Romancing the Klondike

by Donadlson-Yarmey, Joan;

  “Are you on your way to stake a gold claim?” Ethel asked Isabel.

  “Yes. My father prospected in this area for many years after my mother died. When he got too sick to stay, he came to live with us and he told us stories about his life here. That ignited a desire in Henry to try for gold and when dad died last year, Henry decided he wanted to come. I wasn’t about to let him take this daring excursion without me, so we all came.”

  “Well, it seems like you picked the right time,” Pearl said.

  “Yes, our destination was Fortymile but we heard someone had found gold near the Klondike River. We immediately changed our plans.”

  “Maybe we’ll be neighbours,” Ethel said. “I’m on my way now to meet my husband who went ahead to stake a claim.”

  “That would be so nice.”

  Henry and Gregory came up to them, Henry lifting the boy off his shoulders. Pearl could see the love in Isabel’s eyes as she looked at Henry. She wondered if she would find a love like that.

  * * *

  When Sam and his friends reached the mouth of the Klondike River, they found it a hub of activity. Previous prospectors in their race to Rabbit Creek littered the bench above the Yukon River with canoes, boats, and rafts left behind. Everywhere they looked they saw men yelling and gesturing as they deserted their crafts, donned backpacks, grabbed shovels, and gold pans. One group no sooner left than another arrived, hollering and waving their arms as they tumbled out of their crafts and scrambled to pull them up the hill onto dry land. As fast as they could they grabbed their tools and backpacks and headed out.

  The water had turned black with churned up mud as the men jostled and floundered their way up the Klondike River.

  Sam recognized some of the men; others he didn’t know. Some had randomly erected tents farther up the shore. He wondered if they were just staying the night or if they believed it was a waste of time to go any farther.

  Sam, Gordon, and Donald maneuvered their raft to the shore. They climbed off and secured it to a rock.

  “Hi, boys.”

  They turned and saw Joe Ladue striding towards them.

  “So you heard about it.” Sam shook Joseph’s hand.

  “I knew there would be a strike,” Joe replied with a grin.

  “Are you staking a claim?” Donald asked.

  “I don’t think I will have time for a claim. I have another idea.”

  “What’s that?”

  Joe waved his hand around the area. “What do you see?”

  Sam looked around. “Stunted trees, a brush building and smokehouse from the fishing camp, swampy, moose pasture full of mosquitoes.” He turned back to Joe. “Why? What do you see?”

  “I see streets lined with businesses and homes. I see a town with all the amenities for the miners.”

  “Well, you’ve got better eyesight than I have.” Sam laughed.

  “You just wait,” Joe admonished. “But I don’t have time to visit. I have to get a town site registered and bring my saw mill and lumber here to get started on my town.”

  Sam watched Joe stride away. He took another look round the area. Just beyond the future site of Joe’s town towered a mountain with an open face of rock and swampland at its base covered with scrub brush. I sure don’t see a settlement full of people here.

  Since they’d already staked their claims the three of them set up camp for the night, making a smudge to keep the mosquitoes away. Since they planned to leave early in the morning they didn’t put up their tent. They laid their bedding on the ground and sat around the fire until dusk. Other fires flickered throughout the site. When it was time for sleep, they draped mosquito netting over their faces.

  After breakfast, they began the task of pulling their raft up the Klondike River. Men waded past them in the water, others tried to stay dry by fighting their way through the tangle of bush on the shore. After an hour, they had hardly gone any distance.

  “You’ll never get there pulling that,” one man yelled, as he struggled past.

  “He’s right,” Donald said. “We’re getting nowhere.”

  “This is an impossible task,” Gordon threw his rope into the water. “I’m ready to go back to Fortymile.”

  Sam didn’t plan to let that happen. He knew that many of the men around him were heading to Rabbit Creek out of an ingrained habit. Most of them had staked lots of claims in the past when a strike looked promising, but just as often it hadn’t amounted to much.

  Some of them, once the ritual of reaching the area and marking their claim had been completed, hadn’t bothered to record their ground, or they’d sold it for next to nothing. Some had even gone on a drunk and totally forgotten about it.

  “Let’s unload some of our things,” Sam said. “We can come back for it in a few days.”

  “Are you sure it’s safe? Gordon asked, looking at the men slogging around them. “What if someone steals something?”

  Gordon’s whining took Sam by surprise. When had he become so distrustful? No one worried about stealing out here.

  It was an unwritten law in the north that if someone needed something they were welcome to help themselves. It would be returned or replaced once the person could afford it.

  “Our stuff will be fine,” Sam said. “These men have gold on their minds.”

  Gordon continued to grumble, but he helped Sam and Donald guide the raft to shore. They rummaged through their supplies and unloaded what they figured they wouldn’t need immediately. They piled them in the bush and wrote their names on some of the packages so others would know who they belonged to.

  It was still a struggle and they barely spoke to each other as they needed save their energy. All day men continued to pass them everyone in too much of a hurry to slow down and assist. At the end of the day, they found a gravel bar for the night, where each of them opened a can of beans for supper and slept out in the open.

