GeoMinute: The Gold Rush and the Yukon Act
In 1896, gold is found near the Klondike River in present-day Yukon, sparking an influx of prospectors. The Indigenous Hän people help feed and clothe the newcomers, but find their world irrevocably changed. In 1898, the federal government passes the Yukon Act, creating a new territory and effectively taking control of the Yukon and its resources. Seventy-five years later, Yukon chiefs — who never signed land treaties with the federal government — begin negotiations for Canada's first modern-day treaty, culminating in the Umbrella Final Agreement in 1993.
Photo/video credits:
• Antique Map of North America 1897. iStock (46509595).
• Miners Pan and Dig for Gold. Getty/Bettmann (514699748).
• Scales and summit of Chilkoot Pass, Alaska, 1898-05-12, by Hegg, E. A. Glenbow Library and Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary (CU1175159).
• Han women, Moosehide Creek, Yukon Territory., [ca. 1900], by Unknown. Glenbow Library and Archives Collection, Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary (CU1123324).
• Chief Isaac. Yukon Archives/Claude and Mary Tidd Fonds (7283).
• Thomas H. Gibson and Brother, Klondike Hunters, Dawson, Yukon, c1898. Duclos, Joseph E. N. Dawson City Museum (1962.6.20).
• Bartlett Brothers Freight Train en Route to the Mines, c1900. Hegg & Co. Dawson City Museum (1998.22.715-COM).
• Paying with Gold Dust, Fall 1899. Larss & Duclos. Dawson City Museum (1995.401.25-COM).
• An Indian Family at Home, Forty Mile City, c1900. Canadian Photo Archive. Dawson City Museum (1998.22.597-COM).
• Parliament’s Centre Block, circa 1914. Government of Canada.
• Senate and House of Commons Bills, 8th Parliament, 3rd Session : A-T, 2-174. Library of Parliament.
• Front Street, Dawson, Yukon, 1899. Eric A. Hegg. McCord Stewart Museum (MP-0000.103.23).
• Cover page of Together Today for Our Children Tomorrow. Reproduced with the permission of the Council of Yukon First Nations. Thank you to Roni-Sue Sparvier.
• 1973 delegation of Yukon First Nations leaders travelled to Ottawa to present Together Today for our Children Tomorrow. Yukon Archives/Judy Gingell (collection 98/74).
This project is made possible in part by the Government of Canada.
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