This Day in History...
On this date in 1896, a prospecting party discovered gold in Canada's Yukon Territory, an event that touched off the
Klondike gold rush. News of the find only reached the US in July of the following year, encouraging some 25,000-30,000 hopeful individuals to set off to find their fortune. Much of the gold was mined quickly and by 1910, only small traces of of the precious metal remained. About $250 million in gold was found by the time the mining had trickled to a close in 1966. Klondike was the setting for Charlie Chaplin's film,
The Gold Rush, as well as Mae West's
Klondike Annie.
"
Recommend to your children virtue; that alone can make them happy, not gold." — Ludwig van Beethoven