Murphy, Gold Rush Dog

by Alison Hart

  Carlick reached down to yank her up. Baring my teeth, I leaped, my jaws clamping on his outstretched arm.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Rescue

  August 21, 1900

  The force of my hurtling body sent Carlick flying backwards. He flailed at me with his other arm, but I hung on tight. My teeth gripped his wool coat, not flesh. Clamping down harder, I tasted blood. He bellowed like an elk. Suddenly men were upon me, beating me with sticks and rifle butts.

  “No, Murphy! Stop! Let him go before they kill you!” Sally threw herself on top of me, receiving several blows on her back.

  “Quit! All of you!” Mr. Beamer knocked the men out of the way.

  Grabbing my collar, Sally pulled me from Carlick. I let go of his arm, but I couldn’t stop snarling. I was filled with hatred.

  Two men helped Carlick to his feet. His face was red with anger as he clasped his arm. “Murphy? That dog is Murphy?” Carlick spat out the words, as furious as I. “Grab him!” He reached under his coat and tore off his belt. “Muzzle him!”

  The men pushed Sally out of the way. She pummeled them with her fists and one man had to hold her back. It took four of them to muzzle me, and before they tightened the belt around my jaw, I drew blood on all of them.

  “So this is Murphy.” Carlick narrowed his eyes as he swung around to Sally. “Then it appears, little lady, that you have stolen more than gold from me. You have stolen my dog.”

  “He is my dog!” Sally retorted as she struggled futilely against the man holding her.

  “We’ll see about that.” Carlick reached for my neck. I growled, and the men had to put all their weight on my back to hold me down. His fingers spread my fur by my shoulder. “Ha! Just as I thought. There is my C branded in his flesh. Proof that he is my dog, and you are a thief.”

  “Murphy will never be your dog,” Sally snapped. “Here, take my gold.” Wresting her arms from the man’s grasp, she drew the silver vial from around her neck and threw it at Carlick. “It will pay for him.”

  With raised brows, he opened the vial and tapped the gold into his palm. “This? This is what you panned from the Snake?” He snorted. “This isn’t enough to keep you out of jail, much less pay for the dog. He stays with me. I’ll need a strong sled dog this winter. But right now I need to teach him who’s the boss around here. Ford!” he shouted. “Get me my whip.”

  “No!” Dropping beside me, Sally reached under my collar and dug out the gold nugget. “This will pay for Murphy.” She held it up. It gleamed in the firelight and Carlick’s eyes grew bright with greed.

  “Lord, that’s the biggest nugget I’ve seen!” one of the men gasped.

  Carlick took the nugget between his fingers and studied it before tucking it in his own pocket. “Well, well. You were lucky. This is probably worth hundreds of dollars. Which is a shame, since you found it on Alaska Gold Mining land. That means the dog is still mine and you are still a thief.”

  Ford handed him the whip. Beside me, Sally stared up at him, defiant. “Then you will have to whip us both.”

  “Perhaps I will,” he said, snapping the lash.

  I rose suddenly to my full height, shaking off the men that held me. A roar rumbled in my throat. I lunged at the men, and they scattered like scared sheep. Then I faced Carlick.

  Even with my jaw strapped shut, I was ready to fight the person I hated. I was ready to protect Sally.

  Two men stepped from the shadows and flanked Carlick. One had a white beard. The other was younger with a dark mustache. And both had drawn their guns.

  I could knock down Carlick. I might even dislodge the belt around my jaw and get in a bite. But I couldn’t defeat a gun. I had seen one bullet fell a full-grown elk.

  Still, I crouched, gathering my strength, ready to attack. I was willing to die protecting Sally.

  Carlick raised the whip, but the white-bearded man caught his wrist before he could lash out.

  “I wouldn’t do that, sir,” the older man said, yanking the whip from Carlick’s grasp. The other man deftly pulled a gun from under Carlick’s coat while aiming his own weapon in the direction of the other men. Arms in the air, the others backed off—except for Mr. Beamer, who came up beside the bearded man.

  Sally gasped. “Grandpapa!” Launching herself in the air, she flung herself into his arms. “You came for me!”

  “Sally?” the bearded man exclaimed. “What are you doing here?”

