Gold Fever! Klondike Gold Rush Unit Study

Create a fun, summer homeschool unit study by exploring an exciting time in America’s history. This type of unit study can really pull a lot of subjects together in a fun and interesting way. Practice English, math, geography, history, social and cultural studies, and more with your own Klondike Gold Rush unit study.

Klondike Gold Fever

One hundred and twenty-five years ago, on July 17, 1897, the steamship Portland arrived in Seattle, bringing 68 miners from Alaska and their “more than a ton of solid gold” mined along the Klondike River in Canada’s Yukon Territory. This marked the beginning of the last great gold rush, as thousands of prospectors raced to the goldfields in the north. Follow the route of a hopeful stampeder, read stories of the Klondike Gold Rush, and meet the “guardians of the gold rush” here on the National Park Service website.

If you have fond childhood memories of playing the classic computer game, “The Yukon Trail,” you’re not alone! This blogger found that games revolving around this fast-paced moment in history have been around far longer than any computer game. Check out  these map games of the Yukon Gold Rush created as far back as the 1800s.

This panning for gold craft is a fun visual to add to your unit study, and a great hands-on project for younger kids. Create a pop-up scene of a glimpse into a miner’s life with simple craft supplies and a bit of creativity.

Klondike Settlements

While the Klondike Gold Rush remains a highly romanticized–although short-lived–period in American history, it was far from the only such event. Check out these comparisons and contrasts between the California Gold Rush of the 1840s and 50s, and the Klondike Gold Rush half a century later.

Expand your study of historical adventures with a unit study of the Oregon Trail, and dig deeper into the expansion movements that drove settlers across the plains to the western coast.