Yukon River viewed from the Midnight Dome, Dawson City, Yukon, Canada

© Robert Postma/Getty Image

Shining like Klondike gold. Shining like Klondike gold

On August 16, 1896, two prospectors had their hopes literally pan out when they found a large deposit of gold along the banks of what would soon be known as the Bonanza River in the Klondike, Canada. And with that, Skookum Jim Mason (aka Keish) and his American brother-in-law George Carmack set in motion the Klondike Gold Rush—the richest gold strike in North American history. Because of the remoteness of the find, it would be over 11 months before the world found out. And it did so in the most dramatic fashion, when the steamers Portland and Excelsior pulled into Seattle’s harbour carrying over one ton of gold (worth over $1 billion in today's dollars).