Discovery Claim is amining claim atBonanza Creek, awatercourse in theYukon, Canada. It is the site where, in the afternoon of August 16, 1896, the first piece of gold was found in the Yukon byprospectors. The site is considered to be the place where theKlondike Gold Rush started. It is located around 17 kilometres (11 miles) south-southeast ofDawson City. The Discovery claim was designated aNational Historic Site of Canada on July 13, 1998.

On August 16, 1896George Carmack, an American prospector, hisTagish wifeKate (birthname Shaaw Tláa), her brotherSkookum Jim (birthname Keish), and their nephewDawson Charlie (K̲áa Goox̱), while travelling through the area, stopped to rest on the banks of one of theKlondike River's tributaries called Bonanza Creek, then called Rabbit Creek.^[1] They were there on the suggestion of another prospectorRobert Henderson.^[2] One of them noticed a shiny object in the water. It was gold and Carmack took credit for finding it. It is uncertain whether it was George Carmack, Kate Carmack or Skookum Jim who made the discovery, but the group decided that George Carmack be named as the official discoverer out of concern that mining authorities would be reluctant to recognize a claim made by an Indigenous claimant.^{[3][4][n 1]}

On August 17, 1896, they staked out four claims, the first at Bonanza Creek. Two were for George Carmack. At that time, being the first to discover gold in an area entitled him to stake another, second claim. The other two claims were staked on behalf of Skookum Jim and Dawson Charlie.^[6]

• 
  George Carmack, who claimed the discovery
• 
  Kate Carmack, his wife, wearing her famous gold nugget necklace, 1898
• 
  Skookum Jim, one of the discoverers, 1898
• 
  Dawson Charlie

The following month on September 24 they registered the claims. This took place at the police post inForty Mile 80 kilometres (50 miles) away at the mouth of the Forty Mile River.^{[7][8][9][10]}

The initial claim is described legally as Claim 37903, a 152.4 metre (500 ft.) by 609.6 metre (2,000 ft.) area.^[11]

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63°55′00″N139°19′01″W / 63.9168°N 139.317°W /63.9168; -139.317

• Klondike Gold Rush
• National Historic Sites in Yukon
• Gold mining in Yukon
• 1890s in Yukon

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