In 1898, the White Pass and Yukon railway project began; 35,000 men and many tons of explosives were used for the construction, and when it was completed in 1900, the Chilkoot trail and its passages were obsolete. By 1899, telegraphy stretching from Skagway, Alaska,to Dawson City, Yukon, were also finished, allowing instant contact. Despite these improvements in communication and transport, the Klondike Gold Rush faltered from 1899 on. The recession began in the summer of 1898 when prospectors arrived in Dawson City, looking for gold and instead, finding themselves unable to make a living and left for home. For those who stayed, the wages of casual work, fell to $100 ($2,700) a month by 1899. On the other hand, the world's newspapers also began to turn against the Klondike gold rush as well while unsold, Klondike-branded goods had to be disposed of at special rates across the States. Another factor in the decline was the change in Dawson City, which had developed throughout 1898, metamorphosing from a ramshackle, to a boom town, then into a more sedated, conservative municipality. Modern luxuries were introduced,but it was no longer as attractive a location for many prospectors, used to a wilder way of living. Eventually, even the formerly lawless town of Skagway became a stable and respectable community by 1899. The final trigger, however, was the discovery of gold elsewhere in Canada and Alaska, prompting a new stampede, this time, in the opposite direction of Klondike. In 1899, a flood of prospectors from across the Yukon region left for Nome, seeking new opportunities. At the peak of the recession, 8,000 men from Dawson left during a single week in August, The Klondike Gold Rush was over.
100,000 people were involved in the Klondike Stampede to reach the goldfields. Only around 30,000 to 40,000 prospectors survived, and got the valuable gold and the profit. The Klondike Gold Rush climaxed from 1897 until the summer of 1898. It began in San Francisco, on July 15, 1897 and quickened two days later in Seattle. Prospectors returned from the Klondike bringing along with them enormous amounts of gold on the ships SS Excelsior and SS Portland. $1,139,000 (equivalent to $1,000 million at 2010 prices) was brought in by the ships. The migrating prospectors that were seeking gold caught attention and was joined by writers, outfitters and photographers. The news about the Klondike gold rush reached the US during the time of financial/economic collapse and bank failures. Gold dollars were rapidly rising in value ahead of paper currencies which caused unemployment. Gold strikes were in action near the Pacific ports in desperation to encourage trade and travel to the region. A worldwide publicity campaign engineered largely by Erastus Brainerd, a Seattle newspaper man, helped establish the city as the premier supply centre and the departure point for the gold fields. 60 to 80 percent of the prospectors were Americans or recent immigrants to America and the others came from many different nations. Experience in the mining industry was limited, being salesman or clerk and mass resignations of staff to join the gold rush became infamous. Several stampeders were famous including John McGraw, the former governor of Washington joined together with the outstanding lawyer and sportsman A. Ballot. Also, Frederick Burnham, was a well-known scout and an American scout had arrived from Africa, only to be called back home, to serve for his country in the Second Boer War. Seattle and San Francisco were the two main mining cities. The two cities both competed for business during the Gold Rush, and Seattle took a bigger portion of the trade. One of the first to join the Gold Rush was William D. Wood, who was the the mayor of Seattle, and he resigned to create and manage a company to ship/transport prospectors to the Klondike. The Gold Rush led to branded goods being put onto the market, and sold for excellent value.
In 1896, concerns for the influence of American miners and the ongoing liquor trade grew, to survey the issue, the Canadian Government sent inspector Charles Constantine to report on the conditions of the Yukon Territory . Constantine forecasted a coming gold rush and urgently recommended sending a peacekeeping force to secure Canadian sovereignty and collect customs duties. He returned the following year with a force of 20 men. Under the command of Constantine, and his successor in 1898, Sam Steele, the NWMP distinguished itself during the Klondike Gold Rush, which started in 1896 making it one of the most peaceful and orderly such affairs in history.
The NWMP not only enforced criminal law, but also collected customs duties, established a number of regulations such as the "ton of goods" requirement for prospectors to enter the Yukon. The NWMP also managed Mandatory boat inspections for those wanting to travel the Yukon River, and they created the Blue Ticket used to expel undesirables from the Klondike. The Mounties did tolerate certain illegal activities, such as gambling and prostitution, and the force did not succeed in its attempt to establish order and Canadian sovereignty in Skagway, Alaska, at the head of the Lynn Canal. Instead, they created the customs post at the summit of the Chilkoot Pass. At that same time, the dissolution of the NWMP was also discussed in the House of Commons, but the gold rush prospectors were so impressed by the manners of the Mounted Police that the force became world famous and its continuation was ensured. |
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