Both the federal government and private companies were doing everything they could to promote the Yukon territory as a land of opportunity, and maps were an important tool to announce these speculative advertisements. A newly constructed Yukon Route Railway, built in 1899, cost 25 cents per mile, and was estimated at the time to be the most expensive train in the world. The rush also led to the development and use of newly constructed railway and steamship routes, with railroads and steamer companies competing for travelers. Gold fever spurred spending on infrastructure such as railways, steamships and dams on supplies, goods, and mining machinery, as individuals who didn’t strike it rich sold their stakes to mining companies and on the rapid development of boom towns like Dawson City, where some rich prospectors spent their earnings on lavish lifestyles and entertainment. was in the midst of an economic recession with high unemployment levels, and the economy benefited both from the spending and innovation during the gold rush. Geological Survey in 1898 shows deposits of resources (both gold and coal in this case), as well as steamer routes and trails.įor the national economy, too, the rush was an opportunity. “ The Gold and Coalfields of Alaska” map from the U.S. For everyday folks, the gold rush was a chance to turn their lives around the potential discovery of gold promised a better life for families plagued by financial insecurity and recovering from the Panic of 1893 and Panic of 1896. Thousands of eager, ordinary people made their way north in search of gold. “Klondike Fever” reached its height in the United States in mid-July 1897. Both of our most recent exhibitions, Bending Lines and America Transformed, emphasize how maps have long been used not only as a tool to claim territory, but also to find and exploit resources, attain wealth, and even gain control of people. Maps, of course, have always played a role in the exploration of new lands. The rush would bring an estimated 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region between 18, and had a profound impact on land, economic development, and native communities. The last great gold rush of the American West had begun: the Great Klondike Gold Rush. News of the gold strike spread fast across Canada and the United States Rabbit Creek was renamed Bonanza Creek, and even more gold was discovered in a nearby Klondike tributary named Eldorado. The men staked their claim on that plot of land the following day. It’s unclear which man made the discovery of the gold nuggets most historians believe that Skookum Jim spotted it first, but that Carmack was named as the “official” finder, as the men feared authorities would not recognize an indigenous claimant. On August 16, 1896, three men discovered gold nuggets in the river while camping and fishing near Rabbit Creek in the Klondike River territory: American prospector George Carmack, and two Tagish people, Keish (Skookum Jim), who was Carmack’s brother-in-law, and Káa Goox (Dawson Charlie). Prospectors bound for the Klondike gold fields, in Chilkoot Pass, Alaska, 1898.
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