  Dazed, I sank to the ground. Sally knelt beside me and took off the muzzle. “Oh, Murphy. Are you all right?”

  I whined and stood, my eyes still on Carlick. But he was no longer paying attention to me. “Who are you and what right do you have to burst into my camp and disarm me?” he demanded.

  Sally’s Grandpapa faced Carlick. “I am Judge William Morrow of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. This is Deputy Marshall Harmon Frank. We traveled to Nome to see firsthand the gross abuse of power that the Alaskan Gold Mining Company—consisting of you, McKenzie, and Judge Noyes—has wielded over Nome.”

  “It is all legal!” Carlick bellowed. “You can ask Judge Noyes.”

  “We intend to.” He pulled out a piece of paper from inside his pocket. “The circuit court has ordered that you and McKenzie are no longer the receivers of any claims. They will revert to their rightful owners.”

  “Nobody can take away our claims,” Carlick scoffed. “McKenzie has many powerful friends in Washington, D.C.”

  Judge Morrow cut his eyes to Mr. Beamer. “Fortunately we had a man inside your camp who has witnessed you beating and threatening miners reluctant to abandon their claims. His testimony will land you in jail long enough for Washington to learn the truth. And long enough for us to prosecute McKenzie. Frank, tie his hands tightly.”

  “Beamer, you traitor!” Carlick lunged at the tall man, but the Deputy Marshall caught him and secured his hands.

  “I’ll take this into possession of the courts,” Sally’s Grandpapa said. He reached into Carlick’s pocket and plucked out the nugget.

  “That belongs to me!” Carlick sputtered.

  “The court will decide,” the Deputy Marshall said.

  My head swung back and forth as I watched the men argue. Their words flew past me, but I did not care. Sally was safe, which was all that mattered. She kneeled beside me, her hand on my collar, until Beamer and the second man took Carlick away. Then her grandfather stooped beside us.

  His eyes were grave. “You have much to explain, young lady. Your mama has been sick with worry.”

  “Mama is still in Nome?” Sally exclaimed.

  “Of course. She would never leave you. Luckily I was on my way to Nome with the matters of the circuit court. When I arrived, I found her distraught. We searched everywhere for you, never realizing you would travel this far. Why on earth did you go off on your own?”

  “To find gold, to buy a cabin for Mama, so we could stay the winter,” Sally explained. “She threatened to leave Nome, only I’m not going back to San Francisco. I love it here. Besides, I wasn’t on my own. I was with Murphy.”

  Grandpapa shook his head in wonder. “The only thing that kept your mama sane was that she knew you were with Murphy. She swore that he would keep you safe.” Smiling, he stroked my head. “And from what I saw tonight, she was correct. Thank you, Murphy, for keeping my adventurous and foolish granddaughter from harm’s way.” Standing, he lifted Sally to her feet.

  She stepped on her bad ankle and made a face.

  “Are you all right?” he asked.

  “A slight sprain. From the avalanche.”

  His face grew as white as his beard. “Avalanche?”

  “Don’t worry, Murphy dug me out. I had my knife and made a splint as you taught me. And really, it was nothing compared to the storm and the wolves.”

  “Storm? Wolves?” Grandpapa’s eyes grew wider. “I want to hear the whole story, young lady, but now we must be on our way. There are several boats waiting for us at the dock. I’ll have Beamer bring
your packs. You may tell me these hair-raising tales as we travel back to Nome. But then we will not speak of them again. We will tell your mother that you stayed with a friendly miner and his family.”

  “That would be lying, Grandpapa,” Sally said.

  “It would also be sparing your mother’s heart.”

  “Oh, Mama is not as weak as you think.” Using me and her grandfather as supports, Sally began to hobble down to the dock. “Grandpapa, what about my gold nugget?”

  He sighed. “At this point, it belongs to the courts until the matter of the Alaska Gold Mining Company is settled.”

  “But how will I buy a cabin for Mama?”

  “I will be staying in Nome until McKenzie and Carlick are prosecuted. That may take all winter. Perhaps there is a comfortable home that a judge could afford?”

  Sally grinned. “Perhaps.” Then her smile faded. “And Murphy?” she asked in a small voice as she laced her fingers in my fur. “Carlick had him branded with his C. Will the courts uphold his ownership?”

