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Canada / My Canada / Drawing 32

Provinces and Territories · Drawing 32 of 42

Panning for Klondike gold

Yukon — 1896

Colouring illustration: Panning for Klondike gold
An imagined present-day scene; the pan, creek and people are simplified and show neither a specific claim nor real people.© Atlasmio · All rights reserved

Near Dawson City, people have searched creeks for gold since 1896. This is the homeland of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who have lived in the region for thousands of years.

Look together

What would you do with a tiny flake of gold?

An idea to try

Hide a few large yellow objects (bottle caps, blocks) in a tub of sand or rice. Your child searches with a colander, then tells you what they found.

For the adult reading along

A little more to discover

In August 1896, gold was found on Rabbit Creek, soon renamed Bonanza Creek, near the Klondike River. Parks Canada notes that the find is generally credited to Keish (Skookum Jim Mason) of the Tagish First Nation. About 30,000 newcomers then poured into the homeland of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who were pushed out of their fishing camp at Tr’ochëk; Chief Isaac led their move to Moosehide.

In 2023, Tr’ondëk-Klondike joined UNESCO’s World Heritage List. The site, whose nomination was led by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, tells how they experienced and adapted to colonialism between 1874 and 1908. Share the fun of searching with your child, then ask how the people already living here might have felt when so many strangers arrived.

Sources and context (3)

These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. Source titles appear in their original language; some linked pages are in French.

  • Parks Canada — Tr’ondëk-Klondike World Heritage SiteInscribed in 2023; homeland of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who have lived in the region for thousands of years; relations with newcomers from 1874 to 1908; gold rush of 1896–1898 drawing about 30,000 people; Tr’ochëk Fishing Camp and Moosehide Village; nomination led by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in; more than a century of placer mining.
  • Parks Canada — Discovery Claim National Historic SiteGold found in August 1896 on Rabbit Creek, renamed Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River; the find is generally credited to Keish (Skookum Jim Mason) of the Tagish First Nation.
  • Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Government — Our StoryThe Nation’s own account: some 30,000 newcomers; displacement from the fishing camp at Tr’ochëk; Chief Isaac led the move to Moosehide; self-government today.

Source review: 2026-09-24. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.