Yukon gold rush9/15/2023 ![]() ![]() Merchants welcomed the flood tide of customers to the city, but hotel rooms and boardinghouses became scarce. Many people who came to Seattle were forced to wait weeks before space became available at all. Steamers taking passengers to Alaska were overbooked and often dangerously overcrowded. Seattle became a temporary home to thousands of people as they feverishly planned their trip north. Vintage Pioneer Square, Seattle, Washington By early September, 9,000 people and 3,600 tons of freight had left Seattle for the Klondike. Stampeders had to buy enough supplies to last for several months because there were few, if any, opportunities to replenish supplies on the way to the goldfields. On average, an outfit for two people cost $250 to $500 and included heavy clothing and boots nonperishable foods like smoked bacon, beans, rice, and dried fruit personal items like soap and razor blades and mining tools. Seattle’s Pioneer Square, the area of the town’s first settlement, welcomed thousands of prospective miners, known as “stampeders.” Merchants and ticket agents were beset with stampeders anxious to find transportation to the goldfields and to purchase supplies called “outfits.” Store owners quickly stocked up with goods the prospectors would need and urged them to take advantage of their competitive prices. The great Klondike Gold Rush in Yukon Territory was on, as people dropped everything to head for the goldfields. In a matter of hours, Seattle was swept with a case of gold fever. As the miners made their way down the gangplank, they hired spectators to help unload their gold. Excited by the promise of catching a glimpse of gold, 5,000 people came down to the docks to see the miners and their treasure. The local newspaper, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, sent reporters on a tugboat to interview the miners before they docked along the Seattle waterfront. Onboard the Portland were 68 miners and their stores of gold. Seattle newspaper announcing the first arrival of gold from Klondike, July 17, 1897 News of the strike spread slowly over the next year until miners began to return with their fortunes. The gold strike had begun quietly on August 17, 1896, when three miners found gold in the Klondike River, a tributary of the Yukon. Michael, Alaska, with more than a ton of gold in her hold. Portland was heading into Puget Sound from St. Seattle buzzed with excitement on July 17, 1897, when word came over the telegraph wires two days earlier that the S.S. ![]() During this period, Seattle began to enjoy economic prosperity as a hub for shipping and railroads. This isolation ended in the late 1880s and early 1890s when the Northern Pacific and Great Northern railroads crossed the Cascade Mountain range into Puget Sound. The town grew slowly due to its isolated location and the nation’s involvement in the Civil War. The following year, a steam sawmill was built, and with it, Seattle’s first industry was born. They chose the location because it provided a good place to ship logs and timber south to San Francisco, California. In February 1852, a group of settlers founded the city of Seattle, Washington, on the shores of Puget Sound. ![]()
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