  Gravely he shook his head. “I don’t know, Sally.”

  She stopped in her tracks. “Then I am not going back. Murphy and I will run away. We proved we could survive on the tundra. I would rather live like a wild fox than live without Murphy.”

  Grandpapa rolled his eyes. “You are such a stubborn child. Quite like your Grandmama. So you will not return to Nome unless Murphy is yours?”

  “Correct.”

  “I guess it could be argued that you have been caring for Murphy for months.”

  “And add that Carlick was a cruel owner,” Sally chimed in.

  Grandpapa nodded in agreement. “Then by the power of the Circuit Court of San Francisco, I do deem that Murphy, your protector, as well as gold mining and pack dog of Nome, belongs to you, Sally Ann Dawson. Is that good enough?”

  She shook her head. “I want it in writing with your official seal. Mama will type it up. She loves Murphy as much as I do.”

  “And my official seal will do?”

  She nodded.

  “All right then. Let’s go back to Nome and your mama and get it done.”

  “Thank you, sir! One minute, please.” Sally kneeled beside me. Tears suddenly streamed down her cheeks. Since I first met Sally on the beach, I had never seen her cry. I licked the tears from her face, wondering why she was crying now.

  “This time it is really true, Murphy,” she said. “Grandpapa has the power to make it so that Carlick can never take you away from me again.”

  I did not know Sally’s words, but I knew by her hug that she was happy despite her tears. I whapped my tail from side to side, as happy as she.

  “Mama is waiting for us. We won’t have to leave Nome. Isn’t that the best news?”

  Yes! I woofed.

  “Come on. Let’s go home.” Sally stood. With one hand she held my collar. With the other she held her grandfather’s hand, and together we walked to the boat.

  My journey to Nome had started with Carlick. It had ended with Sally. Along the way, I had proven my bravery and helped save Sally, and now I knew that nothing—not moose, bear, storms, wolves, avalanches, or Carlick—could ever separate us.

  Because finally I belonged to Sally.

  And she belonged to me.

  The History Behind Murphy

  Dogs in Alaska

  In the late 1800s and early 1900s, gold strikes in Alaska brought a rush of miners and opportunists. Big dogs like Murphy were used for hauling, transportation, companionship, and protection. In fact, they became more valuable than horses. “A dog that sold for fifteen dollars in Washington State would bring ten times that in the Yukon.” (Murphy, Gold Rush Dogs, page 16)

  Even before the gold rush, native Indians and Eskimos relied on dogs to transport their goods when they moved to and from their seasonal camping and hunting grounds. Inupiaq Eskimos made sleds of driftwood with bone runners and harnesses made of strips of moose and bearskin.

  Dogsled teams were important, but so was the “one-man dog” like Murphy. Alaskans considered their dogs “worth their weight in gold.” A prospector needed his dog for survival. All breeds of dogs were valued, from spaniels to huskies, but they had to be hardy and strong to withstand the harsh environment.

  Cool Dogs

  Ella Fitz hid her money in a leather pouch on the collar of her dog Faust.

  Bill Skagway, buried in an avalanche, was rescued by his dog Yukon.

  Togo and Balto led dogsled teams to bring diphtheria serum to Nome.

  The Nome Gold Rush

  The town of Nome, isolated on the Bering Peninsula, relied on dog teams because it was iced in all winter. “All dog teams lead to Nome,” said an Alaskan musher about the importance of dogsleds. (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 127) This was especially true during the gold rush that began in the spring of 1899 and ended in September 1900, when it seemed everyone was headed to Nome.

  In 1899, gold was discovered in the sand of Nome’s beaches and river bottoms. By 1900, the cry of “gold!” brought chaos to the area. News traveled to the states: there was “Gold in the creeks, gold in the beaches. Even the sands of the seashore gleamed with yellow flakes!” (Kunkel, Alaska Gold: Life on the New Frontier, 1898–1906, page 2) Prospectors looking for great wealth came by boat from the west coast as well as by dogsled, horse, bicycle, and on foot from other parts of Alaska.

