Outdoors

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Men still search for Klondike gold

The search for gold is still,
almost a century after the great
Klondike Gold Rush of 1897, the
essence of the precious sparkle
and magic that is the Yukon.

Set astride the mighty Yukon
River, on the great waterways of
the world, the setting is grand in
the extreme.

Few there are who have not
heard of the legendary Chilkoot
Pass, Miles Canyon, the Five Fin-
ger Rapids, the Whitehorse Rap-
ids, Bonanza Creek, Hunker
Creek, Lac Leberge, Last Chance
and Dawson City!

The instant explosion in the
minds of 100,000 prospectors and
sourdoughs was ignited on August
16, 1896 when George Washing-
ton Carmack and his two Indian
companions Skookum Jim and
Tagish Charlie flashed the news of
their discovery of the famous
Bonanza Creek gold find.

Miners poured in from Canada,
United States, Germany, Switzer-
land and other points. Overnight,
Dawson City began to swell to a
burgeoning population of 30,000,
the largest city west of Winnipeg
and north of San Francisco. The
search for the elusive yellow metal
was at its peak.

Prospectors climbed the treac-
herous steps cut into the ice on the
almost vertical cliff on the Alas-
kan coastline, entering the territory
via the Chilkoot Pass and were
forced to retrace their steps again
and again with their essential sup-
plies.

At Bennett Lake, they quickly
fashioned boats of cut-down trees
in order to reach the Yukon River,
the “freeway”’ to the Klondike.

It is reported that by May 29,
1898 no fewer than 7,124 craft of
every description imaginable had
left Bennett Lake, bound for the
gold-bearing gravels.

Once on the Yukon, they ran
into dangerous Miles Canyon, and
the tricky Whitehorse Rapids.

Then the very hazardous Five
Finger Rapids where the Yukon is
divided into narrow treacherous
channels by four prominent rock
formations lying in the river bed.
Should these rapids be success-
fully negotiated, Dawson could be
reached with little trouble.

Once on site, the sourdoughs
busily staked claims, panned sam-
ples and set to work excavating
shafts deep into the permafrost
and networks of underground
stopes for the removal of ore.

By 1903, more than $96 million
in gold was mined from the Klon-
dike Valley and its several creeks.
Later, during the 10-year gold
Tush, a narrow gauge railway was
driven through from Skagway;
Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon and
impressive stern-wheelers plied
the river to Dawson.

Travel to and from the stuff of
dreams was very different from the
perils and hardships of earlier
sourdoughs and prospectors who
pursued their golden visions with

determination and nerves of steel,
despite the odds. Few prospered at
fickle Fortune’s feet.

I stated earlier that the search for
gold remains a rich warp in the
compelling fabric and mystery of
the Yukon. Many seekers
remained but their ranks, though
having suffered by natural attrition
and emigration, have been aug-
mented by younger recruits who
pursue the great dream.

Many of them firmly believe
that the motherlode of all those
extracted millions may be just
around the bend of the upper
reaches of one of the creeks,

In addition, the present interna-
tional price of gold has made it
profitable-to re-work those strata
which had already been worked
frenziedly by those who preceded
them in the Great Gold Rush of
“OT,

So, today the hand of the placer
miner plies his techniques along
the reaches of the creeks of the
Klondike. His methods are differ-
ent.

He tirelessly plays powerful jet
Streams of water over the banks of
the creeks from his diesel-force
pumps in order to melt down the
overburden of permafrost and
expose the layers of gravel which
hopefully will yield sufficient
placer gold to earn him a living.

Such a placer miner is not
without other significant prob-
lems. There are regulations regard-
ing volumes of water that may be
used and the construction of settle-
ment basins in order to preserve
the quality of water downstream
and control the amounts of sedi-
ment removed from the site.

Placer miners are environmen-
tally conscious folk, proud of their
colorful heritage and determined
tO preserve its essence.

‘Many of them
firmly believe that
the motherlode of
all those extracted

millions may be
just around the
bend of fhe upper
reaches of one of
the creeks’

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Placer mining,
Hunker Creek
CY HAMPSON photo

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branch.
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