Additionally, the Klondike gold rush forever altered the environment. Streambeds, forests, and surrounding habitats, including even mountainsides, were damaged by those who uprooted and destroyed anything that hindered them in their quest to find gold.
The Klondike gold rush lasted only three years. By the summer of 1899, gold had been discovered in Nome, Alaska, and many mining in the Klondike abandoned their work to seek gold there.
Of the hundred thousand people who set out for the Klondike, thirty to forty thousand reached Dawson City. Half of them actually looked for gold. Four thousand found gold. A few hundred found “quantities large enough to call themselves rich.” And “only the merest handful”* kept their wealth.
Although most of the characters in this story are a product of my imagination, a few were true historical figures:
Seattle’s mayor William Wood quit his job to start the Seattle and Yukon Trading Company, a steamship company that carried men and freight to the Klondike goldfields.
Jefferson “Soapy” Smith was a con man who arrived in Skagway at the end of August in 1897, just a few days before Melvin and Jasper. It wasn’t until the fall that he had control of Skagway. I’ve altered this for the sake of the story so that Soapy’s scams are in full swing before the Johnson boys arrived.
Clarence and Ethel Berry mined on Bonanza and in one year made $130,000 (that would be thirteen million dollars today). Ethel carried $100,000 worth of gold in her bedroll as she and Clarence left the Klondike on the steamer Portland. The Berrys were said to be so wealthy, Clarence kept a coal oil can full of nuggets at the door of their cabin with a sign that read “Help Yourself.”
Arizona Charlie Meadows ran a portable bar on the Chilkoot Trail that he set up in places like Canyon City and Sheep Camp.
Lord Avonmore traveled to Dawson City with ten thousand pounds of gear, including tinned turkey and folding tables, as well as one hundred pounds of toilet paper and seventy-five cases of champagne. Because the real lord’s champagne froze along the way, it sold for only twenty-five cents a case.
Salt Water Jack, Buckskin Miller, and Pete the Pig were all men who mined in Fortymile. Two-Step Louie was from Dawson.
Three Sisters of St. Anne, all named Mary, arrived in Dawson by steamer in 1898 and worked in the Klondike’s first hospital, aptly named St. Mary, which Father William Judge opened in August 1897.
There really was a Jimmy “Spare-Rib” Mackinson in Dawson who wasn’t allowed to use his landlady’s sheets because she was sure his bony hips and elbows would tear them.
And although there was a man in Dawson named One-Eyed Riley, he never had a hidden mine. He was a gambler who was always broke. But one night he won twenty-eight thousand dollars and was so determined to leave the Klondike rich, he paid a thousand dollars for a dogsled ride out of town. In Skagway, someone persuaded him to try a dice game, and in just three rounds, One-Eyed Riley was broke again.
Inspector Charles Constantine was sent by the Canadian government to the Yukon goldfields in 1894. He served as the Yukon’s magistrate, judge, land agent, gold commissioner, and customs officer and was the most powerful figure in the entire territory.
Because of the Klondike’s inaccessible location, much of its gold rush was “shrouded in mystery . . . leaving the most famous event in the last decade of the nineteenth century wide open to . . . exaggeration and hyperbole.”* The ideas of mystery, exaggeration, and hyperbole were fun to play with as I wrote Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine. I hope the story has left you with a flavor of not only the gold rush itself but how the rest of the world came to imagine that far-off distant land, a place of risk and gamble and life-changing experiences that for some were worth more than any gold.
For those interested in reading more about the Klondike gold rush, I highly recommend the middle grade nonfiction book Call of the Klondike: A True Gold Rush Adventure by David Meissner and Kim Richardson.
Acknowledgments
The idea for Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine began with a simple question from my sons. “Mom, when are you going to write a book about a boy?” Going in, one of the few things I knew about my main character was that he’d be based on Mark Twain’s immortal Huckleberry Finn. So it feels right that Noah, Caleb, and Mr. Twain get first thanks and top billing in this list of folks who’ve played a role in Jasper’s story.
I am indebted to Stacey Barney for demanding of me my very best (and her unshakable belief that I can pull it off), Kate Meltzer for her careful attention to detail, and Tracey Adams for being my literary cheerleader. Thanks to the entire Penguin Young Readers Group team for their tireless devotion to children’s books, to Richard Amari for a map that could have come straight from the goldfields, and to Craig Phillips, whose cover captured the story’s energy and sense of adventure perfectly.
A special thank-you to Karl Gurcke, Historian for the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park, for vetting my work and answering endless questions; to Jody Beaumont, Traditional Knowledge Specialist for Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, for the insight she gave about the impact the gold rush had on First Nations Peoples; and to Steve Bramucci, who kindly allowed me to read Huck’s Legacy: The Complex Nature of the Humorous First-Person Storyteller, his Master of Fine Arts thesis for the Vermont College of Fine Arts.
Carolee Dean walked me through story structure when Jasper was no more than a vague idea. Donald Burge, Terry Lynn Johnson, and Anna Catherine Ingwersen graciously gave feedback during various stages of the writing process. And my critique partners Valerie Geary, Uma Krishnaswami, Stephanie Farrow, Vaunda Micheaux Nelson, Katherine B. Hauth, and Mark Karlins read and reread portions of this book with enthusiasm and so much helpful insight.
Years ago, when I was researching pioneer women for the manuscript that eventually became May B., my mother lent me a book called Women of the Klondike. Thanks, Mom, for introducing me to such a rich setting, and for the love you and Dad have always lavished on me.
I’m so grateful for the countless people who have asked after this book, including my faithful blog and newsletter readers; my dear friend Jamie C. Martin; my sister, Christine Casey; the fine people of High Desert Presbyterian Church; and my running partner, Beth Benham, who brought my family dinner more than once while I was on deadline. For readers young and old who’ve told me they can’t wait for my next book, you are so appreciated.
I can’t forget to thank my husband, Dan, launderer extraordinaire, who reminds me in tough moments that things are going to come together because he’s seen the whole book-making process play out a couple times before. Here’s to our year in Skagway sometime in the future!
Poet Robert Service described the Stampeders and sourdoughs alike as those who “Hear[d] the challenge, learn[ed] the lesson, [paid] the cost . . . , [who] suffered, starved and triumphed, groveled down, yet grasped at glory.” I’ve learned so much from the stories of these everyday people who pushed themselves to remarkable lengths. Their grit and determination are inspiring indeed.
© 2010 Crystal Sanderson Photography
Caroline Starr Rose spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping at the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. As a girl she danced ballet, raced through books, composed poetry on an ancient typewriter, and put on magic shows in a homemade cape. She’s taught both social studies and English in New Mexico, Florida, Virginia, and Louisiana. In her classroom, she worked to instill in her students a passion for books, an enthusiasm to experiment with words, and a curiosity about the past. She is the author of the critically acclaimed novels in verse May B. and Blue Birds. Caroline lives in New Mexico with her husband and two sons.
* Berton, Pierre. The Klondike Fever. New York: Carroll and Graf, 1985, p. 417.
* Adney, Tappan. The Klondike Stampede. Vancouver: UBC Press, 1994, p. xvi.
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Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine Page 21
