alskan gold rush
...en the rumors were confirmed that an incredible strike had been made. To further prove this, two days later about two tons of gold reached Seattle. Everyone went crazy with gold fever. Newspapers published false accounts to increase sales, and many incorrect guidebooks were published in an attempt to take advantage of dumb miners. There was a great struggle between Seattle, San Francisco, Portland, Tacoma, Vancouver and Victoria to be the city to supply the miners. Seattle won this with cleaver a marketing campaign. The Routes There were two main routes that miners choose during the gold rush. These were the Inside Passage and the Yukon River. If you were to take the Inside Passage you’d travel by sea until reaching Skagway or Dyea, and then travel overland to the Yukon. This was the preferred method, as in was cheaper and quicker then the alternative, taking the Yukon River. If you did choose to take the Yukon River then you would take an ocean steamer to St. Michael, and city on the coast were the Yukon poured into the ocean. Here you would board a stern wheeler and travel up river to the gold fields. While this was much easier then the Inside Passage it was also much more expensive and time consuming. If you choose to travel the Inside Passage you were in for a long, hard journey. If you landed in Dyea then you’d be taking the Chilkoot pass, the hardest part of the journey. So many used it however, that it was almost and endless line of people from Dyea all the way through it. Since it was entering Canadian territory, the North West Mounted Police controlled who could enter. They required a miner to have a year’s worth of supplies, which weighed almost 2000 pounds and cost around $500. This meant you had to either employ the local Indians help or make the journey many, many times to bring all your supplies. The local Indians made quite a profit helping, until in 1898 when several companies built a tram which made the Indians obsolete. The pass was very dangerous, and avalanches weren’t uncommon. One such avalanche on April 3, 1898 killed at least 60 miners. If you crossed the pass, you’d continue to Lake Lindeman or Lake Bennett, build a boat, and float down the river to the gold fields. The Chilkoot pass was the most popular way of getting to the fields; over half of all miners that reached them went through Chilkoot Pass. If you choose to go through Skagway you’d end up traveling the White Pass, which was much more difficult then the Chilkoot, since it was covered with bogs and was known to kill many horses, giving it the nick name "Dea...