The day the Klondike Gold Rush started – level 3

16-08-1896

In 1896, hundreds of people were looking for gold around the Klondike River in Canada. They believed they would find a lot of gold there, but they looked for some time without success. Everything changed on August 16 when four miners found a lot of gold. The news of their discovery soon spread and miners from the surrounding areas began to move to the location of the discovery.

The world learned about it almost a year later when the first rich people started to leave the Klondike area and arrived in San Francisco, California. A gold rush broke out among the population.

Soon, about 100,000 people mostly men left their jobs and their families. They headed north to the Klondike. They were driven by the vision of getting rich easily and experiencing an adventure. In reality, they met with cold, wild nature and hard work.

In the end, only a few hundred managed to get rich. The others returned empty-handed or never returned. Many of those who managed to get rich lost their fortunes and died in poverty.

Difficult words: miner (a person who digs gold), break out (to start), empty-handed (with nothing), fortune (a lot of money), poverty (a situation when people are very poor).

Do you believe the hardships and dangers faced by gold rush miners were worth the potential reward of getting rich?

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