  These fortune hunters were called “sourdoughs” because many brought with them crocks of sourdough starter to use for biscuits. They were also referred to as “stampeders” since they raced to Nome once they heard the cry of “gold!” The town of Nome quickly swelled from a few thousand people to a population of 20,000.

  By the end of the summer of 1900, the gold rush had ended and most people had left. The beach looked like a giant junkyard. Abandoned pumps, pipes, steam engines, tents, and rockers lined the shore. The “rotting timbers and rusting iron will only be left to tell the tale…” of many miners’ lost dreams. (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 91)

  Finding Gold

  The stampeders and sourdoughs arrived in Nome hoping to strike it rich. But few made a fortune. Panning for gold is an art, and most adventurers came unprepared both in knowledge and supplies. L. H. French, a mine manager, wrote in the Nome Nugget that miners “arrived on the gold fields without a dollar to their pockets or a penny’s worth of supplies…” (Kunkel, Alaska Gold: Life on the New Frontier, 1898–1906, page 5)

  In 1900, there were as many ways to mine as there were creative miners. Beginners like Sally mined by hand using a pan or a rocker, a device that looked like a cradle. Sluice boxes—long wooden channels—were also used by men such as Mr. Smithson. Seawater was poured down the sluice. The gold—heavier than water—sank and was caught in the riffles or grooves on the bottom of the box.

  More elaborate contraptions were brought from the states. “At least 35 different kinds of patent gold saving devices and gold washing machines were on sale in Seattle.” (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 46) They were given names like Yoho’s Scientific Gold Trap and were guaranteed to work perfectly.

  The Real Carlick

  Finding gold was difficult, but so was hanging on to a claim. Claim jumpers—people who illegally took over others’ mining areas—were a huge problem.

  Carlick is fictional. But McKenzie, Judge Noyes, and the scandal involving the Alaska Gold Mining Company are real.

  In the summer of 1900, McKenzie (the president of the Alaska Gold Mining Company) took over many of the richest claims in Nome. First he got his friend Judge Noyes, the new judge of the Second Judicial Division of Alaska (which included Nome), to evict the real owners. Then he moved in his own men and quickly stripped the mines of their gold. Meanwhile, Judge Noyes used the law to keep the real owners from taking back their claims. Because the judge was the highest authority in Nome, this illegal setup continued for several months. In August 1900, the lawyers for the other major mine companies went to Sa
n Francisco to seek justice. Still, McKenzie refused to obey. In October he was finally arrested.

  Life in Nome

  Sally and Mama arrived in Nome in the spring, when people could travel to the area. Most of the year Nome was locked in by ice and snow, and ships with supplies and news from the mainland could not reach the town. In the fall and winter Nome received only four hours of daylight. “We are prisoners in a jail of ice and snow,” one newspaperman wrote in November 1900. (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 122)

  Even spring and summer could bring bad storms and 75 mph winds. The ground was frozen all winter. When it thawed, it turned roads and paths into rivers of mud two feet deep, making travel by land difficult. In the summer there were sweltering 100-degree days that could drop to freezing temperatures at night. In July 1899, Ed McDaniel wrote of Alaska: “It is awfully hard to live up here. The mosquitoes are thick as bees and it rains all the time and the sun never sets. The ground is covered with moss and water.” (Kunkel, Alaska Gold: Life on the New Frontier, 1898–1906, page 55)

  In 1900, Nome was a rough place for women and children. In the beginning, there was no police force. The lure of gold brought swindlers, tinhorn gamblers, and con men. Front Street, which stretched for five miles, was lined with more saloons than stores. Gangs roamed the street, and as Sally mentions—but didn’t include in her letter to Grandpapa—there were many murders.

  Nome Today

  Today in Nome the weather is still unpredictable. As always, the summer days are long and the winter days are short. The town has a population of over 3,000, and it is still one of the most remote communities in Alaska. And gold is still being mined. In fact, Nome is experiencing a second gold rush.

  With the price of gold rising, Nome has become a hot destination. In January 2013, ABC News reported that gold fever was again gripping adventurers looking for riches. The Discovery Channel’s reality television show Bering Sea Gold features miners dredging for gold in the bottom of the Bering Sea. Like the stampeders of the first gold rush, these modern day prospectors are trying to hit it big. And like the prospectors of 1900, they still face incredible odds.