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Gold Rush! and Mining the Miners

By: Graham Iddon


August 30, 2016


Gold Rush! Involves not just one but a number of gold rushes in BC and internationally (but not the Klondike).



Mining the Miners deals with a small facet of only one gold rush, the Klondike. But it’s a pretty interesting facet!


When we sat down to discuss the subject of our next exhibition to be hosted by the Canadian Museum of History (CMH), there were two topics tabled: money in the Red River Settlement of Manitoba and the Klondike gold rush. As the CMH would be hosting Gold Rush! El Dorado in British Columbia (a Royal BC Museum exhibition) this summer, it was a short discussion. Mining the Miners is our third temporary exhibition at the CMH (we reopen in 2017) and it is indeed about the Klondike gold rush. It’s always nice to be able to dovetail our exhibits with those of our host.


The real thing. A near-pure gold ingot from the Royal Canadian Mint. At a rough estimate: 30 cm long and 20 kilograms.



All the basic tools for a 19th century gold miner: spade, picks, pan and a rocker box to separate gold from gravel and sand.


Gold Rush! has the practical aspects of frontier prospecting and mining covered, providing background material for the stuff that really tickles our fancy: banking and the economy! The Dawson economy? That sounds like a real snore, but it’s actually an extraordinary story full of the same sort of crazy anecdotes and outrageous statistics that sprout like mushrooms out of any gold rush. We called our new exhibition Mining the Miners. But let’s get back to Gold Rush!

Interpreting the harsh experiences and primitive technologies of the gold rush prospectors would be enough for any big exhibition. Fortunately, the Royal BC Museum also chose to look at the collateral effects of a gold rush—for better and for worse. At the core of this exhibition is the powerful notion that the various BC gold rushes were as responsible for shaping the Canadian West as the railway was, perhaps more. Also central to the exhibition is the ancient and powerful effect that gold has on the human mind, an effect that builds economies and nations while devastating cultures and landscapes. There isn’t a lot of happy history associated with gold—it tends not to bring out the best in people­—but it’s fascinating history.


Stage coach used on the Cariboo Road through the Fraser River Valley.



Surveying equipment (c.1855) used by British Royal Engineers to help build the Cariboo Road from Yale to Barkerville, BC.


As the prospectors stampeded for the gold fields, close on their heels was a whole host of frontier opportunists. Roads needed to be surveyed, transport provided, supplies delivered, infrastructure built, political frameworks put in place and eventually, every aspect of a functioning community conjured up out of the woods and creeks—at least temporarily. Vice, virtue and taxes all quickly appeared in unequal measures.

In the gold pans in front of the case are the buttons to open the building facades.

And this is where Mining the Miners picks up the story. We expanded our initial storyline from a tale of the frontier banks to the crazy economics of a remote boomtown; of trying to live and prosper in a place where the most modest of needs had to be hauled in over hundreds of kilometres of trails and lakes and down the Yukon River into a punishingly harsh environment. It was an economy driven by greed and opportunism where the middleman triumphed and the vast majority of miners lost.


The Opera House on the right still stands today in Dawson and is now named the Grand Palace Theatre.



The Bank of British North America was later bought out by the Bank of Montreal.


For this exhibition, we wanted a fun visual catch and our exhibition designer had a great idea: build a diorama of Klondike building facades that open up to reveal our text panels. And we did. Four facades, all modeled after real Dawson buildings, were built to house our panels. Arranged as if on a street, the buildings open at the touch of a button. Detailed right down to the wood grain, signage and roof shingles, they are very compelling.


At the touch of a button, motors concealed beneath the “street” open the facades, revealing the text.


What fun the model makers must have had building details like the balcony and window frames for the Opera House.



Yes, the Dawson branch of this bank really was in a log building.


In the front of the display case is a selection of artifacts that are unique to the Klondike gold rush. Bank notes stamped with “Yukon” share the case with tokens for dance halls, saloons and cigar stores—currency from a place where small change didn’t exist and a broom could cost you an ounce of gold. And yes, we do have gold. Drop by for a look after (or before) seeing Gold Rush! El Dorado in British Columbia. You’ll find Mining the Miners on the lower level, next to the Canadian Stamp Collection.


Bank notes shipped to the Klondike gold rush were stamped with “Yukon” or “Dawson” to identify them.



Small change was scarce in the Klondike so businesses made their own.


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Content type(s): Blog posts

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The Museum Blog

May 5, 2022

Between tradition and technology

By: Graham Iddon


Collage, man at an easel, paintings of birds and a goose illustration with comments written on it.
What was proposed was a complete about-face from the philosophy behind recent security printing. If photocopiers could easily deal with the colours and designs of the current series, then the next series should be bold and simple.
Content type(s): Blog posts
April 21, 2022

Teaching the green economy

By: Adam Young


From windmills and solar panels to electric cars, signs of the green economy are all around us. Check out our resources for how to teach about the green economy.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Business and careers, Economy, Geography, Science, Social studies Grade level(s): Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
April 4, 2022

Talk to your kids about money

By: Heather Montgomery


Collage, ceramic pig on background of a bank book and a stamp folder with kids on it.
Introduce important financial skills to your children, and help them plan for their futures with free resources from the Bank of Canada Museum and others.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Financial literacy Grade level(s): Early childhood / Kindergarten, Grade 01, Grade 02, Grade 03, Grade 04, Grade 05, Grade 06, Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
March 3, 2022

Teaching inflation during the COVID-19 pandemic

By: Heather Montgomery


COVID-19 has had an unprecedented effect on the economy: closing businesses, driving down demand and interrupting supplies. With news stories and popular culture addressing inflation and supply chain issues, now is the perfect time to explain this key economic concept to your high school students.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy Grade level(s): Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
February 3, 2022

Queen of the bank notes

By: Graham Iddon


Few of us have ever met her, and it’s likely none of us are even remotely related to her. Yet, Canadians have carried her picture in their wallets for generations now. She’s Queen Elizabeth II and has been our monarch for over 70 years.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): History
December 22, 2021

New acquisitions–2021 edition

By: David Bergeron


The Bank of Canada Museum is responsible for the National Currency Collection, and part of its mandate is to foster and develop that collection. Despite the challenges of collecting during a pandemic, curators at the Bank of Canada Museum have acquired some unique artifacts—including some that document the pandemic itself.
Content type(s): Blog posts
December 2, 2021

The true value of money

By: Graham Iddon


Photo collage, old bank notes and coins, gold nuggets and a computer component.
What is money—when you really stop to think about it? To understand how money works, and what it ultimately represents, we need to strip it down to its very basic function.
Content type(s): Blog posts Subject(s): Economy Grade level(s): Grade 07 / Secondary 1, Grade 08 / Secondary 2, Grade 09 / Secondary 3, Grade 10 / Secondary 4, Grades 11 and 12 / Secondary 5 and CEGEP
November 16, 2021

The 1911 silver dollar

By: David Bergeron


In front of a set of coins in a case, two coins, one lead, one silver, each with identical wreaths of maple leaves.
The 1911 silver dollar has a history to match its prestige, and it now has a permanent home in the National Currency Collection of the Bank of Canada Museum.
Content type(s): Blog posts
October 21, 2021

Moving mountains

By: Graham Iddon


Collage, bank note details, green, face of middle-aged woman, mountains and large number 20.
The $20 bill of 1969 was the prototype of the Scenes of Canada note series. Yet, as more notes were designed, the theme—and the $20 note itself—would change.
Content type(s): Blog posts

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