A Klondike Gold Rush Question

[Chefguy]

@ralph124c

I recall seeing a line of prospetors climbing up the Chilcoot Pass-I wonder how many of these men survived? And of those that did, how many made any money?
I also recall that the Canadian police (the RCMP) made it mandatory for anybody entering Canadian territory, to have 6 month’s provisions.
the entrepreneurs in Dawson made a good living off the prospectors-eggs went to $3 each, at one point.
Question: when the rush was over, how many people remained in the Yukon Territory?

By the time those fortune hunters got there, all the good area claims had been staked. The smart ones went there to gamble, whore, or sell mining/camping goods. Most of them made it over the Chilkoot Pass, but there was more to it than that: first they had to get past the likes of Soapy Smith to get to Dyea. If they survived that, there was the climb(s) to transport one year’s supply of goods across the border (about a ton). The Chilkoot Trail went for another 30 miles or so to Lake Lindeman, and then on to Bennett Lake where they had to build a raft to get down the Yukon to Dawson and on to the Klondike River. The ones who tried the overland route to the MacKenzie River were the ones who died en masse.

When the gold and business petered out, many of the miners and the strap-hangers moved on to the next strike in Nome, but the smart ones quit and headed home. Gold mining is a labor-intensive, nasty, muddy, cold, wet and freezing proposition. It’s also seven days a week of 16 hour days, if you’re serious about making money. In the winter, prospectors would light fires in their mining holes in order to thaw out the earth enough to dig.

[elbows]

When I hitchhiked to Dawson, 20 odd years ago, there were only 23,000 people in the whole territory. Which was unfathomable to a young woman living in Toronto.

Dawson has grown considerably since then, though.

[Chefguy]

@elbows

When I hitchhiked to Dawson, 20 odd years ago, there were only 23,000 people in the whole territory. Which was unfathomable to a young woman living in Toronto.

Dawson has grown considerably since then, though.

It’s still pretty small, at about 1400 people. They get a huge number of tourists compared to the locals, though, as they’ve tried to keep the place looking like a gold rush town. There are tours of the old dredge out on the Klondike, and there are still active mines there, now that gold is actually worthwhile to dig for. The one liquor store in town does a brisk business.

[ralph124c]

@Chefguy

By the time those fortune hunters got there, all the good area claims had been staked. The smart ones went there to gamble, whore, or sell mining/camping goods. Most of them made it over the Chilkoot Pass, but there was more to it than that: first they had to get past the likes of Soapy Smith to get to Dyea. If they survived that, there was the climb(s) to transport one year’s supply of goods across the border (about a ton). The Chilkoot Trail went for another 30 miles or so to Lake Lindeman, and then on to Bennett Lake where they had to build a raft to get down the Yukon to Dawson and on to the Klondike River. The ones who tried the overland route to the MacKenzie River were the ones who died en masse.

When the gold and business petered out, many of the miners and the strap-hangers moved on to the next strike in Nome, but the smart ones quit and headed home. Gold mining is a labor-intensive, nasty, muddy, cold, wet and freezing proposition. It’s also seven days a week of 16 hour days, if you’re serious about making money. In the winter, prospectors would light fires in their mining holes in order to thaw out the earth enough to dig.

Interesting-as Mark Twain described (the California Gold Rush), the people who got rich “mined the miners”!

[Chefguy]

@ralph124c

Interesting-as Mark Twain described (the California Gold Rush), the people who got rich “mined the miners”!

The same holds true for modern day miners, whatever they’re looking for. When the oil pipeline was being built in Alaska, the place was flooded by people looking for work. Fairbanks, founded as a gold rush town in about 1902, turned into a gold rush town all over again in the 1970s. There were only so many jobs for highly skilled tradesmen, but there was always a need for sex, drugs, food, booze and a roof. Hookers made a fortune.