The Alaska Gold Rush

Reconstructs the personalities, events, trading settlements and major strikes which produced the Alaska gold-mining boom.

In 1896, a small group of prospectors discovered a stunningly rich pocket of gold at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers, and in the following two years thousands of individuals traveled to the area, hoping to find wealth in a rugged and challenging setting. Ever since that time, the Klondike Gold Rush - especially as portrayed in photographs of long lines of gold seekers marching up Chilkoot Pass - has had a hold on the popular imagination. In this first environmental history of the gold rush, Kathryn Morse describes how the miners got to the Klondike, the mining technologies they employed, and the complex networks by which they obtained food, clothing, and tools. She looks at the political and economic debates surrounding the valuation of gold and the emerging industrial economy that exploited its extraction in Alaska, and explores the ways in which a web of connections among America�s transportation, supply, and marketing industries linked miners to other industrial and agricultural laborers across the country. The profound economic and cultural transformations that supported the Alaska-Yukon gold rush ultimately reverberate to modern times. The story Morse tells is often narrated through the diaries and letters of the miners themselves. The daunting challenges of traveling, working, and surviving in the raw wilderness are illustrated not only by the miners� compelling accounts but by newspaper reports and advertisements. Seattle played a key role as �gateway to the Klondike.� A public relations campaign lured potential miners to the West and local businesses seized the opportunity to make large profits while thousands of gold seekers streamed through Seattle. The drama of the miners� journeys north, their trials along the gold creeks, and their encounters with an extreme climate will appeal not only to scholars of the western environment and of late-19th-century industrialism, but to readers interested in reliving the vivid adventure of the West�s last great gold rush.

Morgan offers an authentic and deliciously humorous account of the prostitutes and other "disreputable" women who were the earliest female pioneers of the Far North.

-A middle grade biography of Jack London that sheds light on how he drew upon adventure and life experience to create works of literature---

Gold fever!When the steamships Excelsior and Portland docked in San Francisco and Seattle in the spring of 1897 bringing news that gold had been discovered in the Canadian Yukon, gold fever hit. Soon thousands of stampeders from as far away as Europe were making their way to the Klondike, sure that they were going to strike it rich. Very few had even the slightest idea of just how inhospitable the Klondike was, how dangerous the journey would be, and how slim their chances were of making enough money there just to turn around and get home. With striking and often poignant archival photographs and an engaging text, Charlotte Jones explains the events leading up to the Yukon gold rush and the amazing events that followed the discovery of gold and changed Alaska forever. Maps, bibliography, and index are included.

The rivers of Alaska are flowing with gold! Ethan Michelson and his family seek their fortune in the snowy north.

