True Gritâ¦â¦Pure Gold Gold? Yukon? For the people in the lower forty eight states gold in Canada and Alaska was unheard of. The possibility of gold was a new and unexplored idea. If someone had said that someday there would be a rush to the Klondike to mine for gold and that a railroad would be built through the mountains then no one would have believed it. Even nost of the people up north never expected the goldrush. One man by the name of William Moore, however, did predict the rush of miners. Moore, who is the founder of Skagway, Alaska, said, "I fully expect before many years to see a pack train through this pass followed by a wagon road, and I would not be at all surprised to see a railroadthrough to the lakes." 15 On August 17, 1896, a man named George Carmack and two of his Indian friends, Dawson Charlie and Skookman Jim, discovered gold on Rabbit Creek in the Yukon Territory.
Sen. Moore of Penn. speaking at reunion - Bloody A...
Miners and prospectors climb the Chilkoot Trail du...
English: Modern map of Chilkoot trailRabbit Creek was later renamed Bonanza Creek by Carmack. Little did they know that their discovery would start the largest goldrush in history. 15 When men started arriving in Portland, on July 17, 1897, with the freshly discovered gold, the rush was on. 9 When the expecting miners left to go north they had no idea what kind of journy lay ahead of them. Only about four out of every ten people that went to seek gold actually made it to Dawson City then to the gold fields.12 About one hundred thousand people headed north. Of that many only about forty thousand reached the gold fields. Of the ones that made it to the fields, only half looked for any gold. About four thousand got lucky and found gold, and only a few hundred...