![]() For many of those who made the incredible expedition, the Klondike represented an escape from everyday life and adventure in a new frontier.ĭawson City grew up in the shadow of a scar-faced mountain called Midnight Dome. But the hope of striking it rich was not all that mattered. Most who made the journey found no gold at all. Thirty thousand prospectors and miners, entrepreneurs, bankers, gamblers, prostitutes and con artists from every corner of the continent came across snow-covered mountain passes and down the Yukon River to claim their fortune in the Klondike. Within days, Bonanza and Eldorado Creeks had been staked from end to end. Carmack did not tell Henderson, who ended up missing out on the richest claims. The three lucky prospectors discovered gold on Bonanza Creek on August 16, 1896, marking the beginning of the Klondike Gold Rush!Ī short time later, at the nearby mining camp of Fortymile, Carmack registered the claim. Carmack and his native companions, Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim, explored the area around the river the First Nations people called “Tr’ondek”-or Klondike to English tongues. Two years passed, however, before he could persuade his friend, George Carmack, to go back to the area. When he had finished prospecting this clear, shallow creek, he was certain he was close to a major find. ![]() ![]() ![]() It all began with Robert Henderson, a fur trapper and part -time prospector who, in 1894, found gold in Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza Creek) near the confluence of the Yukon River and the Klondike River. ![]()
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