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Mines/Canada

Klondike (Bonanza Creek) mine

Klondike (Bonanza Creek) mine, Canada. Heritage site, placer, mining gold.

Why Klondike (Bonanza Creek) is famous

The rush of 1897 to 1898 drew tens of thousands. The first dredge arrived in autumn 1899. Dredge No. 4 began in May 1913, sank in 1924, was refloated in 1927 and worked until 1940, and Bonanza Creek dredging ended 1959 or 1960 (sources conflict). It recovered up to 800 oz in a day.1,2,3

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 16 to 17 August 1896Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek4
  2. 1897 to 1900Klondike gold rush5

What kind of deposit

Placer gold and tin

Klondike (Bonanza Creek) today

Where gold is mined todayMining in Canada

Where next

People

Discovered byGeorge CarmackThe first claim on the richest creek in the Yukon went in his name.6Discovered bySkookum Jim Mason (Keish)A packer known for hauling 100 pounds found the gold that emptied cities.7Owned byJoseph Whiteside BoyleHe held a 40-square-mile Klondike lease and ran the largest dredges.8Worked hereChief Isaac (Tr'ondek Han)The Han chief who had to find a safe home as a gold rush overran his land.9Inspired byRobert ServiceA bank clerk who never prospected wrote the poems the Klondike is remembered by.10Worked hereJack LondonHe found no gold but made a fortune writing about the Klondike.10Investigated byTappan AdneyA magazine artist covered the stampede with a camera and a notebook.10

Mines

Same kind of depositGabriel's GullyDredging ended on Bonanza Creek in 1959 or 1960. Gabriels Gully was mined into the 1930s.1Inspired byCoolgardie goldfieldCoolgardie held about 25,000 people by 1897, the year the Klondike rush began.11Same kind of depositSutter's Mill (Coloma)From a sawmill tailrace in 1848 to Bonanza Creek in 1896, placer gold twice drew the world.12

Places

Located inDawson CityKlondike (Bonanza Creek) is about 15 km from Dawson City.1

Deposit types

An example ofPlacer gold and tinKlondike (Bonanza Creek) belongs to the placer gold and tin family of deposits.13

Sources

  1. Klondike Gold Rush and dredges Parks Canada
  2. Dredge No. 4 Parks Canada
  3. Wikidata entity Q2213604
  4. Discovery Claim National Historic Site Parks Canada
  5. Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike (Teaching with Historic Places) US National Park Service
  6. George Carmack US National Park Service
  7. KEISH (Skookum Jim, James Mason) Dictionary of Canadian Biography (University of Toronto/Universite Laval)
  8. BOYLE, JOSEPH WHITESIDE Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  9. ISAAC Dictionary of Canadian Biography
  10. Gold Rush Writers US National Park Service, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
  11. Coolgardie history Shire of Coolgardie
  12. Marshall Gold Discovery plaque text California State Parks
  13. Mineral Deposit Models (Bulletin 1693, Cox and Singer, eds., 1986) US Geological Survey

Pictures on this page: George Carmack - 01.jpg, H.J. Woodside (1858–1929) (Public domain); 1918 - Colonelul Joseph (Joe) Boyle.png, Unknown author (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).