Gold Discoveries Trigger Stampede

Prospectors found gold in 1895 under the present Canyon Creek Highway Bridge and on Mills Creek, launching a rush to Turnagain Arm more than a year before the Klondike Gold Rush. After gold was discovered near Hope in 1890, prospectors organized the Turnagain Arm Mining District, and the number of gold seekers grew to 300 by 1895. Some searched along Sixmile Creek and its tributaries. Sanford J. Mills and Benedict C. [bullet hole] found gold and filed claims at the mouth of Canyon Creek, while John Renne [bullet hole] Robert Michaelson did the same upstream at the mouth of Mills Creek. The Mills/Pilcher and Renner/Michaleson claims yielded good returns, but miners spending the winter in the States exaggerated their richness. Newspaper accounts, amplified by the miners’ stories, set off a stampede to Turnagain Arm in 1896, bringing more than 3,000 gold seekers into the area. About half mined on Sixmile Creek and its tributaries, including 327 on Canyon Creek. Claim jumping was a problem, but miners settled most disputes in meetings, and only one miner was shot over a disputed claim. During these early years, Canyon Creek produced more gold than any other creek in the Turnagain Arm area, and the claims that triggered the stampede proved to be the richest.

Sunrise, Alaska · United States