The rush for gold did not occur until the fall of 1897 when it became sudden and overwhelming. At the beginning of 1896, only several thousand non-Indian miners, traders and missionaries resided in the Yukon. Two years later, the territory was overrun with tens of thousands of newcomers who quickly wrought serious and far ranging changes to the land. The federal government, concerned primarily with maximizing resources extraction, did little to ensure environmental protection.
Sadly, and for the most part, Alaska and the Klondike were places to exploit, reap the harvest and ignore the consequences, so few bothered to make observations about the environmental impact. Gold seekers flooded into Alaska and the Yukon bringing with them a "get rich quick" attitude, with no concern for the environment. Existing laws offered little environmental protection. Miners risked their lives to reach the golden promise, and "anything that stood in the way was pushed aside or destroyed. Newcomers were far too occupied with the race for gold to entertain any thoughts that they may be having a negative impact on the landscape.
In Canada, the Minister of Indian Affairs took the view that the Yukon gold rush would be a short lived event. He argued that the Yukon Territory was "not the same as any other gold mining country in the world and the difference consists in the fact that it is good for nothing except mining which in all probability will be temporary. The miners were not going to reinvest their profits in developing the country. There would be no long term benefit for Canada unless some of the profits were skimmed off at once."