“A thrilling narrative of personal experiences and adventures in the wonderful gold regions of Alaska and the Klondike, with observations of travel and exploration along the Yukon. Portraying the dangers, hardships, and privations of a gold-seeker's life; with a faithful description of life and scenes in gold mines and camps. Including full and authentic information of the countries described, their underground treasures, how to find them, etc.” This classic first-hand account contains the following chapters: I. My Boyhood and Early Life—What Led Me to Adopt the Life of a Gold-seeker—Why My Eyes Were Turned Towards Alaska II. Ho For Alaska!—Extent of Our Great Territory— Getting Ready For the Start—Our Outfit and What It Consisted Of III. Choosing a Route—Our Voyage Along the Coast-arrival at Dyea—First Experience With Natives IV. Life on the Trail—Strange Sights and Scenes—Storm Bound in Sheep Camp—a Woman’s Adventures and Experiences V. The Dreaded Chilkoot Pass—How We Crossed It—Sliding Down the Mountains at Lightning Speed—“There Comes a Woman” VI. Camp Life in Alaska—We Build a Boat to Continue Our Journey— Adventures With Bears VII. A Dangerous Voyage—Overturning of Our Boat—Loss of an $800 Outfit—We Escape With Our Lives—Hunting For a Camp Thief VIII. Some Thrilling Experiences—Discovery of the Thief—His Summary Punishment—Pictures by the Way IX. Life on a Yukon Post—Our First Glimpse of the Klondike—How Miners Administer Justice in Alaska—The Plague of Mosquitoes X. Arrival at Circle City—Dance Halls and Other Places of Amusement—The Yukon Sled—Alaskan Dogs and their Peculiarities XI. Guarding Against Evil-Doers—Life in a Gold-Seeker’s Cabin—How It Is Built and Furnished XII. Work and Wages in Alaska—Agricultural Possibilities in the Icy North—Cost of Living XIII. We Reach the Gold Diggings—Locating a Claim—How Gold Is Mined—The Miner’s Pan, Rocker, and Sluice Boxes XIV. My Voyage Down the Mighty Yukon—Incidents and Experiences During the Trip—In the Shadow of the Arctic Circle XV. Still Journeying Along the Dreary River—Sights and Scenes on the Way—Habits and Peculiarities of the Indians XVI. Arrival at Forty Mile—Wonderful Stories of New Diggings—Ho! For the Klondike!—Mad Rush of Excited Gold-Seekers XVII. My First Tramp in the Klondike Gold Fields—What a Place For Gold!—A Peep into the Sluice Boxes—I Stake a Claim XVIII. the Discovery of Eldorado—The Founding of Dawson—Confusion and Queer Complications Over Claims—“Three inch White” XIX. Richness of the Klondike Gold Fields—The Great Winter Exodus From Circle City—First Results From Testing Pans—Miners Wild With Excitement XX. Winter in the Klondike—Camp Life and Work—A Miner’s Domestic Duties—Christmas in a Gold-Seeker’s Camp XXI. Alaskan Weather—On the Verge of Starvation—How We Pulled Through—Dangers of Winter Traveling—Painful Experiences XXII. Preparing For Sluicing—The Spring “Clean-Up”— Astonishing Results When Dirt Was Washed Out—Some Lucky Strikes—The Romance of Fortune XXIII. Stories of Great Hardships and Scanty Rewards—A Romance of the Klondike—Claim Jumpers—An Old Slave’s Lucky Strike XXIV. Incidents of the Trail—Death and Burial of a Baby—A Woman’s Thrilling Experiences XXV. The Opportunities For Money-Making in Alaska—The Costly Experience of Two Tenderfeet—Appalling Price of a Supper—A Horse Missing With $49,000 in Gold XXVI. Dawson and ItsIniquities—Gambling Places, Their Devices and Their Ways—Night Scenes in the Dance Halls—Real Life in New Mining Camps XXVII. A Refuge For Criminals—The Mines More Profitable Than Sporting Devices—Pursuing a Fugitive—A Chase of 25,000 Miles For an Escaped Murderer XXVIII. Women in the Klondike—Some Romantic Stories—Experience of a Woman on the Trail—How Women Have Made Fortunes ... and 12 more chapters.

Winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction The remarkable tale of two young men during the Klondike Gold Rush, told through first-hand diaries, letters, and more—“excellent reading” for middle grade fans of The Call of the Wild and adventure stories (School Library Journal) As thousands head north in search of gold, Marshall Bond and Stanley Pearce join them, booking passage on a steamship bound for the Klondike goldfields. The journey is life threatening, but the two friends make it to Dawson City, in Canada, build a cabin, and meet Jack London—all the while searching for the ultimate reward: gold! A riveting, true, action-packed adventure, with their telegrams, diaries, and letters, as well as newspaper articles and photographs. An author’s note, timeline, bibliography, and further resources encourage readers to dig deeper into the Gold Rush era.

