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Klondike Gold Rush: An American Story
A frenzied race for gold spelled disaster for many
It is easy to try to tease a moral lesson from the lust for gold that drove tens of thousands of men and women to risk their lives to get to the Klondike one hundred and twenty years ago. It is a tale of greed and adventure that deserves a second look.
When a million dollars’ worth of Klondike gold arrived in Seattle in July 1897, the news of the discovery spread like wildfire. It charmed the imaginations of the dispossessed, the unemployed and the dreamers who sparked a stampede to Skagway, Alaska, where the hardy would trek over hundreds of mountainous miles to the Yukon.
People borrowed money or relatives pooled their few resources to sponsor a family member on the journey and within days dozens of ships sailed from San Francisco and Seattle overflowing with men and women. The first ship arrived in Skagway just 12 days after newspapers spread the word about the gold.
In the following weeks, dozens of ships sailed from Seattle and San Francisco to Dyea, the village next to Skagway. Each one carried a cargo of the hopeful and the desperate.
