How Much Did They Make?
Successful mining took time and effort, anyone could attempt to dig prospect holes/small craters, but a mining operation required $1,500 ($41,000), along with around $1,000 ($27,000) to construct a dam, $1,500 ($41,000) for ditches, and up to $600 ($16,000) for sluice boxes, a total of $4,600 ($125,000). The Klondike attracted prospectors, however, when gold was found it was often highly concentrated. In only about two years, $230,000 ($18 million at 2013 prices) worth of gold was brought up from claim 29 on the Eldorado Creek. Under the Canadian law, a license was required for the miners and when they had found a suitable location, they laid a claim to mining rights over it. To stake a claim, a prospector would drive stakes into the ground a measured distance apart and then return to Dawson to register the claim for $15 ($410). This normally had to be done in the span of three days, and by 1897 there were only one claim per person at a time was allowed in a district. The claim could be mined freely for a year, after which a $100 ($2,800) fee had to be paid annually. If the prospector were to leave the claim for more than three days without any good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land. The Canadian government also charged a royalty of 10 to 20 percent on the value of gold taken from a claim. Claims could be bought but the price depended on whether they had been yet proved to contain gold. A prospector might consider taking a risk on an "unproved" claim on one of the better creeks for $5,000 ($4,000,000). A wealthier miner could buy a "proved" mine for $50,000 ($40,000,000). The well known claim eight on Eldorado Creek was sold for as much as $350,000 ($280 million). Prospectors were also permitted to hire their own workers for the mines. The less fortunate, or the limited funded prospectors rapidly found themselves destitute. Some chose to sell their equipment and return south. Others took jobs as manual workers, either in mines or in Dawson; the typical daily pay of $15 ($410) was high by external standards, but low compared to the cost of living in the Klondike. The possibility that a new creek might suddenly produce gold, however, continued to tempt poorer prospectors. The Klondike continued to have stampeders throughout the Gold Rush, and when rumours of new strikes got out to the people, it would cause a small mob to descend on fresh sites, hoping to be able to stake out a high value claim, the gold.