Photographer with camera surrounded by crowd, probably at Dawson, Yukon Territory on shore of the Yukon River, circa 1898

{{en| On verso of image: Probably Yukon R. at Dawson Filed in Yukon Territory Following the historic discovery of gold on Bonanza Creek in August of 1896, Dawson City grew out of a marshy swamp near the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. In two years it became the largest city in Canada west of Winnipeg with a population that fluctuated between 30,000 and 40,000 people--not as large as Seattle, but much larger than Victoria or Vancouver. Its founder was Joe Ladue, a former prospector-turned-outfitter who was on the scene early. He knew from experience that merchants in gold camps prospered more than miners. He had a sawmill at the mining camp of Sixtymile and, while miners staked their claims, Ladue staked out a townsite instead. Anticipating the coming building boom, Ladue rafted his sawmill to the new townsite, which he had already named Dawson City, in honour of George M. Dawson, a government geologist who helped survey the boundary between Alaska and the Northwest Territories. Fortune smiled on Ladue. Everyone bought his lumber. He owned 160 acres, the government owned 22 acres, and his home doubled as Dawson's first saloon. He sold the first lots at prices ranging fr

Date

c. 1898

Archive

Wikimedia Commons

Type

photograph

Original size

768 × 601 pixels

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