In the 1890s, gold was the magic word. The discovery by Shaaw Tláa (Kate Carmack), Keish (Skookum Jim Mason) and Káa Goox (Dawson Charlie) of the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, along with Kate’s husband George Carmack, set off a chain of events where ordinary men were striking it lucky and finding gold to make them rich beyond their wildest dreams.
Step into the shoes of Dick Lowe, a working class dreamer who arrived in Dawson searching for a claim. Left with just a tiny scrap of land he believed to be worthless, he picked up a shovel and started digging. Against all odds, he hit the jackpot. As it turns out, that small lot contained gold worth half a million dollars.
Today, you can revisit the scene of the discovery and go gold panning near Bonanza Creek. Or, go against the mainstream and hike up the nearby Klondike hills. Keep your eyes peeled for the white gravel beds, if you find them, keep tight-lipped— this is where amateur miners found elusive buried streams that revealed hidden gold.*
*The gold rush made a dramatic contribution to shaping the culture of the Yukon today, however it’s important to note the global surge of gold-seekers was not always positive. The impact of development and colonialism on the land and First Nations people who had lived there for thousands of years are still felt today.