Getting to Yukon Territory was no easy task, especially while hauling a literal ton of supplies.
Gold Mining EquipmentĬanadian authorities required every stampeder to have a year’s worth of gold mining equipment and supplies before crossing the Canadian border such as: Most had no idea where they were going or what they’d face along the way. Once it did, however, droves of people known as stampeders headed north, searching for Yukon gold and a wealthier fate. As a result, word didn’t get out about the Klondike gold discovery until 1897. Yukon GoldĬonditions in the Yukon were harsh and made communication with the outside world difficult at best. Little did they know their discovery would spur a massive gold rush.
On August 16, 1896, Carmack, along with Jim Mason and Tagish Charlie, later Dawson Charlie (Kaa Goox), both Tagish First Nation members- discovered Yukon gold on Rabbit Creek (later renamed Bonanza Creek), a Klondike River tributary that ran through both Alaskan and Yukon Territory. By 1896, around 1,500 prospectors panned for gold along the Yukon River basin-one of them was American George Carmack. Starting in the 1870s, prospectors trickled into the Yukon in search of gold.
