The potentiality of Alaska as a gold area was noted by some explorers that visited the interior of Alaska in 1863 along the Stikine River and made a prediction regarding the possibility of finding gold there. In 1869, similar comments were heard based on a study of the geological structure of the Sierra Nevada Mountains of California and the Rocky Mountains of Alaska, a great similarity was noted. Members of the Telegraph Expedition of 1867 discovered gold on the upper Yukon. No systematic prospecting was done, however, until George Holt’s trip which occurred in 1875. Holt was a prospector and is undoubtedly the first of his kind who found gold in Yukon.
In 1873, Harper, agent at Fort Selkirk, and Fred Hart, a successful miner of Forty-mile Creek, prospected the Stewart and White River countries. White River was found to yield some fine gold, but the Stewart yielded nothing, which is surprising seeing that it was later the scene of considerable excitement. Gold bearing ledges were discovered near Taku, together with other gold ledges and placers in Silver Bow Basin, which were located in the same year by Joseph Juneau, just above the town which bears his name. rich placers were discovered on Cummins Creek, which in 1893 were worked extensively. The Big Salmon River was prospected by a small party of miners who came over the pass in 1881.
In 1882, a prospecting party of forty odd members ascended the Yukon from St.Michael, by steamboat, wintering at Nuklukayet. Rich gold bars were prospected some eighty miles above Nuklukayet. In 1883 other rich placers were located at Rowetka. This ended the work of the expedition and it returned to St. Michael. Their conclusion in regard to the country was that it would never pay for mining operations on account of the severity of the winter and the shortness of the open season. This was the first report of the finding gold in the United States possessions; all other expeditions and discoveries were in British Columbia. River bat mining was performed on the Lewes in 1883, the same year in which Schwatka made his military reconnaissance.
In 1883, a report was brought into Jeneau that rich gold placers were found on the Yukon, which was corroborated by the exhibition of coarse gold. The Cassiar district in British Columbia was abandoned and there were many idle miners to whom this reported find came as an alluring call, and great excitement prevailed. Next spring fully three hundreds men crossed the summit for the new gold fields. The rush to the interior continued in 1885 and considerable work was done on the Stewart River. A few especially rich finds kept the excitement up, thus materially increasing the number of miners on the Upper Yukon.
In the spring of 1886, Cassiar bar, ten miles below the mouth of the Big Salmon River became a rivaling point of attraction. Then there followed in quick succession the discoveries of the Forty-mile district in 1886, and the Birch Creek district in 1893, with their subsidiaries locations, all which form connections links in a chain of events continuous, but far from permanent in character. The effects upon the development of the country were more or less permanent. There are several particular locations without which the history of Alaska would not be complete, namely, the Klondike, Cape Nome and Fairbanks districts. The discovery of the Klondike in British territory and the excitement incident thereto occurred in 1896. The report spread that gold was found on Klondike River. Klondike is a corruption of the Indian name Thronduik (water full of fish). The auriferous gravels of Cape Nome were discovered in the fall of 1898 by two Laplander reinder herders deserting from the government station of Port Clearance, who, while on their way to St. Michael sought shelter with Esquimaux at Cape Rodney. Here they saw gold nuggets used as ornaments, and on inquiry learned that they were picked up on the beach.