Alex McDonald

Who was Alex McDonald?

Alexander "Big Alex" McDonald was a Canadian gold prospector who made a fortune in the Klondike Gold Rush, earning himself the title "King of the Klondike".

The son of Scottish immigrants, McDonald was born in Antigonish, Nova Scotia. He was an unsuccessful prospector, having tried his luck in the Colorado gold fields, before heading to the gold rush in Juneau, Alaska, in the late 1880s. In 1895 or 1896, he was in the Yukon, employed by the Alaska Commercial Company at Forty-Mile to buy mining properties. Gold was discovered in the region in 1897.

He was nicknamed the "Big Moose from Antigonish", "Big Alex" and "Big Mac". He was described by a contemporary as:

... a large brawny, swarthy man, canny and close of mouth, with a curious habit of slowly rubbing his chin whenever a new proposition is presented to him. He makes it a rule to first say "No" to every proposal, however alluring, thus gaining time to think it over.

One of the early arrivals in the Klondike, he purchased either half or all of Claim 30 on Eldorado Creek from a Russian named Zarnosky or Zarnowsky for a sack of flour and a side of bacon.