Canadian gold rush of the late 1890s.
Gold was discovered on Aug. 17, 1896, near the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers in western Yukon Territory. The news spread quickly, and by late 1898 more than 30,000 prospectors had arrived. Annual production peaked at $22 million worth of gold in 1900, and soon prospectors began moving on to Alaska. By the time mining ended in 1966, the area had yielded $250 million in gold.