Background
Arriving in Dawson
Week 2

The story goes that in August 1896 whilst out fishing George Carmack and his friends, Skookum Jim and Tagish Charley, discovered large nuggets of gold on Bonanza Creek one of the Klondike river's tributaries. He staked a claim and found enough gold to make him and his friends very rich. Once the news had reached Fortymile, further down the Yukon and closer to Alaska where gold diggers were a plenty, men and women fled to the Klondike to stake their claims.

Map showing the Yukon and Klondike rivers with the Bonanza and Eldorado that started the rush.

John Wilkinson it would seem after leaving Weardale had turned his hand to coal mining in Iowa and then in Nanaimo on Vancouver Island. It is unclear when he decided to go to the Klondike but it is probable that with his friends William Scouse, a Scot, William Sloan an American and Thomas Flack a Canadian they headed over to Fortymile further up the Yukon where the gold had initially been discovered. As most they would have bought supplies in Seattle and caught a boat up to Skagway or Dyea in Alaska where they would have began the arduous journey up the Chilkoot Pass or White Pass. Once over these hills and bogs they would have made boats from local wood and sailed down the Yukon, through the treacherous Miles Canyon in Whitehorse and up to Fortymile. It is probable from there they would have heard about the terrific finds in the Klondike.

----- = route of the gold diggers from Seattle to Dawson.

The records show that Scouse and Sloan staked a claim in the Klondike each in October 96. Initially it would appear that each man took a claim on Eldorado Creek, 14,15,16 and 17. They gave up 16 and 17, probably as an attempt to pool resources, man power and to stake another claim elsewhere. They became partners in the claims 14 and 15. It turned out that 16 was one of the richest claims there. When they didn't reach bed-rock according to Pierre Berton's The Klondike, Sloan and Wilkinson assumed they would not reach large deposits of gold and sold their partnership to other miners for $50,000.00 each in June 1897. Scouse and his partners later hit the bed rock and were extracting $400.00 per pan.

Claim 14 and 15 on Eldorado

Miners returning on the first boats back to America in July, were received by crowds and crowds of press and public wanting to see the gold. Proof came on boats returning to San Francisco and Seattle which heightened the gold rush frenzy and increased the numbers of people who wanted to get out there and stake a claim.

Extract from p99 The Klondike by Pierre Berton

On returning from the Klondike Sloan invested his money wisely and became a Cabinet Minister for the provincial government of British Columbia.

John Wilkinson spent some time in Vancouver and then returned to Weardale where his family grew up. He invested his money in property in St John's Chapel where he was buried. His daughter-in-law initiated the development of the Weardale Museum, which tells the story of industry and life in the dale. Not much more is known about John as all his family members have moved from the area but I hope to find out more. If you want to send a comment please email.