Portrait of George Carmack

People/prospector

George Carmack

George Carmack (1860–1922), prospector, from United States. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

Travelling with his wife Kate, her brother Keish and Dawson Charlie, he filed the first Bonanza Creek claim on 24 September 1896, likely in his name because he was the only EuroAmerican in the party. NPS says there is controversy over who found the gold first.1,2,3

The downfall

By 1900 he left Kate and married another woman. He worked more claims and dealt in real estate.1,2,3

Legacy

Credited as discoverer of the Klondike gold, a title shared in the record with Keish and Dawson Charlie.1,2,3

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 16 to 17 August 1896Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek4
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Where next

People

FamilyKate Carmack (Shaaw Tlaa)He married a Tagish chief's daughter, then left her fifteen years later.1Partner ofDawson Charlie (Kaa Goox)They staked together on Rabbit Creek in 1896. Charlie shared about a million dollars of gold.5Partner ofSkookum Jim Mason (Keish)Three partners, one discovery claim, and a gold rush.2

Mines

DiscoveredKlondike (Bonanza Creek)The first claim on the richest creek in the Yukon went in his name.1

Events

DiscoveredGold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) CreekGeorge Carmack is part of this story: Gold found on Rabbit (Bonanza) Creek.4

Sources

  1. George Carmack US National Park Service
  2. KEISH (Skookum Jim, James Mason) Dictionary of Canadian Biography (University of Toronto/Universite Laval)
  3. File pages and licence metadata for portraits (via the Commons imageinfo/extmetadata API) Wikimedia Commons
  4. Discovery Claim National Historic Site Parks Canada
  5. KAA GOOX (Charlie, Dawson Charlie) Dictionary of Canadian Biography

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