The Prospectors' pick : the people of the Yellowknife gold boom 1936-1951.

AVAILABLE TO VIEW AT GIANT MINE OVERSIGHT BOARD OFFICE, YELLOWKNIFE

Immediately after WWII ended in 1949, Yellowknife, located 500 km south of the Arctic Circle in the Northwest Territories, was already the center of a gold boom with three new producing gold mines. It attracted prospectors, promoters, entrepreneurs, politicians, recently discharges servicemen, the mining and geological fraternities of the world, bankers, businessmen, bush pilots, preachers, teachers, nurses, natives, field and bush men, newly married couples, and rascals. Prospecting spread all over the NWT and although thousands of small gold discoveries were made, most proved to be negative. Yellowknife soon became an overcrowded, unsanitary place, but everyone had their play and went about their daily businesses. A new town site was soon developed, and it is now the capital of the NWT and the center of the Canadian diamond business. Life there during the gold boom was, to say the least, exciting.

Includes bibliographical references (p. 401-406) and index.