the Chilkoot Pass trail was the fastest way to get to the Klondike. Along the trail there were several camps, mainly consisting of tends and some log buildings offering food and accommodation. While most of the trail was not too difficult for walking, the section to the summit of the Chilkoot pass was very demanding - the famous "Golden Stairs". Stampeders moved up the 1500 steps carved out of the ice, carrying their goods on their back following each other in a single line. A single trip up the Golden Stairs could take as long as six hours! Many were ill prepared for their journey and died of exposure or starvation. In order to prevent a high number of deaths, the North West Mounted Police (better known as "Mounties") insisted that every single man who wants to enter Canada has to carry one ton of supplies - enough for a year in the Yukon Territory. This decision meant an early ending for many of the Stampeders because they simply could not afford to buy that much supply. The ones who did afford had to walk the trail several times, risking that somebody steels their stuff in the meantime. On April 3, 1898, a series of avalanches struck along the Chilkoot Pass trail killing dozens of Stampeders. As a consequence the alternative route leading over the White Pass that was at least a bit saver got more popular.
In contrast to the Chilkoot Pass, which earned the nickname "the meanest 32 miles in the world", the White Pass trail seemed to be much easier. That was true for the first few miles where it was possible to use wagons but later on the path narrowed to just a little more than half a meter. The trail had originally been advertised as an all-wagon trail and Stampeders came with horses which had great difficulties when the path got narrow. Their owners beat and drove them along the thin trail until they were exhausted to death. The famous novelist Jack London who also chose to walk over the White Pass trail in 1897 wrote: "Men shot them, worked them to death and when they were gone, went back to the beach and bought more.Their hearts turned to stone - those which did not break - and they became beasts, the men on the Dead Horse Trail."
Both, the White Pass trail and the Chilkoot Pass trail end up at Lake Bennet which is the beginning of the Yukon River. During the winter of 1897-1898 Stampeders had to stay in rapidly growing tend camps, waiting for the ice to break. Most Stampeders needed to build their own boats and this resulted in deforesting the surrounding area. The effect of thousands of campers living for months along the lake is still clearly visible a century later. By the end of May, the river had broken up enough for traffic to begin. Hundreds of boats began leaving the lakes each day and the overall mood of the Stampeders was one of excitement and adventure but those who thought that they could now just sail smoothly down the Yukon into Dawson were wrong.
In the first days of the rush down the Yukon River over 100 boats were torn to pieces in the White Horse Rapids with the Stampeders loosing either all their equipment or even their lives. Finally the Mounted Police refused to allow any more boats down the Rapids, unless there was an experienced pilot aboard. The boats lined up above the rapids waiting for an available pilot, one of them was the young adventurer Jack London. For the "Klondikers", as they were calling themselves, the most difficult section on the Yukon River was Miles Canyon. In its center a twirling, wild whirlpool was waiting for the Stampeders on their self-made boats. The Mounties also asked women and children to get out of the boats and walk along the banks of the Yukon to the end of the rapids but some of them like Emma Kelly insisted on riding the rapids. She was one of three female correspondents who had been sent to cover the gold rush and she enjoyed the trip so much she decided to ride the rapids twice: 'I do not know when I ever enjoyed anything so much in my life Wild waves rocked and rolled our boat and occasionally broke over us. The spray rose so thick and high we could not see the shore, the very air seeming a sea of misty spray. It was simply glorious. All too soon we rowed into comparatively smooth yet rapid water. A few more strokes of the oars sent us to the shore and the ride was over, leaving a sensation never to be forgotten.' (published 1901, Lippincott's Monthly Magazine) Many others were not as brave as Emma Kelly and a clever businessman built a wooden rail tramway that allowed the Klondikers to bypass the rapids with all their gear for 25 Dollars. Further down the Yukon the boaters had a smooth ride over Lake Laberge leading into the section known as Thirtymile. The river's last challenge were the famous Five Finger Rapids but from then on Stampeders only had to avoid the many side channels of the Yukon and soon found themselves at Dawson City, where the Yukon and the Klondike Rivers met. From here, the gold fields were only a few miles away.
