Here's another post on Klondike Goldrush George Carmack. It may be new to
someone.
dale
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Source: CHILDRESS-L(a)rootsweb.com
From: "Childress" <london2000(a)fea.net>
Subject: [Childress Research] Yukon Gold Rush/John Childress and D.L.
Childers ca 1898
Alaska-Yukon Goldrush Participants
Childress John, Eagle City, miner
MAY 31 1898 CHILDERS, D.L. ST.LOUIS - BOAT 2191
After gold was discovered in 1896 on Bonanza Creek, thousands of claims were
staked along tributaries of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. The Yukon Gold
Commissioner's Office issued "Placermining Grants," enabling prospectors to
become miners and work their claims for "placer" findings (mineral deposits
containing gold, left by glaciers or rivers ). This, the first of three
Placermining Grants volumes, lists almost 20,000 numbered grants and the
names of their owners.
http://www.gold-rush.org/ghost-07.htm
http://www.familychronicle.com/klondike.htm
One hundred years ago, on August 17, 1896, American George Carmack and his
Tagish First Nations friends Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim panned for gold
on a small tributary of the Yukon River called Rabbit Creek. According to
legend, Carmack dreamed of salmon with gleaming gold nugget eyes in blue-
green water and was led to the creek, where he and his two friends
discovered a huge quantity of gold. They quickly staked their claims and
renamed Rabbit Creek, "Bonanza."
Greatest Gold Rush in History
Their discovery was to be the beginning of the greatest gold rush in
history. It was by no means the first gold find in the North but it was the
largest. By modern measure, the threesome stumbled on a billion dollar
bounty.
Word of the treasure -- and gold rush fever -- spread quickly throughout
North America. The harsh Yukon winter that was approaching, though, forced
most people to wait until the following spring to make their journeys to
fortune. More than 100,000 people swarmed towards a land they had heard
nothing about and endured hardships they could never have imagined. They
were greeted by obstacles created by both nature and man.
"Neither law nor order prevailed, honest persons had no protection from the
gang of rascals who plied their nefarious trade," wrote mounted police
officer Sam Steele, describing the scene at the base of the treacherous
Chilkoot Pass. "Might was right; murder, robbery, and petty theft were
common occurences."
Avalanches, drownings, typhoid, spinal meningitis, and scurvy claimed many
lives.
Of the tens of thousands who actually made it to the Bonanza, only a handful
found fortunes.
The Klondike Gold Rush had an immediate and lasting impact on Western Canada
and the United States. Seattle became a major staging point for fortune
hunters headed north and the populations of Vancouver and Edmonton doubled
and tripled respectively. Canadian author Pierre Berton described the Gold
Rush as "the most concentrated mass movement of American citizens onto
Canadian soil in all our history."
Soon after "Discovery Day," Dawson City sprung up at the confluence of the
Klondike and Yukon Rivers. It quickly became the most populous place west of
Winnipeg and north of San Francisco, with a population of 40,000. The
natives who used the area as a summer fishing camp moved downstream to
Moosehide. With the stream of people coming into Dawson City came the
construction of hotels, theatres, and dance halls. Almost as quickly as it
grew, however, Dawson City dwindled. By 1899 the gold rush was over and
people left in large groups, leaving the town with a population of less than
1,000. (Today about 2,000 people live in Dawson City, which attracts 60,000
tourists a year).
On the US side, the Gold Rush brought thousands by boats to the docks of
Skagway and Dyea. While the Mounties kept the peace on Canadian soil and
tended to the sick and injured, Alaska was home to gunslingers and thieves.
Stampeders were forced to punish lawbreakers in their own ways.
To mark the centennial year of the Klondike Gold Rush, Family Chronicle is
publishing a list of names of people who remained in the area at the turn of
the century. Perhaps you will be able to find a connection.
The list was compiled by a Mrs. M.L. Ferguson of Los Angeles, who first
visited Dawson City in 1899. She had with her letters to persons living in
the Yukon but had a difficult time delivering them since there were no
street names or addresses. Ferguson was inspired to publish the Directory
and Gazetteer of the Yukon Territory and applied to Yukon Council for the
right to number houses and erect street signs on corners. While compiling
the directory, Ferguson fell ill and was forced to return to California. She
handed the project over to Barnes & Baber, who published it as "The Only
Yukon-Alaska Directory for 1901".
Use the list to find a specific name. Beside each name is a name or code
representing the area wherein the person resided. You will see: Skagway,
Nome, Council City, Juneau, Whitehorse, Teller City, and others. Also
included beside each name is the individual's listed occupation at the time
the information was compiled. Most, as you will note, are miners.
Additional -- and more specific -- information on individuals who were part
of the Gold Rush in Yukon is available on the Internet. The site, called
"Ghosts of the Gold Rush", features stories, bits of trivia, and a database
that allows you to search for a specific surname. It lists all matches and
provides detailed information about the person including his or her
hometown, point of origin, date of arrival, and medical condition. Also at
the site is "Alaska Gold Rush Trails -- Stories of the Past" with
information on the Klondike as it relates to Alaska.
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