The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896: A Forgotten Historical Event

Over 100,000 people traveled to the Yukon searching for adventure and fortune. Few acquired the riches they sought. This event not only inspired the name of a chocolate bar but also Jack London’s Call of the Wild. Unfortunately, today it has been largely forgotten.

Prospectors with supplies at the Chilkoot Pass — Wikimedia Commons — Public Domain

The Klondike Gold Find

It all started on August 16, 1896, when George Carmack, an American prospector looking for gold by the Klondike River in Northwestern Canada near the Alaska border, discovered gold. He had been working the area accompanied by his Tagish wife Kate (Shaaw Tláa), her brother Shookum Jim (Keish), and their nephew Dawson Charlie (K̲áa Goox). George was following a suggestion from Canadian prospector Robert Henderson to look for gold on Bonanza Creek (called Rabbit Creek at the time), one of the Klondike River’s tributaries.

Skookum Jim, one of the discoverers, 1898 — Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=2141583

Whether Carmack discovered the gold first or his brother-in-law Shookum Jim, it is not known. Notwithstanding, the group agreed to let…