DIGGING FOR GOLD
By June of 1898, gold production was at an all-time high and at that time the big influx hadn't been arrived! Few of the newcomers knew much about mining, building a cabin or surviving sub-zero temperatures but they had the dream of striking it rich on the gold fields. Contrary to this dream few miners left the Klondike region wich pockets full of gold. According to the figures of a historian about 100.000 headed for the gold fields between 1897 and 1899. Only a third of them arrived in the Klondike region and probably half of those actually mined for gold. Of those, only a few hundred struck it rich.
One of the places that seemed to be full with gold was Eldorado, a tiny arm of Bonanza Creek: In 1898, Alex McDonald's bought half interested claim No. 30 on the Eldorado, the purchase price was some flour and bacon. Then he hired two men to work on his claim and with his percentage he was able soon to buy more and more claims - over 40 all together on gold producing creeks. He amassed a fortune so big, it's said he didn't know how many millions he possessed himself - probably the reason why he was known as the "King of the Klondike".
For most Klondikers who owned a claim, the search for gold was hard labor. Mining was a wet process: standing in icy creeks, swirling water in pans and trough so-called sluice-boxes. Also the climate did a good job in making live as tough as possible because on average there were only 90 frost-free days per year and during those "good months" mosquitoes were ever-present.
In the winter miners had to set fire in order to melt the ground so that they were able to use their picks and shovels. As soon as the loose gravel reached the ground it froze again and stayed that way until spring. That's when the payoff came, the miners called it "spring cleaning" and for many the work and the wait paid off.
Later the gold fields of the Klondike attracted big American capitalists like the Rothschilds and the Guggenheims. It was the time when mining entered a new phase: There was a change from labor-intensive work done by hand to machinery-driven mining. Also the size of the claims increased up to 40 square miles per parcel and in 1901 the first dredge began its work. It had huge buckets which dug up the earth and moved it back into the dredge, where the material was washed and the gold filtered out. What two old-style miners could process in an entire winter now took just one afternoon.
By the time the dredges came the gold diggers left, and also the social cluster in Dawson City and the whole Klondike region changed dramatically. Some of the miners with their wives and children headed for Fairbanks (AK) others gave up gold altogether. Even with all the mechanization the new century brought, gold production declined until 1908, when it was at the minimum of about 3.6 million Dollars. Since then there were ups and downs, but it never reached the amount of the late 19th century.
Compared to Europe, a big problem relating tourism is that both North American States, especially the regions in the north of the continent, do not have a great amount of historicity - simply because they are too young. Actually regions like Alaska or the Yukon Territory wouldn't have any significant historical meaning at all if there hasn't been the gold rush of 1898 - and people working in the tourist industry are aware of this fact. Paired with the unique beauty and wilderness of the land they understand it perfectly to attract tourists from all over the world. Basically you can divide between two types of visitors that come to the Yukon: There are those who are more interested in enjoying the untouched nature, sightseeing and visiting museums or exhibitions. The other group could be described as adventurers who follow the track of the Stampeders hundred years ago.
According to the official data provided by the Tourism Industry Resource Center (TIRC) of the Yukon Territory, the majority of visitors belonging to this group comes from within Canada or the United States. Generally speaking they are older than the average and can afford more expensive trips. An example therefore would be the sea voyage trough the inside passage: Always more of the international cruise ships take the Inside passage from Vancouver (BC) to Skagway (AK) into their route and there hardly passes a day without a huge cruise ship anchoring in Skagway, "The heart of the Gold Rush Country." What a European would probably describe as kitsch is a historic sight for many Americans. The small town, actually consisting of only one main street leading from the harbor to the other ending, depends so deeply on tourism that its inhabitants are requested to wear cloths of the gold rush time.
This group is also more interested in visiting museums, practically all of them dealing with the stampede to the Klondike. One of the most popular sights is the "SS Klondike National Historic Sight" - a preserved stern wheeler boat standing in Whitehorse (YT).
Stories about the gold rush and the desire of adventures attract many people to visit the Yukon. Statistics show that the majority of European visitors, especially from Germany, Austria and Switzerland, belong to this group.
One of the favorite activities is to paddle down the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson, experiencing the spirit of gold rush.
