On this day 95 years ago...

Yukon prospector, George Washington Carmack, passed away at the age of 61. Carmack's fame is attributed to triggering the Klondike Gold Rush. The son of a forty-niner (a nickname given to American settlers who left home to prospect for gold in the Northwestern territories), his life was destined for a riverside pursuit of gold. After a brief stint in the U.S. Marines, George traveled to Alaska and married a woman from the Tagish First Nation. He favored intellectual pursuits over prospecting and found fortune in the discovery of coal. In 1891, he established a trading post just before opening a coal mine on the South bank of the Yukon River. Five years later, Carmack would literally strike gold while fishing at Bonanza Creek with his brother-in-law, James Mason/Skookum Jim, and nephew, Dawson Charlie. It was this event, and the serious over-reporting of it that caused a mass exodus to the Yukon Territory in search of gold and wealth. Though the discovery and ensuing Discovery Claim was attributed to Carmack, historians have since disputed this believing the three men thought it best the claim come from a European man and not one from the tribal nation. Carmack later abandoned his wife, relocated to the Pacific Northwest, and became a wealthy business man. His legacy lives on the in village of Carmack, Yukon.