Clinton C. Filson had already been running general stores in Washington state for several years, outfitting gold prospectors headed to the Monte Cristo mines, when the Klondike Gold Rush hit Seattle in 1897 and he moved his business downtown to meet it. His new shop, opened blocks from where the steamship Portland docked loaded with Klondike gold, ran its own mill to produce Mackinaw wool clothing and blankets alongside boots, moccasins and sleeping bags built for Alaska winters. Its best-known piece, the Cruiser jacket designed for timber workers and patented in 1914, is still made today with only minor changes from the original.