Ethan D.

What was the most interesting thing you learned about your topic?

In doing this project I have learned a lot about how willing people are to sacrifice their happiness and well being for monetary status. I think that especially in todays world we need to count our blessings and remember what we already have. Money is not the most important thing in the world and I think a lot of people are forgetting this. Money is not worth the hardship that these men and women went through.

What important lessons have you learned that you want to share with other Canadians?

In my research I learned that back in the gold rush days Dawson City had a population of about 30,000. Less than 30 years after the gold rush ended the population had decreased to around 8,000. Today Dawson City has a population of 1,375.

How would you compare your life today to the lives of those studied in your project?

My life isn't even comparable to the people who went into the Klondike. They had to climb steep mountains for days with nothing except what they brought on their backs. Even once they reached Dawson City most people ended up working in a mine where there were terrible working conditions. So terrible in fact that if there was a mine like that nowadays it would be closed due to everyone complaining about the harsh working conditions.