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What Is The Klondike Gold Rush?

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Presently Alaska is the forefront of natural resources quintessential to the economy of the United States. In 1867, the United States purchased this land, rich in resources, from Russia for a substantial $7.2 million. The majority of the United States was against this decision because there was no information that the land had any significant value. However, in 1896 a large influx of Americans began to flock up into the Klondike. This would be known as the Klondike Gold Rush. Alaska was only a place on the map until the Klondike Gold Rush brought many people seeking fortune to settle in this expansive wilderness. Since then the government, corporations, and the public have seen Alaska as both the land of opportunity for natural resources and …show more content…

The dam is exactly as it seems the dam stores minerals unused by the mining company. The minerals are considered to contain copper and other toxic material. If the dam were to break the effects would be catastrophic. Since 1889, there has been a large majority of dam failures in the United States. The most devastating dam failures happen to be the Kelly Barnes Dam, Teton Dam, Baldwin Hills Reservoir, West Virginia slurry dam, and the Johnstown Dam. Each of the failures made a murderous imprint in every newspaper and story. Unfortunately, people lost their lives to each of these events. What’s to say that the Pebble Mine Dam wouldn’t do the same? The Pebble Mine Corporation states that they have engineered a dam that is able to withstand size 7.8 earthquakes. However, studies show that the area has had earthquakes up to 7.9. Although the Pebble mine states that the fault along Alaska has been dormant for ten thousand years, flooding from heavy rains is also a high possibility and should not be disregarded from the final decision. To ensure that the dam is safe well into the future supervision would have to be set on the dam …show more content…

Any negative impact on the salmon would spark a chain of events destructive to this ecosystem. The salmon’s prey would flourish without the schools of salmon and the predators of the salmon would see a decline in population due to a shortage of food. Seafood businesses would begin to see a loss in supply and demand would grow until the inflation costs of seafood would have a substantial negative impact on the economy. The most destructive output from the mine would be the copper minerals. If the dam were to rupture copper minerals would gradually find their way into streams and riverbeds. At large quantities, the copper minerals are toxic to living organisms. Even at small quantities the toxin would affect the smell of the salmon. Salmon are unable to find their way back to their spawning grounds without their sense of smell. Without their well-known spawning grounds, the salmon frantically lay their nests of eggs in unknown environments. These unknown environments can be dangerous to the salmon and Alaska could see a high percentage of unsuccessful eggs. Thus beginning the negative chain of

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