Miners and sluices on Bonanza Creek, ca. 1898

• Main Author: Hegg, Eric A., 1867-1948
• Format: Other/Unknown Material
• Language: unknown
• Subjects: Gold miners; Gold mining; Gold rushes; Sluices; Tents; Yukon; Hegg; Bonanza; Klondike River; Dawson
• Online Access: http://cdm16786.contentdm.oclc.org:80/cdm/ref/collection/imlsmohai/id/7296

Miners used water running through sluice boxes to wash the gold out of the pay dirt. Lumber for the sluice boxes was cut from the surrounding hills and finished in a nearby sawmill. As the hills were cleared, lumber became even more expensive. By the time this photo was taken, large mining companies had begun to replace small scale mining operations. This photo of sluice systems and pay dirt was taken by Eric Hegg at Bonanza Creek, near Dawson, Yukon Territory. The name of the claim, 7 below on Bonanza, means that this was the 7th claim below the original strike at Bonanza Creek. Written on photo: No. 7 below on Bonanza; Dawson Y.T. 1 photographic print mounted on cardboard : gelatin, b&w; 19 x 21 cm.