• August 16, 1896- Discovery of gold in the Klondike by George and Kate Carmack, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie.
• August 17, 1896- George Carmack, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie stake their claims on Bonanza Creek
• August 31, 1896- Discovery of gold on Eldorado Creek (a tributary of Bonanza).
• September 1896- All of Bonanza Creek is staked and many claims are already producing
• Summer 1897- The population of Dawson grows to approximately 3,500.
• July 14, 1897- The steamship Excelsior arrives in San Francisco with a half a million dollars worth of gold on board. Stories of
• the Klondike Gold Rush hit the newspapers.
• July 17, 1897- The steamship Portland docks in Seattle and 68 miners unload one million dollars worth of gold in front of a crowd of 5,000.
• October 1897- A Seattle newspaper prints an eight-page Klondike edition which is sent to every postmaster and public library in the country and to thousands of businessmen and politicians.
• Summer and Autumn 1897- Ships bearing the first stampeders arrive in Dyea and Skagway, Alaska or steam directly up the Yukon River to Dawson City.
• Autumn 1897- Oliver Millett of Lunenburg, Nova Scotia stakes on claim on Cheechako Hill, far above Bonanza Creek, and it produces a half a million dollars worth of gold. A staking rush of the nearby hills begins.
• Winter 1897/98- The Chilkoot and the White Pass trails reach their zenith of stampeders scrambling towards the Klondike. Among these is writer Jack London who trudged over the White Pass.
• April 1898- An avalanche kills over 60 people on the Chilkoot Trail.
• Spring 1898- The population of Yukon peaks at over 30,000. Dawson City becomes the largest Canadian city west of Winnipeg.
• May 29, 1898- The ice on Lake Lindemann and Bennett Lake goes out and an armada of over 7,000 boats begin their water journey to Dawson City.
• April 1899- More than a million dollars worth of property and 117 buildings are destroyed in a fire in Dawson City.
• July 1899- The first White Pass and Yukon Route train runs from Skagway, Alaska to Carcross, Yukon. A year later, the line is completed to Whitehorse.
• Summer 1899- Gold is discovered on the beaches in Nome, Alaska and the next gold rush begins. The Klondike Gold Rush is officially over.
• 1900- The year of greatest Klondike gold production. Over 22 million dollars worth is pulled out of the creeks. $2.5 million was pulled out in 1897 and $10 million in 1898.



Historic newspaper headlines

Dawson City fire