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Yukon outpost was once largest city west of Winnipeg, as thousands came seeking their fortune in creek beds
At first glance, the wooden stake erected in the nondescript patch of dirt does not appear to be particularly remarkable in any way. But, if a wooden stake could tell its story, the original claim post at Bonanza Creek, where the first pieces of gold that ignited the Yukon Territory’s Klondike Gold Rush were discovered, would surely tell a whopper.
Planted in the ground on Aug. 17, 1896, today the Discovery Claim National Historic Site preserves the spot on Bonanza Creek, 15 kilometres from its confluence with the Klondike River, where George Carmack and his fishing buddies, Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie established the first of their four claims.
According to the oral history traditions of the Tagish First Nations peoples, Jim, Charlie and Patsy Henderson were fishing with Jim’s sister, Shaaw Tla, and her husband, George Carmack when they were approached by a seasoned gold hunter, Robert Henderson. Following the unwritten code of the miner that any knowledge of potential finds must be shared, Henderson told Carmack of some promising prospects he’d discovered in the Klondike River Valley.
Not long afterward, Carmack, Jim and Charlie made their way up Rabbit Creek, a short ways from Henderson’s camp on Gold Bottom Creek. After panning yielded a few encouraging traces of gold, they inspected a place where the bedrock was exposed, and quickly unearthed a dime-sized nugget.