  It was late the next morning when they reached their claims. Their shovels and gold pans were still leaning against the tree stumps where they had carved their claim information.

  “Let’s set our camp up on Donald’s claim,” Sam said. “Then once we’re organized we can decide how to begin finding our gold.”

  They erected their canvas tent and laid out their bedding. What they didn’t want to get wet if it rained they piled inside along one wall. The rest they left outside and covered with a piece of canvas.

  * * *

  It was late afternoon when Pearl stood with Emma, Ethel, and the Drurys and watched the shore as the paddlewheel’s rotation slowed until they stopped in the middle of the Yukon River. They had reached the mouth of the Klondike River but the area certainly didn’t look like an empty moose pasture as Ethel had described. It looked more like a graveyard for abandoned river craft of all different types and sizes. Even the few tents didn’t make it look more inviting.

  “This is it?” Pearl turned to Ethel standing beside her.

  “It’s different than I remember it, but I guess those boats all belong to the men who came to stake claims.”

  The captain of the vessel refused to get closer to shore. He didn’t know what the riverbed was like and he didn’t want to run aground. He threw out the anchor to maintain their position in the water.

  “There isn’t a dock.” Emma looked around worried. “How are we going to unload our supplies?”

  “Well, I think we could probably borrow some of those boats on shore,” Ethel said.

  “It looks like everyone has that same idea.” Pearl gestured at some men who had jumped off the lower deck and were half swimming, half wading to the gravelly beach.

  Like the Drurys, these men had heard of the gold strike and were changing their plans and getting off at the Klondike River.

  Henry Drury removed his coat and handed it to his wife. “I’ll go get one for us.” He headed towards the steps to the lower deck.

  “What are we going to do?” Emma looked at Pearl.

  “I’ll bring back a second one
for you ladies,” Henry said, before hurrying down the steps.

  Pearl watched as Henry followed the other men to the shore and found a suitable rowboat. He then tied a second boat to the first and rowed back to the sternwheeler.

  “I think it would work best if one of us gets into the boat and the other two pass the supplies,” Ethel said. “Then one will get into the boat and there will be two to unload.”

  “That sounds fine,” Pearl said and Emma nodded. The girls were glad to have Ethel there to take charge as they needed a guiding hand right now.

  But all the others on the steamer had the same idea. There was a lot of brushing and bumping as they maneuvered for a position close enough to throw their supplies into boats or onto rafts, but fortunately Henry managed to get both boats to the side of the sternwheeler.

  Pearl thanked her foresight in wearing bloomers as she climbed into the boat. She positioned herself at the front and held tight to the side of the steamer while Emma and Ethel loaded packages. It took a long time. The men on the steamer had to carry their sacks and boxes from the storage room to the deck. They, too, banged into each other as they shuffled in an impromptu line from place to place.

  When they had filled the boat as full as possible, Ethel held onto her long skirt and climbed in and Pearl began rowing to shore. She had to work her way through the lineup of others waiting for their turn. Once at the shore, she and Ethel stepped into the water, heedless of their shoes and clothes.

  They pulled the boat onto the gravel, thankful it was only a small embankment, lugged the supplies from the boat and set them in a pile. Then Ethel rowed back and they waited their turn to get back to the side of the sternwheeler. They could see Emma stockpiling some of their bags on the deck.

  They had only made three trips when darkness fell. Some stopped, but others lit lamps to provide light and continued their unloading.

  The steamer wasn’t heading farther upstream until the next day, so Pearl and Emma, with Ethel’s help, set up their tent. The three laid out their bedding then lit a fire outside to cook supper. Exhausted, they climbed into bed.

  Chapter Eight

  After making the second trip for the rest of their supplies, Sam and his friends spent the next week chopping down trees for logs and removing bush on Donald’s claim. They limbed the logs and found an elevated spot for drainage that was away from the river. After levelling the dirt as best they could, they marked out the dimensions for the rectangular cabin. They kept it small for heat in the winter and because the logs were too heavy if they were longer.

  They had not built a cabin of their own but had helped others. Ideally, they should let the logs dry for a year so they didn’t shrink once assembled, but they didn’t have the time. Since none of the cabins in the north had foundations and few had floors, they laid the largest of the logs for the base. Frost heaving during the cold of the winter could move the building and might even cause damage. They would worry about that when the time came.

  They measured the logs for length, trimmed off the excess to use for their fires, and made notches one foot from the ends. Leaving an opening for a door, they layered the logs alternating between the short and long sides. They locked them in place with the notches, which increased the building’s stability. Throughout the process, Gordon complained that it was a useless effort on their part. Sam also noticed that Gordon had begun to separate some of their food into piles.

  While they worked, men swarmed up and down the river checking the gravel for gold, comparing finds, staking claims, hauling supplies, and stopping at their clearing for a cup of coffee.

  “I staked a claim to make sure I got one,” one man said. “But I’ve tried a few pans on it and didn’t find anything.”

  “My initial find was good,” another stated. “But I’m not sure if it’s worth the price of registering.”

  “Yes, for a hundred dollars I’d sell mine,” Gordon told everyone.

