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Events/Discovery · 1896

Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek

Discovery, 16 to 17 August 1896, Canada.

What happened

Parks Canada dates the find to the afternoon of 16 August 1896; its history text says the party found gold and staked four claims on 17 August. Accounts differ on who deserves credit. Skookum Jim is generally held to be the discoverer.1,2,3

Why it matters

It set off the Klondike gold rush.1,2,3

Story cards

Around the same time

  1. San Francisco ships US$724 million of treasure in 16 years

    Eastern ports took US$462 million, England US$168 million and China US$68 million.4,5

  2. Holtermann reef gold specimen unearthed

    The photographs form part of the Holtermann Collection of goldfield life.6,7

  3. Homestake Mine: inception

    Homestake Mine: inception.8

  4. Gold found in the Kimberley (Halls Creek)

    It was the first Western Australian gold excitement, before the 1890s rushes.9,10

  5. Gold find at Southern Cross

    A find at Southern Cross caused excitement in 1888, before the Coolgardie and Kalgoorlie rushes.11

  6. Jameson Raid

    Jameson Raid.12

  7. Steamship Portland docks at Seattle with a ton of Klondike gold

    The ship carried 68 miners from St. Michael, and news of the gold set off the stampede.13,14,15

  8. Goldfields Water Supply Scheme opens

    It let the dry goldfields grow after the 1890s rush.16,17,18

Open the full timeline

Where next

People

Discovered byKate Carmack (Shaaw Tlaa)Her husband, brother and nephew found gold on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek in 1896.19Discovered byDawson Charlie (Kaa Goox)He was with Skookum Jim and Carmack when gold was found on Bonanza Creek.20Discovered byGeorge CarmackGeorge Carmack is part of this story: Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek.1

Mines

Located inKlondike (Bonanza Creek)A mine from the same area and mineral story: Klondike (Bonanza Creek).1

Events

Led toKlondike gold rushFrom a find on 16 August 1896 to a ton of gold landed in Seattle in July 1897.21Inspired byBayley and Ford find gold at CoolgardieBayley and Ford struck Coolgardie in 1892. Four years later the Klondike find followed.1Led toNome gold rushAnvil Creek, found on 20 September 1898, was the first big placer strike in Alaska proper.22

Places

Located inDawson CitySee the nearby place: Dawson City.1

Sources

  1. Discovery Claim National Historic Site Parks Canada
  2. Gold Discoverers (Klondike Gold Rush NHP) US National Park Service
  3. Bonanza Creek (item Q2213604), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  4. Peabody A., Early voyages to California (treasure shipped from San Francisco 1854-1869) Library of Congress (Essex Institute Historical Collections)
  5. Wikidata item Q62 (San Francisco)
  6. The Holtermann Collection State Library of New South Wales
  7. Hill End (item Q14202724), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  8. Wikidata item Q2351504 (Homestake Mine: inception)
  9. The Rush for Gold (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  10. Halls Creek (item Q992686), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  11. The Rush for Gold Western Australian Museum
  12. Wikidata item Q916340 (Jameson Raid)
  13. Klondike Gold Rush begins on July 17, 1897 (Essay 699) HistoryLink.org
  14. History and Culture, Klondike Gold Rush - Seattle Unit National Historical Park US National Park Service
  15. Wikidata item Q5083 (Seattle)
  16. Building a Pipeline (WA Goldfields) Western Australian Museum
  17. CY O'Connor's Golden Pipeline celebrates 120 years of service (media statement, 24 Jan 2023) Government of Western Australia
  18. Mundaring Weir (item Q1800878), coordinate location P625 Wikidata
  19. SHAAW TLAA (Kate Carmack) Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  20. KAA GOOX (Charlie, Dawson Charlie) Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  21. Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike (Teaching with Historic Places) US National Park Service
  22. Cape Nome Mining District Discovery Sites National Historic Landmark US National Park Service

Pictures on this page: Shaaw Tláa.jpg, Unknown author (Public domain); George Carmack - 01.jpg, H.J. Woodside (1858–1929) (Public domain).

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0).