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Cons And Economic Impacts Of The Klondike Gold Rush

Decent Essays

NARRATOR:
November 1898, and the Gold Rush in the Yukon was in full swing. On the banks of the Klondike river, thousands of prospectors stood and knelt, panning for the ever so elusive dust that seemed to have some sort of mind control, using shine and luster to call people to it in a mad paroxysm . Here, a tiny force of mounties attempted to keep the peace in Dawson City. In the South, the Long Depression was in full effect, and the gold rush offered an opportunity to transcend its economic effects. Almost overnight, the city had gained 30-40 000 residents, and with all the lights from tents and campfires, the city earned the name of the City of Lights.
Sam Steele, arguably the most famous mountie ever, monitors the banks of the Klondike river during the epic Klondike Gold Rush.
SAM:
(inquisitive)
I expect you …show more content…

(center stage)
SAM:
(Interest)
Any luck yet?
PROSPECTOR X
(As if dumbing it down)
Nae. I’ve been here for over a year, so I’m a sourdough, but still nothing. Even these Cheechako, who haven’t survived a winter here are just as unlucky as I am.
HEALY:
(suggesting)
Maybe it’s the land?
PROSPECTOR X:
(thinking out loud)
Nope, everyone else around here have all been having the same problems. No fairy dust in these pans.
(everyone walks off stage left, as if chatting)
Tableau and stage lights dim until focused on NARRATOR.
NARRATOR:
Prospector X and his companions weren’t the only ones with that problem. Out of the 100 000 who decided to make the journey to the Klondike, only 30000 made it to Dawson City, and out of those 30000, only 4000 found even so much as a speck of gold dust, or fairy dust as the prospectors called it, in their pans.
Stage lights return to normal
(PROSPECTOR Y, X and Healy walk back on stage)
HEALY:
(confused)
That’s bad luck right there. Why does everyone do this?
PROSPECTOR Y
(shy and quietly)
Well…
PROSPECTOR X
(Apprehensive at first, and greedy

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