How Did They Mine?
An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who travelled Dawson City during the Gold Rush did not return and only 15,000 to 20,000 people finally became profiteers of the Gold Rush. Of these men, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred kept their fortune. By 1898 the Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker and Dominion Creeks were all taken, leaving little land for newly arriving prospectors. In all, an estimated 10,000 claims were documented by the authorities in 1898. Geologically, the region was permeated with paths of gold, forced to the surface by the cause of a volcanic action underground, and then worn away by the action of rivers and streams, leaving nuggets and gold dust in small craters known as placer gold. Several ores lay beside the creek beds in damp piles of soil, consistently 15 feet (4.6 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath the surface as others were formed by even older streams, that lay along the hilltops. These deposits/small craters were called "bench gold". Finding the gold was very challenging and it required strength and patients. Initially, miners had assumed that all the gold would be along the existing creeks, and it was not until late in 1897 that the hilltops began to be mined. Gold was also unevenly distributed in the areas where it was established, making a prediction of very good mining sites even more uncertain. The only way to be positive that the gold found was present, was to conduct exploratory digging.
Methods:
Clearing the ground of vegetation and debris was the first step to the mining process. Then, the prospectors would dig down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was located. In the Klondike, a layer of permafrost was always 6 feet below the surface. Traditionally, mining would only occurred during the days of summer, but the pressure for the gold made such a delay unacceptable. The miners relied on wood fires to soften the ground and then removing the gravel. The process was repeated many times until gold was discovered. During excavation, the fire would sometimes melt the permafrost and cause the ground to collapse, leading to many casualties. Fires could also produce noxious gases, which had to be removed before it was enough to poison the miners. The finishing "dirt" brought out of the mines froze quickly in the winter and could only be processed during the summer. An alternative, more efficient approach to this problem was steam thawing. In the summer, water would be used to pan the dirt, separating out the heavier gold from gravel. "Bench gold", mining on the hillsides required the prospectors to use rockers, boxes that moved back and forth like a cradle, to create the motion needed for separation. Finally, the resulting gold dust could be exported out of the Klondike.
Methods:
Clearing the ground of vegetation and debris was the first step to the mining process. Then, the prospectors would dig down to the bedrock, where the majority of the gold was located. In the Klondike, a layer of permafrost was always 6 feet below the surface. Traditionally, mining would only occurred during the days of summer, but the pressure for the gold made such a delay unacceptable. The miners relied on wood fires to soften the ground and then removing the gravel. The process was repeated many times until gold was discovered. During excavation, the fire would sometimes melt the permafrost and cause the ground to collapse, leading to many casualties. Fires could also produce noxious gases, which had to be removed before it was enough to poison the miners. The finishing "dirt" brought out of the mines froze quickly in the winter and could only be processed during the summer. An alternative, more efficient approach to this problem was steam thawing. In the summer, water would be used to pan the dirt, separating out the heavier gold from gravel. "Bench gold", mining on the hillsides required the prospectors to use rockers, boxes that moved back and forth like a cradle, to create the motion needed for separation. Finally, the resulting gold dust could be exported out of the Klondike.