Tracing Your Gold Rush Ancestors: A Research Guide

How to find records of stampeders, miners, and settlers in Yukon archives and databases

Thousands of people who went to the Klondike during the gold rush never came back — and thousands more came back changed. If you have a family connection to the rush, the good news is that the Yukon produced an unusual quantity of documentation: mining claim records, NWMP files, census records, hotel registers, and newspaper archives that together make the Klondike one of the better-documented historical migrations in North American history. This guide walks you through finding them.

Contents

1. Why Klondike Records Are Unusually Complete',
2. Key Archives and Collections',
3. Mining Claim Records',
4. NWMP and RCMP Records',
5. Newspaper Archives',
6. Online Genealogy Databases',
7. Visiting Archives in Person',
8. Researching Indigenous Ancestry',