Canada
On August 17, 1896, gold was found in the Klondike.
Soon, the number of miners arriving in the area increased to thousands.
Although few of them made lasting fortunes, and the gold rush established
no permanent industry in the Yukon, it did give a boost to the economies
of both Alberta and British Columbia, and it brought world attention to
Canada.
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Click for larger version, 93 KB
Photograph of Miners at Albion Tunnel near Ainsworth, British Columbia
It was also in 1896 that the Canadian government began to work very
hard to attract more immigrants to Canada. In the next fifteen years,
over two million immigrants would arrive from Britain, Germany, Scandinavia,
the Balkans, Ukraine, Russia and the United States. Many of them would
settle in the Prairie provinces, and through hard work and energy would
make this vast, fertile region grow and prosper. The development of the
Prairies was accompanied by a surge of growth and prosperity throughout
the whole country.
There were some problems with the boundaries which had been established
for the districts of Franklin, Keewatin,
Mackenzie, Ungava and Yukon in 1895. These were solved and the boundaries
changed in 1897.
Districts
There were several difficulties with the boundaries established in 1895.
An Order in Council in 1897 confirmed the boundaries of the Districts
of Assiniboia, Saskatchewan, and Athabaska, and made a few changes to
the boundaries of Ungava, Keewatin, Mackenzie, Yukon and Franklin.
The first of these changes dealt with the Arctic Islands. The definition
of the districts of Mackenzie, Yukon and Franklin included all islands
within three miles of the coast, but no islands more than three miles
from the coast. This definition was changed in 1897 to say that the districts
of Yukon and Mackenzie included all islands 20 miles from the coast, while
the District of Franklin included all the islands not included in any
other district. This change ensured that all the islands between the 141th
meridian of longitude west and the Davis Strait were included in one of
the districts.
A second change dealt with Hudson Bay. It had not been included in any
district. So, the boundaries of Ungava, Keewatin and Franklin were changed
to include the whole of Hudson Bay and Hudson Strait.
The boundaries of the Yukon District were different from those of the
districts to the south, since in this case they followed topographical
features instead of lines of latitude and longitude. This difference was
due to the fact that this district had been created to bring law and order
to the area during the Gold Rush. Since the gold was alluvial, it was
decided that the district had to include the Yukon River, its tributaries
and associated waterways, in other words, all the territory that could
include possible gold mining areas. In 1897, all the western tributaries
of the Peel River were removed from the Yukon District and given to the
district of Mackenzie to ensure that the eastern boundary of the Yukon
District followed a major watershed.
The animation Territorial
Evolution 1867 to 1999 shows sequentially the history of the
political boundary changes in Canada from Confederation to the creation
of Nunavut.
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