Gold Discovery

The Yukon and Atlin gold rushes were made possible by the advent of the telegraph, mass circulation newspapers and steamboats being invented which made it possible to advertise the discoveries and transport people to remote locations.

White people arrived in the Atlin area with the discovery of gold at nearby Pine Creek in 1898, which was the main area where gold was found. Ten thousand gold-seekers arrived and camped in nearby Discovery in a search for gold. At the height of the gold rush Atlin became a little town, but like so many gold rushes in the north, once the gold left, so did most of the residents.

The terrain and its remote location made getting to this area difficult and the harsh environment made staking in this area difficult. The original mining claims in Atlin were registered in the Northwest Territories, as North West Mounted Police officers at Tagish had thought that was the location. Original gold miners like Fritz Miller, Kenneth McLaren, and others, accepted the RCMP's location but when it was discovered that the area was definitely in British Columbia new mining laws were applied. August 5, 1898 Norman W. F. Rand and his son John J. McKenna were appointed as the Acting Mining Recorders and established their offices at Discovery camp. Shortly after they were swamped by 'jumpers' staking claims under the new provincial laws for claims that were laid in the Northwest Territories. Some claims were registered two or three times in error. The errors were thought to have been caused due to the new mining recorders being inexperienced, understaffed and overworked and could not cope with the amount of complicated work thrown at them.

As the confusion over who owned claims, the original stakeholders or the claim jumpers the issues was brought before Mr. Justice Irving in 1900. He passed a special Statue that gave the original stakeholders the rights to re-staked as claims of 100 feet under Provincial regulations. Miller and McLaren’s discovery rights were upheld, and the two men re-staked their claims.

Between 1898 and 1909 the Minister of Mining recorded roughly $4.54 million [$333 million in today's prices] worth of gold was recorded.

With the gold rush came an influx of visitors and with that tons of cargo. On June 6, 1899, the Atlin Short Line Railway and Navigation Company with J. H. Brownlee, as the president, officially opened the first tramway across the isthmus from Taku Arm, near the mouth of the Atlin River, to Scotia Bay, on the west shore of Atlin Lake. In addition the company's assets included a narrow-gauge railway and wharves. Other companies were also attempting to build additional options for transportation into Atlin. As more competition came in the White pass and Yukon Route bought the assets from three companies to acquire tramways, wharves, railways and steamers to create an interlinking system for transportation.

On July 18, 1900, the first “train” crossed from Taku to Lake Atlin. The line, when completed, was but 2¼ miles long, one of the shortest, if not the shortest, railways in Canada. Passengers sat on their baggage during the journey as cargo was the priority for transportation. The railway company operated year round but took heavy losses during the winter months and made its profit in the short summer season. Not until the appearance of air transportation in the late 1930’s did Atlin’s dependence on the White Pass and Yukon Route for transportation end and shortly afterwards the company abandoned most of its services to the community.

By 1930 mining activates slowed as gold prices dropped and the expense of getting the gold out by boat, tramway and train was expensive. The economy of the town shifted to tourism but this was also difficult as there was not road access until 1950-51.

After the gold rush winded down the population declined but some people stayed for the peaceful and quiet lifestyle. The present economy of the town consists of small businesses mainly focused on tourism, and mining. The TRTFN also support the community economy through their hydroelectric dam, their fisheries of salmon [their smoked salmon is a must try if you are visiting] and more.

-- from The British Columbia Historical Quarterly, July-October 1952 (find it).