Story about the Gold Rush: Stampeders faced dozens of dangers along the trails into the Klondike. An avalanche in the spring of 1898 killed 63 people along the Chilkoot Pass trail. The previous September, heavy storms and a flood washed away much of the tent town set up at Sheep Camp, also on the Chilkoot Pass trail. Skeletons of a few of over three thousand pack animals that died along the White Pass trail in the first years of the rush. Skeletons of a few of over three thousand pack animals that died along the White Pass trail in the first years of the rush. Certainly those who had survived the trails, the river, the White Horse Rapids, and made it all the way to the gold fields must have believed that they were now safe. Stampeders who spent the winter of 1897/1898 camped along the trails heard rumors from outgoing travelers of harsh conditions in Dawson, including talk of starvation. In 1897, over 1,000 stampedes beat the bulk of the rush and reached Dawson before winter set in. Many of the new arrivals were inadequately prepared and had not brought enough supplies with them to last through the spring. By September 30, 1897, when the last steamship of the season had unloaded its cargo at Dawson, officials determined that unless some action was taken, there would not be food enough for everyone that winter.