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KLONDIKE

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Originally appearing in Volume V15, Page 847 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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KLONDIKE , a See also:

district in See also:Yukon Territory, See also:north-western See also:Canada, approximately in 64° N. and 14o° W. The limits are rather indefinite, but the district includes the See also:country to the See also:south of the Klondike See also:River, which comes into the Yukonfromtheeast and has several tributaries, as well as See also:Indian River, a second See also:branch of the Yukon, flowing into it some distance above the Klondike. The richer See also:gold-bearing gravels are found along the creeks tributary to these two See also:rivers within an See also:area of about Boo sq. m. The Klondike district is a dissected peneplain with See also:low ridges of rounded forms rising to 4250 ft. above the See also:sea at the See also:Dome which forms its centre. All of the gold-bearing creeks rise not far from the Dome and radiate in various directions toward the Klondike and Indian rivers, the most productive being Bonanza with its tributary Eldorado, Hunker, Dominion and Gold Run. Of these, Eldorado, for the two or three See also:miles in which it was gold-bearing, was much the richest, and for its length probably surpassed any other known placer See also:deposit. See also:Rich See also:gravel was discovered on Bonanza See also:Creek in 1896, and a wile See also:rush to this almost inaccessible region followed, a See also:population of 30,000 coming in within the next three or four years with a rapidly increasing output of gold, reaching in 1900 the See also:climax of $22,000,000. Since then the See also:production has steadily declined, until in 1906 it See also:fell to $5,600,000. The richest gravels were worked out before 191o, and most of the population had See also:left the Klondike for See also:Alaska and other regions; so that See also:Dawson, which for a See also:time was a bustling See also:city of more than 1o,000, dwindled to about 3000 inhabitants. As the ground was almost all frozen, the mines were worked by a thawing See also:process, first by setting fires, afterwards by using See also:steam, new methods being introduced to meet the unusual conditions. Later dredges and See also:hydraulic See also:mining were resorted to with success. The Klondike, in spite of its isolated position, brought together miners and adventurers from all parts of the See also:world, and it is greatly to the See also:credit of the See also:Canadian See also:government and of the mounted See also:police, who were entrusted with the keeping of See also:order, that See also:life and See also:property were as safe as elsewhere and that no lawless methods were adopted by the miners as in placer mining camps in the western See also:United States.

The region was. at first difficult of See also:

access, but can now be reached with perfect comfort in summer, travelling by well-appointed steamers on the Pacific and the Yukon River. Owing to its perpetually frozen See also:soil, summer roads were excessively See also:bad in earlier days, but See also:good See also:wagon roads have since been constructed to all the important mining centres. Dawson itself has all the resources of a civilized city in spite of being founded on a frozen See also:peat-See also:bog; and is sup-plied with See also:ordinary See also:market vegetables from farms just across the river. During the See also:winter, when for some time the See also:sun does not appear above the hills, the See also:cold is intense, though usually without See also:wind, but the well-chinked See also:log houses can be kept comfortably warm. When winter travel is necessary See also:dog teams and sledges are generally made use of, except on the See also:stage route south to See also:White See also:Horse, where horses are used. A See also:telegraph See also:line connects Dawson with See also:British See also:Columbia, but the difficulties in keeping it in order are so See also:great over the See also:long intervening See also:wilderness that communication is often broken. Gold is practially the only economic product of the Klondike, though small amounts of See also:tin ore occur, and See also:lignite See also:coal has been See also:mined See also:lower down on the Yukon. The source of the gold seems to have been small stringers of See also:quartz in the siliceous and sericitic See also:schists which See also:form the See also:bed See also:rock of much of the region, and no important quartz See also:veins have been discovered; so that unlike most other placer regions the Klondike has not See also:developed lode mines to continue the production of gold when the gravels are exhausted.

End of Article: KLONDIKE

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