| Summary: | On verso of image: Sunrise Hydraulic Mining Co., H.L. Griffith, Mngr. Pine Creek, Atlin Lake Dist., Northern B.C. Opposite Sturndyke Hydraulic co. Lt., W.M. Brook, Mngr. Filed in British Columbia--Atlin Atlin was definitely not a Shangri la in the beginning. Muddy roads, flapping tents, drafty cabins, and complaining sled dogs marked where the first few hundred arrivals dumped their duffel. For the most part, these men were deserters of the Klondike trails, who headed for the Atlin valley when they heard about the big strike on Pine Creek. By freeze up, every creek in the region was staked from source to mouth, including some that would never produce a flake of gold. While many men left Atlin for the winter, others stayed to establish businesses or get ready to mine as soon as the streams thawed. They all raced for the stampede they knew was imminent. Ten thousand fortune hunters poured into Atlin in 1899. From the great glamour and confusion, Atlin city emerged on orderly streets, with hotels, stores, offices, specialty shops, and saloons. Eight kilometers (5 miles) to the east was Discovery City located on Pine Creek. Discovery bloomed and died as remote mining camps tend to do, but Atlin had become the hub of local and government business, and it was the "seaport". Churches were established and clubs founded, as citizens strove to make it a permanent town. [Source: Atlin History web site, http://www.atlin.net/history.htm]
|
|---|