In 1898 gold was found at Nome, and by the spring of 1899 the Nome gold rush had begun. The new strike diverted miners away from the Yukon gold fields. Steamboat traffic on the river slumped. The miners already in the Klondike had gold to spend, however. Portus B. Weare transported $1 million of gold earned by the trading posts of the North American Transportation and Trading Company down the Yukon in the spring of 1899.
