On July 17, 1897, the Portland steamed into Seattle from Alaska with well over two tons of gold. Thousands crowded the docks, cheering "show us the gold!" The miners did, and the rush for Klondike gold was on.

It had been almost a year since the first big Klondike strike was made. Miners had been panning the waters in the Yukon region for over a decade before George Carmack and his brothers-in-law, Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie, found coarse gold in Rabbit Creek on August 16, 1896. Within two weeks, hundreds of miners from all over the area had staked claims along the entire length of the newly-renamed Bonanza Creek. Still others staked claims on Eldorado Creek, Hunker Creek, Bear Creek, and other tributaries of the Klondike River.

A few days after the Portland landed in Seattle, it returned to Alaska with the first wave of what would soon become a flood of gold seekers. It is estimated that in 1898 alone, more than 100,000 people set off on the 5000 mile journey for gold. There were several routes to the gold fields, some longer than others, but none of which were easy. The most popular route, travelling by boat to Alaska and then overland to the Klondike, could be accomplished in two months. On the other hand, a strictly overland journey from Canada or the United States could take several years.

Traveling to the Klondike in 1898 required many things, not the least of which were money and determination. The first part of the journey, the boat ride to Alaska, could cost as much as $1,000 and sometimes took weeks on rough seas to reach the Alaskan ports of Dyea and Skagway. Many unsuspecting rushers were turned back here when the rapidly-rising Dyea tide washed their supplies into the ocean. Those who escaped the tides arranged their gear and prepared for the rest of the trip to Dawson, the heart of the gold rush. This was no easy task, especially considering that the North West Mounted Police required every person to carry a year's worth of supplies—totaling more than 2000 pounds!

From Dyea, the trail wound for thirteen miles to Sheep Camp. There miners stored their gear as they and hired packers carried it load by load up the steep four mile ascent to the top of Chilkoot Pass, 3400 feet above Dyea. It sometimes took up to forty trips to carry all of one's gear to the top. The danger of the trail was seen on Palm Sunday, April 3, 1898, when more than eighty people died in an avalanche that roared down the mountain. Once all the gear and supplies were finally at the top of the mountain, it was a relatively easy eight mile hike to Lake Lindeman, the beginning of the next leg of the journey.

Here the rushers had to move all of their goods about 500 miles over a series of lakes and down the Yukon River. Thousands camped at Lindeman City while they cut trees, sawed boards, and assembled small boats. Once their boats were completed, they rowed or sailed down Lake Lindeman to Ben-nett, where they were joined by more boats with gold-seekers from the White Pass Trail, the other major route into the Klondike. Together they continued down Lake Bennett, across Tagish and Marsh lakes, and downstream to the White Horse Rapids. In the summer of 1898 alone, it was estimated that nearly 20,000 people traveled these waters. Those who chose to chance the rapids were in for a rough six-mile ride. Many of the homemade boats navigated by unexperienced hands didn't survive the rapids, leaving wreckage up and down the beaches. There was a human toll as well. In all, several hundred people lost their lives on the water.

Below White Horse Rapids the waters calmed and many people traded in their boats for a ride on a steamer the rest of the way to Dawson City. Dawson, a collection of tents and buildings on a mud plain at the junctions of the Klondike and Yukon rivers, sprang up quickly after the discovery of gold in 1896. Many of those fortunate enough to reach Dawson by 1897 were forced to leave when the town ran out of food just before the next winter. The food shortage was alleviated, in part by arrival of the gold-rushers in early 1898. The 30,000 people who reached Dawson brought more than food, though. Diseases affected many of the miners, who were living in unsanitary conditons and eating a poor diet. An outbreak of typhoid fever in 1898 claimed hundreds of lives.

What about those who survived all of the danger and trial? Most of the rushers arrived too late to stake a good claim of their own, and many headed home before the next winter. Some of those who stayed found jobs work-ing other people's claims but few ever found enough gold to do more than cover their expenses. Others discovered that they could make more money building boats or packing gear or selling food and supplies than they could searching for gold, and did very well.

Some people did strike it rich mining gold. A few of these made use of their riches, but many did not. Some were robbed, but others squandered their wealth. Dick Lowe's claim along Bonanza Creek was the richest per square foot ever staked in the Klondike, yet he died an alcoholic with no money in 1907. Antone Stander, who worked rich claims on Eldorado Creek, married a dance hall girl, spent and drank his money away, was divorced, and died while on a quest for more gold. Joseph Ladue purchased and staked the 160-acre townsite of Dawson just before the rush and made his millions selling land and operating various businesses. He left it all behind, though, when he died of tuberculosis in 1901.

While many of those who participated in the gold rush of 1898—and returned home to tell about it—looked back on the experience with pleasant memories of adventure and excitement, very few found the riches they were seeking.