The Klondike Gold Rush series
The premium series of gold investment coins issued by the Royal Canadian Mint in the highest purity of 99.999% gold was launched in 2021 to commemorate the 125th anniversary of the first discovery of gold, which sparked the Klondike gold rush.
In the short period of the Klondike gold rush, the promise of gold lured more than 30,000 fortune seekers to northern Canada and forever changed the country, its people and their existing way of life.
The largest-ever migration of people in search of gold was triggered by an event on August 16, 1896. Californian George Carmack and his Indian-born wife Shaaw Tlàa (Kate Carmack) and brothers-in-law Keish (Skookum Jim Mason) and Kàa Goox (Dawson Charlie) discovered a gold deposit in Rabbit Creek, later renamed Bonanza Creek. News of the famous find caused an immediate rush of prospectors. The following year, people from all over the world traveled to the desolate Klondike region by the thousands. The ensuing boom spurred the Yukon's entry into Confederation and made Canada one of the world's leading gold producers.
The Klondike gold rush also had a devastating impact on local aboriginal communities. Gold prospectors not only displaced these communities, but also instituted policies that fundamentally undermined their traditions. Indigenous peoples are still struggling with this legacy today. The gold rush is often seen as a great adventure, but its consequences are more complex. It wasn't just a pursuit of wealth. It was a critical moment in Canadian history that irreversibly affected the entire nation.
