Bonanza Creek near Dawson City, Yukon is where George Carmack, Skookum Jim Mason, and Tagish Charlie discovered gold on August 16, 1896 — the event that triggered the Klondike Gold Rush. The rush was the largest and last great gold stampede in North American history, drawing 100,000 prospectors and producing over $500 million in gold (roughly $17 billion today) between 1896 and 1904.
Bonanza Creek near Dawson City, Yukon is where George Carmack, Skookum Jim Mason, and Tagish Charlie discovered gold on August 16, 1896 — the event that triggered the Klondike Gold Rush. The rush was the largest and last great gold stampede in North American history, drawing 100,000 prospectors and producing over $500 million in gold (roughly $17 billion today) between 1896 and 1904. The three men were camped at the mouth of Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza), a tributary of the Klondike River, when they spotted gold in the creek bed — not fine flakes but coarse gold, chunks thick enough to cut with a knife. George Carmack staked Discovery Claim on August 17, 1896, and the party headed to Forty Mile to record it at the Northwest Mounted Police post. The world learned of the Klondike in July 1897 when the steamships Excelsior and Portland arrived in San Francisco and Seattle carrying miners with hundreds of pounds of gold. America was in the grip of a severe economic depression. The images of men staggering off ships with bags of gold triggered one of the most intense mass migrations in history. Of the 100,000 people who set out for the Klondike, roughly 30,000 reached Dawson City. To get there they had to cross the Coast Mountains via the Chilkoot or White passes in winter, carrying a year's worth of supplies (over 2,000 pounds — the NWMP refused entry without it), build boats on Lake Bennett, and float 550 miles down the Yukon River. Hundreds died. Most who arrived found every inch of creek already staked. Discovery Claim — Claim No. 1 on Bonanza Creek — is preserved as a Yukon government heritage site. The surrounding claims were continuously worked from 1896 through the 1960s and saw renewed dredging in the 1970s–80s. Active placer mining continues on Bonanza and its tributaries. The Klondike district remains the most productive active placer mining region in Canada.
Explore AuthoriProspector →