The Gold Rush

The first major Gold Rush in the US took place in 1849 in California. This Gold Rush set the precedent for the one that exploded in Canada nearly fifty years later. The US was coming out of a depression and people saw the chance to escape the bondage of their jobs and their debts and to make a fortune through the simple task of sticking a pan into a stream.

Jason Hawthorn learned about the Klondike Gold Rush while selling papers in newspapers on the street in New York. Hawthorn, like thousands of others, was immediately bitten by "Klondicitis" and the need to make the trek cross country and into the rugged wilds of Canada to reach Dawson City. The trek was a long and dangerous one, particularly when people began to trek into Alaska and over the border into Canada where they were faced with intolerable...