Kildonan was well known in the 1860s due to the Great Sutherland Gold Rush attracting some 600 prospectors to the area , there were little settlements established along the burn. After little more than a year they were all but gone, due to regulations being brought in, including mining licences and then, with less gold being found, it became a less attractive oppurtunity.
Though you can still, today, apply for permission (following strict rules) to gold pan along the Kildonan Burn from the owners, Suisgill Estate.
Kildonan had been a crofting communitee, until in 1813 -19 the Highland Clearances forced them to move, either to other areas of Sutherland, or some took boats to Manitoba , Canada.
The main clan in Kildonan was the Clan Gunn, also the Mathesons, Mackays, Macbeths and Sutherlands.