Morale in Dawson was at an all-time low in 1952, when the gold mining industry was in a slump and more and more citizens left the "Queen City of the North". Many of the old buildings dilapidated over the years but that's exactly what creates the certain flair of an old gold mining town and although there only live about 2000 people in Dawson City today it is noted on every map of the world. The bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941 led to the construction of the Alaska Highway which also passes Dawson City. This was the bedrock of a constantly evolving tourism and today there are more than 60.000 visitors coming each year to a town, where one hundred years later, gold remains the main attraction and the main topic of conversation. Many come to retrace the steps of the gold rush pioneers, part of the reason why the population swells to 5000 in the summer, and there are still some large-scale mining operations along the Klondike and the Bonanza Creek.
In 1989 the region spreading from Skagway to Dawson celebrated the 100-year anniversary of the gold rush. A 2-person team race from Dyea to Dawson, sled dog races, gold panning and other events filled the schedule. Although it seems like every little nail used during those glory days gets merchandised as a part of history, the Klondike region will never loose its unique, golden charm.
LITERATURE OF THE GOLD RUSH
Some of the tens of thousands men and women who rushed to the Klondike gold fields and returned with empty pockets tried to publish their tales in writings. A great number of stampeder autobiographies appeared over the next few decades, while hundreds of newspapers and magazines printed returning stampeders' stories. The two most noted writers to emerge from the Klondike Gold Rush were Robert Service and Jack London:
Robert Service (1874 - 1958)
Although Robert Service made his first trip to the Yukon seven years after the rush had begun, he was still able to capture the motions and thrills of those who made the journey. The British born poet worked as a bank employee at Whitehorse and published some poems in the local newspaper, the White Horse Star. With the printing of "The Cremation of Sam McGee" Service gained popularity throughout the country. Later on he worked as a correspondent for the Toronto Star and died in France 1958. Though Robert Service is mostly unknown in Europe, his poems, all dealing with the gold rush, are an important part of literature in those regions.
There are strange things done in the midnight
sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,
But the queerest they ever did see
Was that night on the marge of Lake Laberge
I cremated Sam McGee.
Robert Service
The Cremation of Sam McGee
Jack London (1876 - 1916)
Born in San Francisco, London was twenty years old when the great Klondike gold discovery was made and, unlike Robert Service, he lived and worked in the midst of the excitement. Even as a boy, working at various jobs on ships, London seemed to enjoy writing as much as adventure, and during the years of 1897 and 1898, when he was at the Klondike gold fields, London was able to blend these two passions. After he returned to California without the expected gold, he began writing novels about life in the far north. His Klondike writings turned out to be London's gold mine and with novels like "The Call of the Wild" and "White Fang" he gained international popularity and became the highest paid writer of his days. Until his death in 1916, London produced 50 books and hundreds of short stories.
Two men are out in the wild of the north. Their dogs disappear as they are lured by a she-wolf and eaten by the pack. They only have three bullets left and Bill, one of the men, uses them to try to save one of their dogs; he misses and is eaten with the dog. Only Henry and two dogs are left and he makes a fire, trying to drive away the wolves. They came very close, and he gets almost killed but is saved by a company of men who were traveling nearby.
The wolves are in the midst of a famine. They prowl through the landscape, lead by several wolves beside the she-wolf, and when they finally find food the pack starts to split up. The she-wolf mates with one of the wolves and has a litter of pups but only one survives after several more famines.
They come to an Indian village where the she-wolf's (who is actually half-wolf, half-dog) master is. He catches her again and White Fang, her pup, follows her. Soon, she is sold to another Indian, while White Fang stays with Gray Beaver, her master. The other dogs of the village terrorize White Fang, especially one named Lip-lip.
White Fang becomes more and more vicious, encouraged by his master who often beats him. White Fang even kills other dogs. When Gray Beaver goes to Fort Yukon to trade and begins to drink a lot, White Fang is passed into the hands of Beauty Smith, who organizes dog-fights. White Fang meets his match in a bulldog and is saved by a man named Scott.
Scott tames White Fang and takes him to California. There, White Fang learns to love his master and his master's family and even saves Scott's father from a criminal that escaped from the nearby prison. Finally White Fang has puppies with Collie, one of the master's dogs, and lives a happy life.
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