Yukon Gold Rush: The newspaper said it was a shortcut to get rich.
Today, we tell you the second part of the story about the discovery of gold in Yukon, Canada.
We talked about thousands of people flocking to Alaska to realize their dream of getting rich in Canada.
Last week, we told you how three people found a lot of gold in the yukon river Valley in northwest Canada. Their discovery triggered a wave of gold rushing to Alaska and preparing to cross the Canadian border. Historians believe that about 20,000 to 30,000 people poured into this area. The newspaper published many stories about the gold rush. These stories say that it is easy to get rich when you go there. When you get to that area, all you have to do is pick up the gold on the ground. Books and magazines also tell people how to get to this area and the best way to find gold. However, most of this information is false, and gold panning is not easy. This is a very hard job in an extremely harsh environment.
1On July 26th, 897, the first ship full of gold prospectors arrived in Skagway, Alaska. These gold prospectors were very lucky because it was summer and the climate was warm. However, they found that Skagway had no place to live. Most people have to build temporary houses with cloth. Skagway is a small port town. There are no shops here, and everything is expensive.
Meanwhile, crime in Skagway is rampant. There was a criminal leader named Jefferson Randolph Smith. He is called "Soapy Water" Smith. He tried his best to make money from those who went for gold. One of his methods now seems ridiculous: Soapy Water Smith posted an advertisement saying that a person can send a telegram home telling his family that they have arrived safely in Skagway for only five dollars. But what these telegraphers don't know is that the so-called wires with telegraph offices only extend to the nearby forest, and there is no real telegraph office here. This is a scam in which Soapy Water Smith makes money from people passing by Skagway.
Most gold prospectors want to get to the place where the gold mine was discovered as soon as possible. But the Canadian government requires everyone who comes to Canada to carry enough materials for one year, about 900 kilograms. Everyone must carry food, clothes, tools and all the necessities of life within one year. There are no shops in Yukon, and there is no food to buy here. Those who can bring a year's supply are lucky. Some people can only buy what they need in Skagway, so they have to buy what they need at a very high price.
When they prepared the necessary materials, these gold prospectors immediately faced an extremely difficult journey into Canada. The first problem they face is that they have to climb a high mountain. There are two roads for them to cross the mountain: White Road and Chequert Road, and they can only choose one of these two roads. Every gold digger began to transport their supplies from the foot of the mountain, which was very slow and difficult. There was a gold digger named Fred Dewey. He wrote to his friend who came home, saying that it took him two weeks to transport supplies from Skagway to the foot of the mountain. He wrote in the letter that his health was damaged because it was too difficult to carry these materials.
Later, these gold prospectors had to transport their supplies across the mountains. Some people have to go back and forth more than 30 times to transport all these materials over the top of the mountain, but some people give up when they see such a high mountain. They sold supplies to others and then returned to Skagway. The top of this mountain is the junction of the United States and Canada. Canadian officials said that everyone's supplies, if anyone's supplies are not enough, then this person will be sent back, and these people are not eligible to enter Canada.
If a gold digger succeeds in crossing this mountain, he will still face the most difficult and dangerous journey. Both roads crossing the mountain top end near Lake Bennett in British Columbia, and there is a 900-kilometer-long waterway from here to Dawson, where the gold mine was discovered. They have to take a boat from yukon river, but there is no shipping service here. Everyone or small groups must build their own boats. They cut down trees to build ships. In a few short months, some forests in this area have been cut down. Summer passed quickly, and winter followed. While the gold prospectors were still building ships, yukon river was frozen. Winter in this area is very cold, and the temperature often drops to MINUS 60 degrees Celsius. In such cold weather, people who have almost no cold protection measures can freeze to death in a few minutes.
Jack London, an American writer, is one of these gold diggers. He is famous for writing about his experiences in Alaska and Canada. He wrote a short story, which may best illustrate the terrible environment faced by gold diggers. This short story is White Silence. In this short story, Mr. London explained how extreme cold made the world lifeless, which aroused people's strange ideas. He said that the cold and silence brought by the frozen world increased people's fear of death. This kind of cold can make people afraid of their own voices. This short story also tells what may happen to a person who has an accident. There is no doctor in the gold mining area, and the seriously injured can only wait for death. Many of Jack London's novels truly reflect how cruel the gold diggers experienced in 1897.
At the end of winter, a large temporary town appeared around Bennett Lake. There are more than ten thousand people in this temporary town. They are waiting for the ice to melt so that they can continue their journey to the gold mine. March 28th 1898 yukon river can sail, and the ice is melting. On this day, 7,000 ships began to sail for Dawson. Many gold prospectors failed to survive the voyage, and all ships had to pass through a dangerous beach called Whitehorse. The current here is very fast and dangerous, and many ships capsized here, killing many gold prospectors.
Finally, the surviving gold miners arrived in Dawson, which was only a small village before the discovery of gold mines. After the discovery of gold mine, it became a big city in a short time. Shops and hotels have been built quickly and prices have soared. A man named Miller brought Dawson a cow. He sold less than 4 liters of milk for $30. Since then, he has been called "Cattle Miller" all his life. Gold panning didn't make him rich, but he made a fortune by selling milk. Many people follow suit. They buy materials in the United States, transport them to Dawson, and then sell them to gold diggers at extremely high prices.
These gold prospectors soon knew that the most valuable land in this area had been owned by others, so many people gave up and returned to their hometown, while some gold prospectors continued to look for gold in other areas, while others worked for those who found it. Experts say that about 4000 people made a fortune in the Klondike gold rush. Some people set up companies and began to buy land in this area. Some big companies use large machinery and equipment to mine gold. One company made a profit by mining gold until 1966. Historical records show that gold worth $5 1 10,000 was mined around Dawson area in just four years, which is equivalent to $0/10 million today.
The mighty gold rush in Yukon ended on 1899. When many gold prospectors left, the news that a huge gold mine was discovered in another place-Nomura, Alaska spread quickly. Thousands of gold diggers flocked to Nomura again. 1902, gold was found in another part of Alaska. Today, when people go to the Klondike region, they can still find a small amount of gold. You haven't found much, but it's enough to make you realize the enthusiasm of gold diggers more than 0/00 years ago.