August 16 – Klondike Gold Rush!

Gold was discovered in Klondike Creek in Canada on this day in 1896. The news took ten months to reach the U.S., but then a gold rush of Americans started, and people from as far away as Australia and South Africa traveled to Klondike, Canada, as well. At one point there might have been more than 40,000 people in the Klondike gold fields area, and the possibility of famine seemed possible.

The gold fields were close to the town called Dawson, marked with a star on this map.

There had been other gold rushes in the recent past, such as “THE Gold Rush” to the California gold fields in 1849. And some folks seemed to have learned from others’ experiences, and many men who came to try their luck in the Klondike area knew that they weren’t likely to strike it rich. They came partly for the adventure, and many happily turned to other ways of earning money. Some stopped short of the gold fields and settled down (for a while, at least), and some went further than the gold fields, exploring farther northern reaches. For this reason, the Klondike gold rush helped develop the economy of Alaska, all of Western Canada, and the Pacific Northwest.

Celebrate!

Eat a Klondike bar!

Now compare the pyrite molecular model to the molecular model of gold.

Also on this date:

Independence Day in Gabon

Plan ahead:

• August holidays
• August birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in August

• September holidays
• September birthdays
• Historical anniversaries in September