It is the land of the Alaska Gold Rush, where nuggets were said to be the size of goose eggs, where men froze to death in search of the elusive yellow metal, and dancehall girls lured overnight millionaire sourdoughs into marriage. Honky-tonk pianos punctuated the howl of the north wind in towns that were half-tent and half-ramshackle collections of driftwood, whalebone, and packing cases. It was a time of whiskey and gold and long, lonely trails behind a dogsled. It was, in a word, ALASKA. In cities, rugged men and women walked on planks set across streets so deep with spring mud horses could be swallowed. On the tundra, life was a living hell with mosquitoes, gnats, white socks, and biting flies descending in clouds on warm-blooded creatures. On the flip side of the season, temperature could drop to 50 or 60 degrees below zero, cold enough to freeze a can of oil so solid it could be cut in half with a saw. With wind blasting at 100 miles an hour, the chill factor could go down to 100 degrees below zero, cold enough to freeze a person to death in a matter of minutes if he could not find proper shelter. In whiteout conditions, visibility could diminish to a foot in a matter of minutes. It was, in a word, ALASKA.

It's 1898, and Bucky can't wait to get to Alaska to find gold and adventure. But the journey is hard. Bucky, Pa, and Uncle Tanner must face deadly storms, numbing cold, and the Golden Stairs—a grueling six-hour nonstop trudge up the mountainside with heavy packs on their backs. Can Bucky make it? Bucky and his father, prospecting for gold in Alaska in 1898, must overcome storms, dangerous mountain trails, and wilderness predators before confronting the final challenge of human treachery.

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. At the turn of the century, tens of thousands of Americans left their homes, escaping a worldwide depression & the restraints of the Victorian Era, to stampede to Alaska & the Yukon, where millions of dollars in gold was being discovered in remote, subartic mining camps. Women accompanied the men on the long journey to the Far North--more often prostitutes, dance hall girls & entertainers than respectful wives & schoolteachers. These are the girls of the demimonde, that "half world" of disreputable women who lived on the outskirts of society. Meet "Dutch Kate" Wilson, who pioneered many areas long before the "respectable" women who received credit for getting there first; ruthless heartbreakers Cad Wilson & Rose Blumkin; "French Marie" Larose, who auctioned herself off as a wife to the highest bidder; & Edith Neile, called the "Oregon Mare," famous for both her outlandish behavior & her soft-hearted generosity. These "good time girls" crossed geographic & social frontiers, finding freedom, independence, hardship, heartbreak & sometimes astonishing wealth. They were an important part of this key chapter in the history of the West, which holds a special place in the American imagination.

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.

Told in a voice rich with humor and insight, Hunter: The Alaska of Robert Hunter Fitzhugh, is a fascinating first-person account of life in Alaska during the gold rush of a century ago. Hunter Fitzhugh left St. Louis in 1897 dreaming of fortune and adventure.Blessed with keen intelligence, a sense of humor, and an eye for detail, Hunter discovered the reality of a land about which he had only read, and he recreated that land in his writing. Cut off from his family and friends hack home, he poured his thoughts and feelings into letters, which form a riveting narrative of the exciting life he led in the far north.Supported with over thirty illustrations, including maps and photographs of numerous sites frequented by the Alaska gold prospectors, Hunter is a combination of factual historical account and compelling personal story.Hunter chronicles his preparations for the journey across the frontier, the exorbitant prices that were paid for his supplies, and the struggle of transporting hundreds of pounds of goods across the ice and snow. Accounts of his partners that quickly become friends in the face of such challenges are vivid with details of daily life: hands frost-bitten from digging in the ice, a deadly fight with a grizzly bear, a treacherous fall through thin ice into the river, the teams of dogs he learns to rely on like family, as well as moving passages about the minister and his church that comforted Hunter in the strange land.Hunting for riches, he found them not in the nuggets he dug from the frozen mountains but in the human relationships he mined in the tiny gold-rush towns and camps.Hunter searched not only for fame and fortune, but also for an understandingof his place in this world. His letters reveal one individual's quest for purpose and meaning in life. His determination and hope in the face of daunting obstacles, both physical and spiritual, is a testament to man's courage.Finally, Hunter's abrupt end, described in the telegraph that informed his family of his death in an avalanche, is a reminder of man's ultimate frailty.Hunter: The Alaska Letters of Robert Hunter Fitzhugh is a revealing portrait of a remarkable place at a historic moment.

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