In 1880, one of the largest gold rushes was started. John Muir in my mind is the one who actually began the series of Alaskan Gold rushes, and made Alaska what it is today. There are a hand full of people that found large amounts of gold and ended up starting many more gold rushes all over Alaska. Alaskan culture and landscape is changed forever because of the many gold rushes. Every part of Alaskan society and culture was changed during the gold rushes during the years 1800 through 1900. People during this time were forced to adapt to changes, such as new technologies and larger towns.
John Muir was on a canoe trip through the Inside passage in 1879, he predicted there would be large amounts of gold in Juneau, Alaska's capitol now. (www.juneaugreenhouse.com) George Pilz heard of John's predictions and report of gold there, Chief Kowee of the Auk tribe also told George Pilz about signs of gold near his house. After the assumptions George hired two men, Joe Juneau and Richard Harris to search the area. After many searches failed, Juneau and Harris finally struck gold on October 3, 1880. Sixteen years after that gold find was first discovered, a much larger gold rush occurred in Alaska that started a migration of people to the territory. Robert Henderson was a Nova Scotia native who traveled to Oregon on his quest for gold. In the summer of 1896, after two years of futile searching, Henderson discovered large quantities of gold near the junction of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. On his way home with his new fortune, Henderson ran into George Carmack. Henderson was eager to share his new wealth with his friend, which made Carmack go on a search for gold. .
Carmack and two Native friends, Shookum Jim and Tagish Charlie, began their quest for gold in August of 1896. (www.uaf.edu) Just as Henderson said, the three men discovered vast amounts of gold near the Yukon area. This discovery began what is now known as the "Great Klondike Stampede.