Klondike,
A region in the
Northwest Territory of
Canada, bordering on the
Klondike and
Yukon rivers.
The first white people who visited the region went there in the interest of the Hudson Bay Company.
It is said that they knew of the existence of gold there, but as they did not suppose it existed in large quantities, they did not make the fact known, as they feared that the entrance of miners would interfere with the trade of their company.
In 1873 the existence of gold in paying quantities was reported, in a region then supposed to be wholly within
British Columbia.
Miners penetrated farther towards the
Yukon in 1882, and were successful in placer mining along the
Stewart and other rivers.
The first rush for the region began in 1887, when the Forty-Mile Creek was discovered and coarse gold found there.
In the next year mining was started on the Forty-Mile Creek, and by 1897 nearly all of the available gold had been taken out. The first reports of the wealth of the
Klondike region proper were made by
Indians.
The first white man to enter the region was
George W. Carmack, who staked the first claim on
Bonanza Creek, in August, 1896.
Here $14,200 were secured in eight days by three men. On July 14, 1897, a steamer from the
Klondike arrived at
San Francisco.
On board were forty miners, who had more than $500,000 in gold dust, and there was $250,000 more for the Commercial Company.
After an assay it was found that the
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Klondike gold was not as pure as that of
California, there being combined with it a greater amount of iron, lead, etc. On July 17 of the same year a second steamer arrived at
San Francisco, bringing sixty-eight miners, with $1,250,000 worth of gold.
Immediately the “
Klondike fever” became general, and so large was the number of gold-seekers that the capacity of all the steamers running to
St. Michael,
Juneau, and Dyea was overtaxed.
For a time it was feared that many of these goldseekers would perish before the opening of the passes in the following spring on account of the lack of provisions.
On June 13, 1898, by an act of the Canadian Parliament, the boundaries of Ungava, Keewatin,
Franklin,
Mackenzie, and
Yukon were changed, and the
Yukon region was constituted a separate territory, with an area of 198,300 square miles, 2,000 of which is water surface.
In February, 1898, the
United States Coast and Geodetic Survey issued a new map of the
Yukon River region.
The map includes the territory between long.
38° and 166° W., and lat. 60° to 67° N. The
Yukon River is traced considerably beyond the
Klondike region, and the portion within
Alaska is very fully treated.
The country between Forty-Mile Post and
Stewart River is also given with minute exactness.
The results of military and scientific explorations undertaken by the United States government in
Alaska indicate that that Territory contains a larger amount of gold, besides other economic “minerals,” than the area popularly termed the “Klondike region.”
See
Alaska.
