Yukon Ho! 39 Photos From The Klondike Gold Rush

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A prospector pans for gold during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Yukon Territory. 1898.Library and Archives Canada

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An exhausted prospector takes a rest.

Alaska. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Prospectors pans for gold in a creek.

Alaska. 1897.Wikimedia Commons

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A rider makes his way up the trail to the mines.

Yukon Territory. 1900.Library and Archives Canada

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A prospector poses with his massive stack of supplies for the trip to Alaska.

Seattle, Washington. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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A long line of prospectors wait to get their mining licenses.

Victoria, Canada. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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A camp grows as prospectors move north.

Bennett Lake, Canada. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Miners at the boundary line between Canada and the United States.

Chilkoot Pass. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Riders make their way across the Chilkoot Pass.

1898.Wikimedia Commons

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A long line of prospectors and miners make their way, like ants, up Chilkoot Pass.

1898.Wikimedia Commons

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A dog sled team waits to go out into the frozen wilderness.

Sheep Camp, Alaska. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Three young prospectors stand in camp.

Nome, Alaska. 1898.National Archives

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A prospector and his dog.

Yukon Territory. 1898.Library and Archives Canada

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Prospectors set up camp with a lean-to at the foot of a nanyon.

Chilkoot Trail, Alaska. 1897.Wikimedia Commons

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Miners at work.

Hunker Creek, Yukon Territory. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Prospectors make their way down White Pass Trail.

Alaska. Circa 1890-1900.Wikimedia Commons

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White Pass Trail, sometimes known as Dead Horse Trail, at the border of Canada and the United States.

1898.Wikimedia Commons

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A group of miners make their way across the snowy incline up Chilkoot Pass.

Circa 1898-1899.Wikimedia Commons

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Men slide sleds fitted with sails across a frozen lake.

Yukon Territory. 1897.Wikimedia Commons

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Miners at work.

Eldorado Creek, Yukon Territory. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Prospectors pose in front of a log cabin.

Forty Mile, Yukon Territory. Circa 1890-1900.Wikimedia Commons

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A street scene in Dawson City.

Circa 1890-1900.Library and Archives Canada

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Mail day. Prospectors, separated from their families, swarm around to see what they've received.

Tagish Lake, Yukon Territory. Date unspecified. Wikimedia Commons

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Women peer out the doors in a district of the city dedicated to prostitution.

White Chapel, Yukon Territory. 1899.Wikimedia Commons

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Prospectors, ready to give up, sell their last few possessions to pay for the trip home.

Dawson City, Yukon Territory. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Men make their way through Dyer Trail on a dogsled.

Canyon, Alaska. 1897.Wikimedia Commons

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The view from the top of Chilkoot Pass.

1898.Wikimedia Commons

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A group of miners get caught in a snow storm.

Chilkoot Pass. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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Rescue teams sift through the snow, looking for survivors, after an avalanche.

Chilkoot Pass. 1897.Library and Archives Canada

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American ex-pats, still connected with their countrymen down south, celebrate their nation's naval victories in the Spanish-American War.

Dawson City, Yukon Territory. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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The Canadians celebrate Dominion Day.

Bonanza, Yukon Territory. 1902.Library and Archives Canada

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A rotary snowplow clears the way.

Yukon Territory. Circa 1890-1900.Library and Archives Canada

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Dawson City after a fire burned it to the ground.

1898.Wikimedia Commons

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The smoldering remains of Dawson City.

1898.Library and Archives Canada

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A mining camp at work.

Yukon Territory. Circa 1890-1900.Wikimedia Commons

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Miners hard at work underground.

Location unspecified. 1898.Wikimedia Commons

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A shipment of gold from Alaska arrives in Seattle.

1899.Wikimedia Commons

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A mining operation in a Klondike gold field.

Yukon Territory. Circa 1896-1899.Library and Archives Canada

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A successful prospector pays for his purchases at the general store with a sprinkle of gold dust.

Dawson City, Yukon Territory. 1899.Wikimedia Commons

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Yukon Ho! 39 Photos From The Klondike Gold Rush

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In the late 19th century, there was a fortune in gold hiding in the Klondike Valley, just waiting for anyone brave enough to go north and grab it. And so began the Klondike Gold Rush, when nearly 100,000 men left their homes to travel up to a frozen land in search of their fortune.

The Klondike Gold Rush began in 1896 when an American prospector, as well as several Native Americans, found gold in Bonanza Creek, located in Canada's Yukon Territory. The American and his family set up mines there and, nearly overnight, became wealthy beyond their wildest dreams.

However, word soon got out and everyone wanted a piece of the action. Thousands of men signed up for mining licenses, left their families, and risked everything for gold.

Northern towns rapidly expanded due to the massive influx of gold-hungry prospectors. Dawson City, in particular, went from a population of 500 to 30,000 in just two years. It grew fast and often clumsily as it filled up with men who had no better way to spend their free time than drink as well as the prostitutes that followed them there. The city was ravaged by disease and disasters, and, in a span of two years, burned down more than once.

The prospectors of Dawson City and the surrounding area had to struggle to dig their way through the permafrost in order to find any little glimmers of gold that might still be unclaimed. Some would come with glittering prizes that they'd either turn into money or trade for supplies at the general store.

A handful came home rich. More than 400 tons of gold was discovered in the Yukon's mountains and valleys — but most of it came from that first find in Bonanza Creek, in land claimed before the Klondike Gold Rush had even truly begun.

Most prospectors gathered nothing more than a few pennies. By 1899, the excitement had died out. People moved on, most with nothing to show for their time in the Klondike Gold Rush, left only to chase after the next rumor of a real-life El Dorado. They packed their things and left, leaving the old Klondike towns all but empty behind them.

Next, check out these images of the age of Antarctic exploration and of northern Canada's Inuit people.