Page 69 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Canada

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Klondike Gold Rush 1 The first Parliament
On August 16, 1896 the most frenzied gold rush in Canadian session for the Dominion
history started when George Washington Carmack and two of Canada in 1867.
Aboriginal friends, Snookum Jim and Tagish Charlie, found a 2 Métis uprising in 1885.
large gold nugget in the Yukon river they later named Bonanza
Creek. For the next two years at least 100,000 prospectors set 3 Prospectors panning
out to find gold in Klondike. In all, the gold rush generated $50 for gold in Klondike
million, but few miners managed to hold onto their fortunes. in 1899.
Birth of a Nation
The defeat of the Métis and the building of a transcontinental
railroad were crucial factors in the settlement of the west.
In 1898, the northern territory of the Yukon was established Did You Know?
to ensure Canadian jurisdiction over that area during the
Klondike Gold Rush. In 1905, the provinces of Saskatchewan The Klondike Gold
and Alberta were created out of Rupert’s Land, with the residual Rush inspired novels
area becoming the Northwest Territories. Each province gained such as The Call of the
its own premier and elected assembly. For the time being, Wild (1903) by Jack
Newfoundland preferred to remain a British colony, but in London.
1949 it was made Canada’s tenth province.

1886 1897 1900
Gold found Steamers from Alaska Quebecois inventor
on the Forty- carry word of the strike Reginald Aubrey
Mile River to San Francisco and Fessenden sends
Seattle, setting off a the first wireless
frenzied gold rush radio transmission
1899
1896 The first Canadians
George Carmack, Tagish Charlie are sent to fight in
and Snookum Jim strike it rich the Boer War
on Bonanza Creek

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