Gold Rush is known ’round the world, historian says If you were trying to build a case for the Klondike region to be declared a World Heritage Site, you could hardly find a more enthusiastic booster than historian Ken Coates. By Dan Davidson on March 12, 2014 at 3:41 pm

Photo by Dan Davidson SPREADING HIS KNOWLEDGE – Ken Coates, seen during his recent address in Dawson City, is Canada Research Chair in Regional Innovation at the Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, and director of the International Centre of Northern Governance and Development at the University of Saskatchewan. In 2013, Coates was named as the Macdonald-Laurier Instituteʼs Senior Fellow in Aboriginal and Northern Canadian Issues.

DAWSON CITY – If you were trying to Preston on the Mounted is there in “The real transcendent importance, the build a case for the Klondike region to Disneyland, right in the middle of it.” powerful story about the Klondike,” he be declared a World Heritage Site, you In his world travels, Coates has run began, “is not just about what could hardly find a more enthusiastic into a number of gold mining centres happened here, but what it tells us booster than historian Ken Coates. where the promotional banners have about the broader world. The educator, who was raised in read, “(This country’s) Klondike”, and “What is happening in Dawson City is Whitehorse, made that very clear that says a lot. actually a marvelous way of telling the during his talk at Myth and Medium “In the United States, they still think of story of humanity, not just the people 2014 conference in late February. the word ‘Klondike’ as an ice cream who came here, but of the broader While his lecture had the rather long- bar, but in the rest of the world, where forces that shape big parts of the winded, academic-sounding title they’re literate – oh, I shouldn’t say human condition.” Precious Lands: Territory, Resources that. In these places, the word Aboriginal occupation is the first event, and Values in the Klondike River ‘Klondike’ didn’t need an explanation. a story of human adaptation to the Valley, there was nothing stuffy about (In New Zealand and South Africa) environment. The values are reflected the presentation itself. they didn’t have to add ‘famous place in the way this adaptation took place, Coates first visited Dawson in 1965, where they found gold and dug it out of how people managed to thrive in a and has been fascinated with its the ground.’ place most would find inhospitable. history and that of the Yukon ever “All they had to say was the word The threads speak to the fact that this since. ‘Klondike.’” same type of process has taken place The Klondike, he told his audience, is His brother, who is a historian living in in different settings all over the world. unique for two reasons. the United Kingdom, found dozens of European exploration started here well First, one must acknowledge the long places named Klondike and Bonanza before the Gold Rush, a process that history of the native people who have there when he did a search just for fun. was frightening for both the explorers lived here for thousands of years. Coates said he made the mistake of and those being explored. Secondly, however, one must downloading the recent Discovery Out of this drive to both expand and recognize the impact of the Gold Rush. Channel mini-series Klondike, only to satisfy curiosity came a key “We can’t get away from that,” Coates discover that the peaceful history of development, which was the said. the Yukon had been transmogrified establishment of the boundary “We can pretend the Gold Rush isn’t a into the American frontier myth before between British North America and dominant theme, but it really is. The his eyes and had become Deadwood Russian North America. This would Gold Rush is really probably the only North. eventually lead to the boundaries we event in Canadian history that’s known In the serious portion of his talk, know today. around the world. Coates outlined a number of key The Europeans brought to North “Interestingly, the only place where it’s points about the Tr’ondëk/Klondike America the value of human not really known as a Canadian event experience, breaking each one into domination over the land. It’s not a is in the United States, because they three parts: the event itself, the values value unique to their culture, he said. claim it as theirs, which is why Sgt. it displayed, and the threads that spin You find it in Japan, China and other out from it. cultural milieus, but it was fairly new here, where the ethos had been to Again, this process was going on all culture that is producing the sort of work with what the land provided. over the world at that time. events at which Coates had come to Europeans had technology that could The stampede led to cultural speak. overcome most obstacles and they encounters between aboriginal people Concluding his talk, Coates put forth a tended to do just that. and newcomers. sort of manifesto. The search for gold did not begin in “In very few places on the planet does “I think we need to use the history of the Klondike. It is a global story, it happen as fast and on such a large this area as a means of teaching about Coates said, one that continues right scale,” Coates said. “A couple of reconciliation, and teaching about down to the present day. hundred local First Nations people and partnership. It is a trail we can follow down through several tens of thousands of outsiders “This is a precious land, as aboriginal history, a human phenomenon, and a pouring in and imposing themselves people, clearly your land. As very North American one. It’s the on the people in this area very very newcomers, you’re hopefully welcome pursuit of wealth, of fame, of quickly.” as neighbours and friends into this opportunity. The new arrivals, as they did in places territory. You know it but not enough The Klondike Rush occurred at a time around the world, assumed they were people do. when it seemed like the last frontier the superior people with the absolute “Only a single story has really leaked had already been closed off, and at a right to displace those who were here out from the Klondike. Only a single time of a great North American already and marginalize them in their story has leaked out from the Yukon economic depression. It captured the own land. and that is about the Klondike Gold imagination of the world. Following the Rush there is the Rush. We have allowed outsiders to “This was a truly global phenomenon, inevitable decline of the boomtown, tell the story, I think, too long. and this thread is what gives the though Coates noted that “Dawson “You are telling the story differently Klondike its greatest mystique,” he City is one of the most resilient places” with your lives. You tell the story said. in this regard. differently with the cultural centre. You The imposition of Canadian law is There follows the development of the tell the story differently with the kind of another process, and one that plays a Klondike legend, magnified, wonderful celebration you are having major role in the history of this region. popularized and distorted by the tales this week, in this particular event of “The fact that the Northwest Mounted of Jack London, the verses of Robert Myth and Medium. And you find new Police were already here when gold Service and even the narrative history ways of telling stories to different was discovered was very very of Pierre Berton, not to mention the people in different audiences. important,” Coates said, wondering reimagining that has taken place in the “It is magnificent that you are telling how the degree of American influence movies, on radio and on television. these stories to each other as might have increased without them. In more recent times, there has been aboriginal and non-aboriginal people. “The value here is one of sovereignty, the development of a tourism industry, Please do it and please find a way to of national governments demonstrating somewhat based on reality and share these stories with the rest of the their ownership and control over somewhat on the mythology. world.” territory.” And even more recently there has been the revival of First Nations