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4.2.2.wavThe area that saw the most intense gold exploration was the Interior, as prospectors searched the streams flowing into the Yukon River for gold. In 1886, prospectors found placer gold 25 miles above the mouth of the Fortymile River. "Placer gold" refers to gold that is deposited in stream beds after being eroded and washed down creeks and rivers with other sediments.
Because the sluice and rocker boxes that separated the gold from other sediments required large quantities of water to operate, gold mining was normally only done in summer, when water was easily available. Some miners tried to work year-round by keeping a fire going to thaw the frozen ground. They hauled buckets of dirt out of shafts to the surface and stockpiled the dirt until summer.Â
Miners working a sluice box, 1889
Gold mining was hard work, and profits were slim. But once in a while, a Fortymile miner might recover as much as $200 in gold dust in one day. When Frank Bateau accumulated $3,000 in gold dust from the season's work in 1887, the others called him "King of the Fortymile." Gold recovery, although not in large amounts, was steady in the Fortymile region. Communities at Chicken, Franklin, Jack Wade, and Steele Creek grew as service and supply centers for area miners.
Miners at the mouth of the Fortymile River, 1894.
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