<P> The North - West Mounted Police set up control posts at the borders of the Yukon Territory or, where that was disputed, at easily controlled points such as the Chilkoot and White Passes . These units were armed with Maxim guns . Their tasks included enforcing the rules requiring that travellers bring a year's supply of food with them to be allowed into the Yukon Territory, checking for illegal weapons, preventing the entry of criminals and enforcing customs duties . </P> <P> This last task was particularly unpopular with American prospectors, who faced paying an average of 25 percent of the value of their goods and supplies . The Mounties had a reputation for running these posts honestly, although accusations were made that they took bribes . Prospectors, on the other hand, tried to smuggle prize items like silk and whiskey across the pass in tins and bales of hay: the former item for the ladies, the latter for the saloons . </P> <P> Of the estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people who reached Dawson City during the gold rush, only around 15,000 to 20,000 finally became prospectors . Of these, no more than 4,000 struck gold and only a few hundred became rich . By the time most of the stampeders arrived in 1898, the best creeks had all been claimed, either by the long - term miners in the region, or by the first arrivals of the year before . The Bonanza, Eldorado, Hunker and Dominion Creeks were all taken, with almost 10,000 claims recorded by the authorities by July 1898; a new prospector would have to look further afield to find a claim of his own . </P> <P> Geologically, the region was permeated with veins of gold, forced to the surface by volcanic action and then worn away by the action of rivers and streams, leaving nuggets and gold dust in deposits known as placer gold . Some ores lay along the creek beds in lines of soil, typically 15 feet (4.6 m) to 30 feet (9.1 m) beneath the surface . Others, formed by even older streams, lay along the hilltops; these deposits were called "bench gold". Finding the gold was challenging . Initially, miners had assumed that all the gold would be along the existing creeks, and it was not until late in 1897 that the hilltops began to be mined . Gold was also unevenly distributed in the areas where it was found, which made prediction of good mining sites even more uncertain . The only way to be certain that gold was present was to conduct exploratory digging . </P>

Where was gold found in the klondike gold rush