On August 16, 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of the Yukon and soon 100,000 prospectors surged towards Skagway, Alaska, as part of the Klondike Gold Rush. When this marquee was first painted on the train station in 1898, only 4,000 had harvested any gold. By the time the train route was finished in 1900, the rush was just about over and most of the gold diggers who survived had gone home penniless. Anecdotally, my great grandfather was one of the unlucky ones.
