THE KLONDIKE AND YUKON GOLDFIELD IN 1913.1 
By H. M. Capzt1, B. Se., F..R: S. EB: 
[With 6 plates.] 
Klondike was once a name in every mouth, and in the last years 
of the nineteenth century it nearly became incorporated in the 
language as a new synonym for all that is rich and prosperous. But 
of late it has been little heard of on this side of the water, and its 
early bloom has faded away. The sensational pockets of fine placer 
gold, that attracted hordes of hardy adventurers from every quarter, 
have now been mostly depleted and new ones have not been dis- 
covered to maintain the early reputation of the field. But while 
this part of the Yukon district can not any longer be called a poor 
man’s goldfield, it still contains a considerable -quantity of alluvial 
gold that can be profitably won by the application of capital and 
brains. In any case, it is a district well worth a visit, and apart 
altogether from gold it has other possibilities in the way of future 
development. Besides this, it is full of points of great geographic and 
scientific interest, and in this remote and imperfectly explored north- 
western corner of the British Empire the geologist and the geographer 
will find many new problems awaiting them which it will be a delight 
to discuss and investigate for many years to come. 
I had the advantage in September, 1913, of paying a short visit 
to the Yukon district with a few members of the International 
Geological Congress, under the able guidance of Mr. R. G. McConnell, 
of the Canadian Geological Survey, and other specialists and officials 
who had already explored the goldfield on behalf of the Government, 
and had published from time to time accounts of its industrial and 
geological development. We were thus placed in the favorable 
position of being able to see in a short time many things that might 
never have come under the notice of a solitary and unguided stranger, 
and with the literature and maps that were liberally provided it was 
possible to form a good general idea of the district, that might be 
made serviceable to our respective countrymen in distant lands, 
whether they might be men of science or people with more material 
mterests. 
1 Reprinted by permission from the Scottish Geographical Magazine, July, 1914. 
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