Dawson City - A History of Growing Pains 1896 - 1906
As prepared by Dawson Historian, John Gould.
The next morning August 17th they staked their claims with George staking the discovery claims, at the same time they renamed the creek "Bonanza" (photo of post with Bonanza on it) When Carmack and his friends arrived at Forty Mile to record their claims they showed the gold and told where they got it, the rush to the new creek was on, within a short time the new creek Bonanza and its tributary Eldorado were staked from end to end.
Circle City on the Yukon River in Alaska was next to find out about the new gold discovery many of those living there made their way to the new Bonanza Creek.
The Alaska Search Light paper in Juneau AIaska, of November 6, 1897 told of new discovery on Bonanza creek Gold was found on the hills adjacent to Skookum gulch by a prospector who scraped the moss off of me ground and found nuggets of gold under the moss. Hundred's of hillside claims were staked in a short time. It reported that two men picked up $800 worth of coarse gold in a single day. The paper reported that the population of Dawson by this time was 4,500 and there were hundreds on their down the river
A team of horse bogged down on Front St. near the corner of Queen St.
This was a common occurrence on the Dawson streets in the first few years.
The only time the streets were good was in the winter when "Jack Frost" made
then passable.
The Monte Carlo Theater can be seen on the extreme right, the Dominion
Saloon and Gambling hall can be under construction, this is a 1898 picture.
Dawson Museum, Mrs. Louise Black Collection PH984R-76-1-54
The few steamers on the river had delivered between 1,600 to 1,800 tons of
supplies, food, clothing and hardware during the summer navigation season.
Nearly everyone in Forty Mile, Fort Cudahy and Circle City were in Dawson by
the 10th of June, it was estimated that there was in the neighbourhood of some
6,000 people by fall who would be depending on Dawson for supplies. The last
supply boat to land in Dawson was on August
22, on September 13 a heavy snow storm occurred. There were seven boats on
their way up river from St Michael, not one of them was expected to reach Dawson
before freeze up.
©John Gould
(This is copyrighted material and under no circumstances is allowed to be copied or used without the express permission of the author)