1886

Gold strike at Forty-Mile Creek, Alaska.

June 1889

Seattle Fire.

1892

North American Trade & Transportation Company (NAT&T) founded in Chicago, to set up trading posts along Yukon River.

1893

Completion of Great Northern Railway from St. Paul to Seattle.

1893

Financial panic and depression hits American economy.

1895

NAT&T store established at Circle City, Alaska.

March-April 1896

Considerable numbers of miners leave Seattle for Circle City, Alaska, other goldfields at Forty Mile, Sixty Mile, and Cook Inlet.

1896

Population of Circle City reaches 5,000.

August 1896

Gold discovery on Bonanza Creek, tributary of Klondike River, Yukon Territory.

Fall 1896

News of Klondike strike reaches Circle City, miners depart for Dawson. Building begins at the new site of Dawson City, Yukon Territory.

Winter 1896-1897

Miners work Klondike mines, take out millions in gold.

April 1897

Population of Dawson City reaches about 1,500.

Summer 1897

Population of Dawson City reached 3,500.

July 1897

Miners return to Seattle and San Francisco with news of Klondike gold and gold itself.

July-August 1897

Miners leave Seattle and other cities for the Klondike. By September 1st, 9,000 left the port of Seattle.

February-April 1898

Thousands leave Seattle and other cities for the Klondike.

April 3, 1898

Snowslide at Chilkoot Pass, killing over sixty men and women.

Summer 1898

Between 20,000 and 30,000 potential miners reach Dawson

July 1898

Gold strike at Anvil Creek, Alaska, Nome Mining District.

1898

Seattle begins regrade of downtown to expand commercial district.

April 1899

Town site of Nome staked and established.

Summer 1899

Discovery of gold on Nome beaches. Two thousand arrive to mine.

October 1899

Steamer arrives in Seattle with Nome miners and gold aboard.

January-April 1900

One to two thousand miners travel from Yukon to Nome.

April-May 1900

Ships sail from Seattle for Nome gold beaches, with up to 20,000 on board.

Summer 1900

Thousands descend on Nome beaches to dig for gold in the sand.

1901

Annual volume of business in Seattle tops $50 million.

1902-1903

Gold discoveries in Tanana Valley, Alaska, and founding of Fairbanks.

1903

Founding of Alaska Club, a Seattle organization for Alaskan businessmen.

1904

Construction of the 15 story Alaska Building, the first steel frame skyscraper in Seattle. Financed by Jafet Lindeberg, who struck gold in Nome in 1898, along with other stockholders of the Scandinavian-American bank. Includes space for Alaska Club offices.

1906

Schwabacher Company constructs new 8-story building at First and Jackson in Seattle.

1908

Alaska Club and Arctic Club merge in Seattle, bringing together Seattle and Alaska businessmen.

1909

Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition is held in Seattle.

1909

Statue of William Seward placed in Seattle's Volunteer Park.

1914

Seattle's ocean-borne commerce reaches new high of $154,599,947.

1915-1916

Alaska exports nearly $50,000,000 in gold, silver, copper, other minerals, and salmon, to the U.S.

1916

Construction of Arctic Building on Third Avenue in Seattle.