Related Ad Categories

browse videos in mining

Sort by:

Klondike Fever: Skagway and Dyea

Klondike Fever: Skagway and Dyea (3:11)

About 100,000 people headed for the Klondike, among them Harvey Condon. Skagway in Alaska was a rough-and-tumble landing point so many chose to go to Dyea instead.

Klondike Fever: Headingto Dawson City

Klondike Fever: Headingto Dawson City (1:45)

Half the gold rushers took the Chilkoot Trail to reach Dawson. Others took rougher routes or the easy route of a sternwheeler up the Yukon River in summer.

Klondike Fever: Braving the River Rapids

Klondike Fever: Braving the River Rapids (1:00)

To get to Dawson, the gold rushers had to pass through the rapids in Miles Canyon.

Klondike Fever: Dawson City

Klondike Fever: Dawson City (3:41)

The residents of Dawson faced starvation when the town was struck by an early freeze. The miners faced many other difficulties, too.

Klondike Fever: The Prospectors

Klondike Fever: The Prospectors (4:17)

Only 400 of the 40,000 people who made it to Dawson became rich. Most of the good claims had actually been staked before the stampeders even left Seattle.

recently added

Trail to Riches: A Review of the California Gold Rush

Trail to Riches: A Review of the California Gold Rush (0:55)

During the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, Americans populated Western lands which were not yet states.

Trail to Riches: The Gold Rush and Western Expansion

Trail to Riches: The Gold Rush and Western Expansion (0:49)

During the initial Gold Rush, nearly 100,000 people immigrated to California in search of quick riches. The mass movement populated the West, but few found fortunes.

Trail to Riches: The Gold Rush and Native Americans

Trail to Riches: The Gold Rush and Native Americans (6:24)

As California’s Gold Rush waned, gold was found in Montana, South Dakota and the Southwest. The South Dakota Gold Rush led to a brutal war against the local Native Americans.

Trail to Riches: California and Statehood

Trail to Riches: California and Statehood (2:51)

Under the Compromise of 1850, California became a free state--a state without slaves. Another stipulation of the agreement, however, was the federal Fugitive Slave Act, which required the recovery of all fugitive slaves.

Trail to Riches: Gold Fever

Trail to Riches: Gold Fever (4:56)

By mid-June 1848, 75 percent of all the men in San Francisco were there to pan for gold. People from all over the United States headed for California in 1849 but didn’t arrive until after 1850; surface gold was already exhausted by then.

Trail to Riches: Gold is Discovered and the Rush Begins

Trail to Riches: Gold is Discovered and the Rush Begins (3:53)

Gold was discovered at John Sutter’s California mill. American and Native American harvesters abandoned the wheat fields to pan for gold.

Trail to Riches: The American West Before the Gold Rush

Trail to Riches: The American West Before the Gold Rush (3:50)

As American settlers populated California, America began to consider the Mexican-owned territory as a potential part of the United States. After the U.S.-Mexican War, California officially became part of the United States.

Trail to Riches: Program Overview

Trail to Riches: Program Overview (0:36)

This video series examines the lives of influential Western settlers, the Native American experience and economic factors in the settlement of the American West.

Gone West: The California Gold Rush

Gone West: The California Gold Rush (0:28)

The California Gold Rush brought settlers to California.

Colonizing the US West: California Gold Rush

Colonizing the US West: California Gold Rush (2:02)

The discovery of gold on John Sutter’s land kicked off the Gold Rush and drastically changed California. The Gadsden Purchase is also discussed.