Pearl harbour
...emselves. Stampeders who gave up often did it here. (Alden, 1985) Conditions on the White Pass trail were even more horrific. Steep, narrow and slick, over 3000 pack animals died on the trail causing the name to be changed to the “dead horse trail”. (Alden, 1985) Those who made it across the passes found themselves at Bennett Lake. Once you arrived here, you had the final 500-mile journey down the Yukon River then to the gold fields. It was about a three-week trip, and they had to survive many sets of rapids before entering Dawson City. Many miners lost their lives or their possessions when their boats broke in the rapids. Those who survived the dangerous journey mostly found disappointment once they reached Dawson City. Locals had already claimed all the gold bearing creeks and claims of “gold for the taking” were grossly blown up. Many of the stampeders headed home, some had to work to afford their way home. Some just decided to stay and work in Dawson City. Seattle and the Klondike Gold Rush Seattle was a poor city before 1897. Lots of people had no money and no jobs, because of the depression in the USA. After the Klondike Gold Rush many people became rich. When Seattle heard about the news of gold from the Klondike region the city was buzzing with excitement. Seattle had to act fast and show how good their city was. They publicized their city’s resources, founded by the Bureau of Information to answer questions about outfitting, transportation, and accommodations. Most of the stampeders needed to be outfitted with goods, supplies, food and so on. Seeing as most of the ships coming to Seattle had the stampeders on them, they would buy their supplies in Seattle before they crossed the border for the Klondike. This brought many of the struggling business in Seattle up to par. There were also a few shipbuilding companies that opened when they heard about the gold rush. These businesses also made some good money by selling ships to the miners who wanted to take the easier way to the Klondike. In March of 1898, there were 15000 miners moving through Seattle on their way to the Klondike. This was said to be the busiest period and lasted with the steady flow of miners until May of that year. (Morse, 1995) Not only did the gold rush bring lots of money to Seattle, but it also brought a lot of jobs to. Seattle’s population boosted from 40 000 in 1892 to 70 000 in 1900. (Santor, 1971) The Gold Rush played a huge part on Seattle’s everyday life back then, and even today. It created jobs for many people who were poor and struggling to live. It brought a higher population to the city of Seattle, which meant expanding to make a bigger city for all the people coming in. It also made many business owners wealthy people. It played a huge role in paving the road to success in Seattle’s economy not only back then but for the future years ahead of them. Dawson City and the Klondike Gold Rush It was not only Seattle who had a booming economy when gold was founded; Canada’s economy also grew and made Dawson City in Yukon a very wealthy city. Dawson is a small city in the Yukon Territory about 500 miles north of Whitehorse. There were not many people that lived there at this time, and there also was not much to do there, until gold was found just outside of Dawson in the mines and in the Klondike River. (MacBride, 1985) When word got out of the gold just outside of Dawson, the city that had only about 5000 people, it grew to 30 000 in three years. It was the largest community north of Seattle, and west of Winnipeg. They had a bigger population than Vancouver and Victoria. (Spotswood, 1998) The boom of the gold rush permanently affected every Canadian community from Winnipeg to Victoria. The Canadian north was seen as something more than just for their frozen and hellish winters. The Klondike was the new home to making people rich and chains of mineral discoveries. In 1898 sixty different steamboats filled with stampeders rushed for the Yukon. (Berton, 1995) The city of Dawson was changed forever. This was the home to where most of the miners stayed, and ate. Hotels, restaurants, and entertainment like movie theaters were built to make some easy money. The banks started to give out loans at twenty four percent or more, even though they could only legally charge seven. (Spotswood, 1998) By the summer of 1897, more than twenty saloons were operating, which prompted the American consul to quip that they were the only business that could afford the sky-high rents and real-estate prices. Part of the success of Dawson city was that prostitution was legal, and there were a high percentage of women who lived in the city. Lots of lonely men who came alone on the journey spent the high prices the hookers charged. Some women would encourage the men to buy overpriced liquor because they would make money off of it. This also encouraged drunkenness, which would give most of the women a chance to steal from their clients. Newspapers were among the first companies to establish themselves in Dawson. Other smaller businesses that opened were butchers, bakers, grocers, clothiers, tobacconists, bla...