When was the nome gold rush

Thousands flocked to Anvil Creek in the following year from steamships from all over America. There were even wealth seekers who hailed from as far away as Adelaide, Australia. Prospectors who reached Anvil Creek the earliest could quickly stake their claim all the way to the nearby Snake River.

Those that arrived too late had no choice but to stake their claims further away along at the beaches of Nome. Gold was found for miles and miles along the beach, but the richness of those sands varied greatly. The main advantage was the beach could not be staked, which means it was a free for all gold buffet for all the prospectors.

Secondly, it was easy for anyone to find gold as only simple tools like shovels and buckets were needed to sieve out the gold from the sand. Thirdly, the beach was situated right along the coast, which meant that ships could easily access Nome, and thousands of pounds of gold can be hauled off easily. At its peak, there were over saloons, stores, restaurants, and hotels all sprung up almost overnight in rapidly constructed wooden houses.

By , Nome had become a city with schools, churches, a hospital and post office. One of the most famous gunfighters of the period Wyatt Earp also made Nome his home in He made a sizeable fortune by opening a fancy saloon in Nome, collecting gold nuggets from gambling and selling booze to the miners. The makeshift 'consent' government of the city of Nome could not provide adequate sanitation or other essential services, and the U.

Army assumed control of the town. The ease with which a 'Nomer' could get to the new El Dorado lured many ill-equipped people to Nome, who were soon absolutely destitute. Hundreds of men had to be rescued by the U. Army in the fall of , and the population of Nome disappeared as rapidly in September , as it had appeared three months before. Department of Natural Resources. Michael dissuaded them with the help of fixed bayonets. But that was only one lucky stroke for the "Lucky Swedes.

It was hard to believe what was found. Within days, gold was discovered for 40 miles along the water line in either direction from Nome, and this time, the rush was on. The coast was icebound for the season, but gold seekers began descending on the tent town in the spring of During that summer alone, more than two million dollars' worth of gold was taken from the beaches of the booming city of Nome.

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