Carmack turned to the crowd. Raising his hand and his voice, he called for quiet. His widely spaced blue eyes revealed his excitement but his voice was calm. "Boys, I've got some good news. There's been a big strike up river." George Carmack's announcement in August 1896 started a gold stampede, one that led more than half a million people to the Klondike. Here is the inside story of Carmack's lifelong dream to find gold - a fever that remained with him until well after he left his Discover claim to continue to search in Washington and California.