New York Times bestselling author Howard Blum expertly weaves together three narratives to tell the true story of the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush. It is the last decade of the 19th century. The Wild West has been tamed and its fierce, independent and often violent larger-than-life figures--gun-toting wanderers, trappers, prospectors, Indian fighters, cowboys, and lawmen--are now victims of their own success. But then gold is discovered in Alaska and the adjacent Canadian Klondike and a new frontier suddenly looms: an immense unexplored territory filled with frozen waterways, dark spruce forests, and towering mountains capped by glistening layers of snow and ice. In a true-life tale that rivets from the first page, we meet Charlie Siringo, a top-hand sharp-shooting cowboy who becomes one of the Pinkerton Detective Agency’s shrewdest; George Carmack, a California-born American Marine who’s adopted by an Indian tribe, raises a family with a Taglish squaw, and makes the discovery that starts off the Yukon Gold Rush; and Jefferson "Soapy" Smith, a sly and inventive conman who rules a vast criminal empire. As we follow this trio’s lives, we’re led inexorably into a perplexing mystery: a fortune in gold bars has somehow been stolen from the fortress-like Treadwell Mine in Juneau, Alaska. Charlie Siringo discovers that to run the thieves to ground, he must embark on a rugged cross-territory odyssey that will lead him across frigid waters and through a frozen wilderness to face down "Soapy" Smith and his gang of 300 cutthroats. Hanging in the balance: George Carmack’s fortune in gold. At once a compelling true-life mystery and an unforgettable portrait of a time in America’s history, The Floor of Heaven is also an exhilarating tribute to the courage and undaunted spirit of the men and women who helped shape America.

In this lively narrative with its numerous illustrations and photographs, Steven C. Levi captures the color and the riches of the Alaska Gold Rush and tells the stories of the larger-than-life characters who lived the adventure. The Alaska Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century was the last great fit of gold fever in North America. Men and women—including African Americans, Portuguese, Japanese, Italians, and Chinese—all rushed north. Many of these adventurers died in the harsh Arctic winters or drowned in the leaky, rotting ships that ferried them to the gold fields. The Gold Rush created the geography of modern Alaska and brought its rich natural resources and large Native population under the eye of the American government. This book, says Levi, is not intended to be an overview of the Alaska Gold Rush. Rather, it is meant to provide a myriad of glimpses into the lives of people and events of the age. This is a book of popular history. If you find it interesting, don't thank the writer; credit the 100,000 men and women who rushed north in search of the precious yellow metal a century ago. Far to the north of the 48 contiguous states, writes Steven C. Levi, is a land shrouded with the miasma of adventure. It is a land of glaciers the size of some states and fish the size of some cities. Its history is steeped in intrigue, scoundrels abound, and things that could never occur anywhere else on earth happened here. It has everything one has come to expect of an exotic port-and more. This land is Alaska. The Alaska Gold Rush at the end of the 19th century was the last great fit of gold fever in North America. It promised untold riches to anyone who could get there, and created a last-ditch, wild-west culture of greed and sin—a perfect haven for dreamers and scoundrels alike. Men and women—including African Americans, Portuguese, Japanese, Italians, and Chinese—all rushed north. Many of these adventurers died in the harsh Arctic winters or drowned in the leaky, rotting ships that ferried the dreamers to the gold fields. The Gold Rush created the geography of modern Alaska. Strikes in Nome (where the gold lay on the beach and anyone could reach down and pick it up), Juneau, Fairbanks, Valdez, and Kotzebue helped put Alaska on the map and brought its rich natural resources and large Native population under the eye of the American government. In this lively narrative with its numerous illustrations and photographs, Steven C. Levi captures the color and the riches of the Alaska Gold Rush and tells the stories of the larger-than-life characters who lived the adventure. E. T. Barnette, for example, founded his own city (Fairbanks), established his own bank (Washington Alaska), and then absconded with every dime in the vault. George Hinton Henry, the father of Alaska journalism, was run out of every town where he tried to establish a newspaper. This book, says Levi, is not intended to be an overview of the Alaska Gold Rush. Rather, it is meant to provide a myriad of glimpses into the lives of people and events of the age. This is a book of popular history. If you find it interesting, don't thank the writer; credit the 100,000 men and women who rushed north in search of the precious yellow metal a century ago.