The Alaskan Gold Rush of 1897
Presented by- Robin Ghotra, Daniel Mei, and Darayus Sethna
People Involved With the 1897 Gold Rush
Supplies included:
- 150 lbs. bacon
- 15 lbs. salt
- 400 lbs. flour
- 10 lbs. tea
- 25 lbs. sugar
The number of people involved contained of 100,000 prospectors, but only 30,000 arrived in the Klondike region, and only 4,000 found gold.
The amount of gold mined was worth over $30 million (or over $675 million in 1988 US dollars).
The location in which the stampeders and prospectors traveled and worked through were the Yukon Territory, Klondike Region, Northwestern Canada, and Alaska.
Timeline
- The Klondike Gold Rush lasted from 1897-1899
Gold was sold for around $18.98 per troy ounce which would currently be around $1,050 in today's currency
Conditions
Most common route taken by the miners to reach the fields was the Chilkoot or White Passes to the Yukon River at Whitehorse and then by boat 500 miles to Dawson City the Chilkoot Pass was steep and hazardous the White Pass was steep, narrow, and slick
Disasters and People
- The Canadian Mounties kept order, maintained a sense of security among the confused masses, and prevented most disasters
- More than one million people made plans to go to the Klondike region of the Yukon, and one hundred thousand actually set off only 30,000 completed the trip
Cultures in the Alaskan Gold Rush of 1897
Pack animals such as horses and dogs to pull sleds were used to carry supplies.
Living conditions depended on geography and climate. Land was mountainous and rivers sometimes impassible.
Most women stayed behind while husbands went mining and only less than one percent of women were miners.
The film, The Gold Rush was produced in 1925, and starred the famous Charles Chaplin. Writer, Jack London, incorporated ideas from the Gold Rush of 1897 into his book, The Call of the Wild.