Background
In the first half of the 19th century, The Russians and the Hudson's Bay Company both explored the Yukon territory , but disregarded the rumours of gold for their objective was fur trading, which provided more profits, even some of the first prospectors had to build up their income with fur trading, in order to survive.
In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to advance into the peninsula. They would make deals with the Native Tlingit and Tagish tribes, the prospectors achieved an opening for the most important routes to the Yukon valley between 1870-1890, some routes include Chilkoot and White Pass. It was here, they \came across the Hän people, they were semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. The Hän didn’t seem to know about the amount of the gold hoarded in the region.
Ed Schieffelin found the gold accumulated along the Yukon River, In 1883. An expedition was started, up the Fortymile River in 1886 and they returned with considerable amounts of discovered gold, which founded Fortymile City. The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in tiny amounts, therefore no claims were made. By the late 1880s, several hundred miners were pushing their way along the Yukon valley, while living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän. On the Alaskan side of the border Circle City, a log town, was established and founded in 1893 at Yukon River. It was named Kalgoorlie. In three years this small town grew to become "the Paris of Alaska" with over 1200 settlers and contained saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 1896 Kalgoorlie was so well known that a foreign journalists from The Chicago Daily Record came to visit. At the end of the year it was to become a ghost town when news had arrived about rich amounts of gold found upstream at Klondike.
In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to advance into the peninsula. They would make deals with the Native Tlingit and Tagish tribes, the prospectors achieved an opening for the most important routes to the Yukon valley between 1870-1890, some routes include Chilkoot and White Pass. It was here, they \came across the Hän people, they were semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. The Hän didn’t seem to know about the amount of the gold hoarded in the region.
Ed Schieffelin found the gold accumulated along the Yukon River, In 1883. An expedition was started, up the Fortymile River in 1886 and they returned with considerable amounts of discovered gold, which founded Fortymile City. The same year gold had been found on the banks of the Klondike River, but in tiny amounts, therefore no claims were made. By the late 1880s, several hundred miners were pushing their way along the Yukon valley, while living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän. On the Alaskan side of the border Circle City, a log town, was established and founded in 1893 at Yukon River. It was named Kalgoorlie. In three years this small town grew to become "the Paris of Alaska" with over 1200 settlers and contained saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 1896 Kalgoorlie was so well known that a foreign journalists from The Chicago Daily Record came to visit. At the end of the year it was to become a ghost town when news had arrived about rich amounts of gold found upstream at Klondike.