  The men continued notching the logs and hoisting them into place until the walls were high enough for them to stand up inside. They left an opening for a window to let light in, although they would never have glass to put in the frame. Using the crosscut saw, they hand sawed lumber for the door and peaked roof, cutting a hole for the stovepipe.

  There were gaps between the logs, so Sam made a mixture of mud, grass, and moss and shoved it in the holes. That insulation would last until the logs dried out and shrank and then they would have to do it again.

  As they worked, they heard sawing and pounding up and down the creek as men worked at building their winter homes.

  When they finished the cabin Sam nailed a flour sack over the window opening to keep out the mosquitoes. It could come down when mosquito season was over and before it got too cold. They set up the stove then constructed bunk beds, some shelves and a small table. They upended short logs for chairs. The open door would let in light until it was too cold, and they had plenty of candles for the dark days of winter.

  Now it was time to cut wood. Dry wood burned the best so first they gathered what dead logs they could find and bucked them into pieces. Next, they cut down trees and sawed them into lengths. They found a large section of log to use as a chopping block and split the rest into quarters for faster drying. They also made small pieces of kindling for fire starters.

  “Hey, Sam,” a voice called from the creek.

  Sam turned from where he was throwing an armload of firewood onto the pile beside the cabin. He saw Clarence Berry and his wife pulling a boat up the creek. Gordon and Donald, who were both wielding axes, stopped to listen.

  “Clarence,” Sam acknowledged. He wiped his brow with his forearm as he walked to the edge of the creek. He nodded to Mrs. Berry. He’d only met her once but found her cheerful and friendly.

  “Your sister and your cousin have set up a tent and are camping down at the mouth of the Klondike.”

  “What?” Sam gaped in disbelief.

  “Damn,” Gordon swore behind him.

  “Are you sure?” Donald rushed to the creek’s edge. “What are they doing there? Who is there with them?”

  “I came up the Yukon River with them and helped them set up their camp,” Mrs. Berry said.

  “They said to tell you that they have plenty of food and can look after themselves,” Clarence added. “And there are other tents being set up. They aren’t alone.” He waved as he and his wife continued up the creek.

  “What are we going to do?” Donald looked at Sam. “We can’t leave them there by themselves.”

  “It sounds like they are fine,” Gordon grumbled. He went back to chopping wood.

  “We have to go check on them now,” Donald insisted. “They don’t have any experience living here.”

  Sam fought back his angry thoughts. He didn’t have time to take care of his sister and cousin. He wished they had never come. They were starting to create trouble for him and it was just beginning. Winter was coming. He, Donald, and Gordon had a lot to do before the snow fell if they wanted to be able to work their claims.

  Gordon stopped his downward swing in mid-air. “Clarence said they had plenty of food and were stockpiling wood. Just leave them alone.”

  “That doesn’t matter,” Donald sputtered. “They don’t know how to survive in a tent. We could bring them here.”

  “Where would they live if they came here?” Sam asked, trying to sound reasonable.

  “They could have the cabin.”

  “No, damned way!” Gordon yelled. “We gave up our cabin once to them. That is enough. They came here of their own free will, they should have to look after themselves.”

  “Maybe they can for now, but what happens when the snow comes? What are they going to do in the cold?”

  The desperation in Donald’s voice finally touched a nerve in Sam. They should go and bring his sister and cousin to the claim where they could keep an eye on them. But they didn’t have time to build another cabin.

  “Maybe they’ll be back in Fortymile by then
.” Sam hoped to calm Donald down.

  “We could take them back to Fortymile now where they would have the cabin,” Donald pleaded.

  “I doubt they’ll be willing go back so soon after arriving,” Sam said, with resignation. From what little he’d had to do with his sister and his cousin since they came, he doubted they would leave easily. They thought this was a big adventure; they didn’t realize that the consequences from making one mistake could be swift and dire.

  “Well, I don’t like the idea of two women being on their own in the middle of nowhere,” Donald said. “I’m going to see them as soon as we are more organized. And at the same time I’ll take the raft to Ogilvie and get lumber from Joe so we can build a sluice box.”

  “We’ve got a saw here,” Gordon said. “We can cut our own wood.”

  Donald stuck his chin out in defiance. “I’m still going to see them.”

  * * *

  Pearl and Emma stood and watched Ethel and Clarence Berry load the last of their supplies into their boat. It was hard to believe they had already been in this makeshift place for over a week.

  Once the three women had unloaded their supplies from the sternwheeler, Pearl and Emma had looked for a level piece of land away from the beach to set up their tent. With the help of the Drurys they’d moved the stove from where the boat crew had been kind enough to leave it on the beach to the spot. They’d set the tent over it so the stove was to the right of the doorway and cut an opening in the canvas roof for the tin guard and stove pipe. The Drurys then headed up the river to stake a claim. Ethel sent word with them to let Clarence know she was waiting for him.

  With Ethel’s help the women moved their supplies up to the tent and they assisted her with transferring her non-perishable items closer to the edge of the Klondike River.

  Luckily for Pearl and Emma, Ethel had been there to show them what to do for the first few days.