Gold at Fortymile Creek : early days in the Yukon / Michael Gates.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Gates, Michael.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Gold mines and mining--Yukon River Valley (Yukon and Alaska).

Gold mines and mining.

Gold mines and mining--Yukon.

Frontier and pioneer life--Yukon River Valley (Yukon and Alaska).

Frontier and pioneer life.

Frontier and pioneer life--Yukon.

Yukon River Valley (Yukon and Alaska)--Gold discoveries.

Yukon River Valley (Yukon and Alaska).

Yukon River Valley (Yukon and Alaska)--History.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (220 p.)

Other Title:

Early days in the Yukon

Place of Publication:

Vancouver : UBC Press, c1994.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Gold at Fortymile Creek tells the story of the search for gold in the Yukon before the great Klondike gold rush. Michael Gates writes about the life and times of the early pioneers, who suffered unimaginable hardships in search of the big strike. It is a story about survival and adversity, life and death, good times and bad on one of the harshest, most formidable frontiers in the world. The book, based on the accounts of dozens of prospectors, follows the first gold-seekers from their arrival in 1873 until the stampede to the Klondike in 1896. Gates captures the essence of these early years of the gold rush, about which very little has been written. He chronicles the trials, hearbreaks, and successes of the unique and hardy individualists who searched for gold in the wilderness. With names like Swiftwater Bill, Crooked Leg Louie, Slobbery Tom, and Tin Kettle George, these men lived in total isolation beyond the borders of civilization. They were often eccentrics and outcasts, who shaped their own rules, their own justice, and their own social order. Into this no-man's land came the harbingers of civilization: the traders, missionaries, gentlemen travellers, pioneer women, North-West Mounted Police, and countless others who populated the rough-and-ready settlements – Fort Reliance, Forty Mile, Circle, and Dawson – which grew up around each new find. Fascinating and informative, Gold at Fortymile Creek tells the story of a rag-tag group of risk-takers and dreamers, who set the stage for one of the most remarkable events of the nineteenth-century -- the Klondike gold rush.

Contents:

Frontmatter

CONTENTS

ILLUSTRATIONS AND MAPS

PREFACE AND ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

1 EARLY DAYS: THE FIRST GOLD-SEEKERS ARRIVE

2 THE CHILKOOT PASS AND EARLY TRANSPORTATION

3 EARLY DEVELOPMENTS ON THE YUKON RIVER

4 THE MINERS' CODE

5 THE FORTYMILE STAMPEDE

6 STRANGERS IN A STRANGE LAND

7 YEARS OF CHANGE

8 FORTY MILE : ANATOMY OF A GOLD RUSH TOWN

9 THE ARRIVAL OF THE NORTH - WEST MOUNTED POLICE

10 DEATH OF THE MINERS' COMMITTEE

11 CIRCLE: THE LARGEST LOG CITY IN THE WORLD

12 THE DISCOVERY OF GOLD IN THE KLONDIKE

13 EPILOGUE

APPENDIXES

Appendix A: Mining Methods and Terms

Appendix B: Roll Call: Names of the Early Yukon Pioneers

NOTES

BIBLIOGRAPHY

INDEX

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9786613225443

9780774853941

0774853948

9781283225441

1283225441

OCLC:

614474359