Dawson Historical Complex National Historic Site of Canada

The Gold Rush:

Few episodes in Canadian history captured world imagination in the same way as the fabulous Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98.

When word of gold reached the outside world, some 250,000 adventurers and fortune seekers-the majority from the U.S.A.- faced the hardships and danger of the Gold Rush Trail to dig for gold along the creeks feeding the Klondike River. And for a brief time Dawson, the hub of the goldfields, became one of the liveliest cities on the continent...

In 1898 the spring breakup brought thousands of stampeders downriver, among them hundreds of businessmen intent on making their fortunes, not in the fields, but in Dawson itself. During the boom years of 1898-99, they established almost every type of business imaginable, from saloons and dance halls, grocery and hardware stores, to dress shops and haberdasheries.

By the summer of 1899 business had moved from tents into 20 substantial blocks of commercial buildings, giving Dawson an appearance of permanence.

But even at its peak, the city was in decline, as new goldfields in Alaska lured both miners and businessmen. Dawson's population began to dwindle and business fell off, although some independent stores such as Harrington's and Tremblay's continued to provide quality goods to the diminishing but still vital mining community.