The Klondike Placers

Abstract

WHEN the attention of the world was called to the new Canadian gold-fields during the past summer, few people had ever heard of the Yukon placers. Nevertheless, prospecting has been carried on for over fifteen years throughout the whole length of the river, both in the North-western Territory of Canada, and across the border in Alaska. The number of gold diggers at work tended to increase from year to year, but the severity of the climate, and the difficulty of getting supplies into the country checked its progress, especially before 1892, when the first steamers were placed on the river by a trading company. In 1896 the total production of gold amounted to little more than 100,000l. with about 2000 miners at work, and although some of this was produced on the Canadian side of the boundary, little attention was paid to it by the Geological Survey of the Dominion, and it was reported as if it were a part of the Alaska output.