The April meeting was a talk by Bob Marsh about the ‘Klondike Gold Rush’ The indigenous peoples in north-west America were aware that gold existed in the region, but the metal was not valued by them and so traded in copper nuggets and fur. In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the area, 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. In 1883 gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in small amounts and with no claims being made. In 1896, an American prospector named George Carmack and two Tagish men, found gold in Bonanza Creek, one of Klondike’s tributaries, and 4 claims were registered the next day. News soon spread rapidly to other mining camps in the Yukon River valley and by the end of August, all of Bonanza Creek had been claimed by miners, and the population of Dawson Creek had swelled to 30,000. Almost a year later, news ignited the outside world. A wave of gold seekers bought supplies and boarded ships in Seattle and other west coast port cities. They headed north thinking they would strike it rich. Some chose the expensive all water or ‘rich man’s route’ sailing around Alaska and up the Yukon river, but most opted for the cheaper, most direct routes - the White Pass and Chilkoot Trails, 35 miles over the mountains to reach the head of the Yukon River at Lake Bennett. Then, on a homemade boat, they traveled over 500 miles by river to reach Dawson City. 16 There were murders, robberies, disease and malnutrition, and deaths from hypothermia and capsizing. The stampede'rs had to carry everything on their backs, (including, by law, 1 years food supply) which took 12 months, or using pack animals, of which more than 3,000 died during this t ime. By 1889, most of the 100 000 stampede'rs had died or returned home penniless, and with a new goldfield discovered at Nome, Alaska, Dawson Creek was relatively deserted. There is still gold in the Dawson City area, but the stampede'rs were replaced by large corporations that mine the Klondike for gold today. You are warmly invited to our next meetings:  June 3rd Charlotte Ball Anglo-Saxon medicine and magic.

John Egginton