Essay On The Klondike Gold Rush

Humans incessant need to search for gold has been around since the beginning of time. Gold is a precious medal that humans treasure, in which it never tarnishes, nor rusts; there is something about it that makes people look for it ruthlessly and endlessly till the end of time. One of the times in history, in which people have flocked from all corners of the world to a small corner of remote north western Canada, is the Klondike Gold Rush. The Klondike Gold Rush was a large migration of well over 10 000 people, to the Klondike region of the Yukon to prospect for gold. Nevertheless, the question still remains; who discovered the first cold to begin the Klondike Gold Rush? There are 2 main possible contenders in this mystery, including George Carmack, an American Miner, and Skookum Jim, A Canadian First Nations, along with three other minor characters. There are many theories as to what happened

and who discovered it; but another conclusion to the story that the reader may come to after analyzing all the information provided, is that Skookum Jim may have found the gold, but George Carmack might have taken credit for it. Listed below, are the three reasons this could be a possible conclusion to one of the great unsolved Canadian Mysteries; who first discovered Klondike Gold?

It is already stated in various historical documents that Skookum Jim was the most likely contender in the finding of the Klondike Gold.

During the times of the Gold Rush, it was a commonly known thing for Americans to disrespect and take advantage of their Indian counterparts. Additionally, when no known authority was around, Americans were known to disrespect laws of Canada and the individual towns, as well as the rights and traditions of First Nation communities. There has been reports of American folk forcing First Nations into drinking and gambling, or even so far as them sexually assaulting our women; they simply freely took the First Nations woman as their own whenever they pleased. George Carmack was an American Miner, who also happened to be married to Jim's sister, Kate Carmack. Coincedentally, George Carmack was the name on the application of discovery. Since Jim and George were of relation, they knew eachother well, and probably spent much time together, there was nothing stopping George from easily persuading Jim to let him take credit for the

discovery.

Skookum Jim was a simple, easy going man who had always preferred to stay out of the lime light, rather than being the "star of the show" continuously. Before the times of the gold rush, Jim had worked as a "courier" in away, along with his nephew, Tagish Charley, which was a job assigned by Candadian government surveyor, William Ogilvie. For many years, his job was to listen to the commands of other and do their work for them. As a result of this, Jim was said to simply go along with everything that was told of him, so why could George Carmack not do the same with him? During the Gold Rush, the First Nations community that of which intersected with the mining community, were beginning to be assimilated as white people; forgetting their own culture and going along with what their counterparts were doing. A reporter had followed the small family around a little while after the initial discovery of the Klondike Gold, up until his death in 1916. She had reported and confirmed what we had already known. Jim was a simple man, hardly speaking out of turn, but rather was content sitting and listening in to the banter of others, who always went along with what was told of him, and would easily let someone take credit for something extravagant he did, just to stay out of the spotlight.

Along with being an softspoken, easy going man, Jim had been born in the Yukon, therefore he was familiar with the area, so this is another credible reason to why Skookum Jim was the most likely contender in the finding of Yukon Gold. Considering the majority of Americans had to hire First Nations to show them around because they did not know the area very well. It would have been legible for Skookum Jim to offer to show George Carmack, his brother-in-law the area, and that is another reason why Jim could easily been mistaken for the discoverer of Klondike Gold. Jim, born in 1859 in Carcross, Yukon. He would have grown up amongst the people of the Yukon and would have been familiar with the surroundings, opposed to the Americans.

This inquiry report revealed that Skookum Jim was the most likely contender in the finding of Klondike Gold. What most likely happened is that Skookum Jim had found the gold in the riverbed but had accredited his brother-in-law George Carmack for the discovery, in order for him to stay out of the lime light for good. Or another possibility is that George Carmack simply took advantage of his brother and Jim was not going to do anything about it. Lastly, conisdering Skookum Jim was from the Yukon, he had known the area well. In conclusion, even though George Carmack's name is on the application of discovery, and there is no known written testament by Jim saying that he had discovered it, Skookum Jim was the initial discoverer of Klondike Gold, and one may believe this because americans were known to take advantage of the First Nation community and Jim was a very soft spoken and easy going man, so George very easily could have taken advantage of him as well as others. This, along with all my other findings is why it is believed that Skookum Jim disocvered Klondike Gold.