Dawson City - A History of Growing Pains 1896 - 1906
As prepared by Dawson Historian, John Gould.
The construction of streets became a major problem, the first summer when the wagons were used the streets it soon became an impossible quagmire, the wagons would be hub deep in the muddy streets as some pictures show. Slabs from the saw mills were laid down and sawdust spread on them, the sidewalks were raised up well above the muddy streets, and where a street crossing was need more slabs were used and the crossing would be planked so that people would be able to get from one side of the street to the other. ( picture of a muddy street scene)
The information for this manuscript comes mainly from the early Dawson News papers much of it taken directly from the papers as it was when published.
DISCOVERY-
Robert Henderson, was prospecting on a small creek he called Gold Bottom,
he found a gold prospects that went ten cents to the pan, which was considered
very good.. Being low on supplies he made a trip up the Yukon River to Joe
Ladue's trading post near the mouth of the Sixty Mile river, for supplies while
there he told Joe Ladue of his discovery. On his way back to his camp due to
the fact that the water in Indian River, was very low, he thought it might
be easier to go by way of the Klondike river, knowing that Gold Bottom, drained
into a tributary of the Klondike. On arriving at the mouth of the
Klondike he met George Carmack, and his Indian companions. He told them of
his find and invited them over,to have a look. He made the mistake of telling
Carmack that he did not want his Indian friends.. A few days later Carmack
decided they should go and have a look at Henderson's claim, he and his two
friends, Skookum Jim,"Keish" and
Tagish Charley, "Kaa Goox". (In the mining records these two men
are recorded as, Tagish Jim and Tagish Charlie) When they got there the Indians
were out of tobacco and tried to buy some from Henderson who refused to sell
them any. When they left, Bob Henderson told Carmack that on his way back to
check out Rabbit Creek, if they found anything send oneof his Indians back
to let Henderson know. When they arrived on Rabbit Creek it was late in the
afternoon of August 16,1896. While the others were setting up Camp Jim was
walking around looking for a spot that might be worth sampling. He kicked aside
a piece outcropping of bed rock, when suddenly he spotted what looked like
gold, he called George to have a look, what they found was two pieces of bedrock
with gold in between like a cheese sandwich. Carmack started panning and the
results were startling , it wassuggested that someone should go back and tell
Bob Henderson but neither Skookum Jim nor Tagish Charlie would go.
©John Gould
(This is copyrighted material and under no circumstances is allowed to be copied or used without the express permission of the author)