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Seattle, Washington 2007

Weekend trip from September 1st to 3rd, 2007 to Seattle, Washington including a day trip to the Japanese Garden in Portland, Oregon.

2007 September 1 2 3

Aquarium (130) Erica (29) Portland (157) Ruben (17) Seattle (387)

All

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Trailside Entrepreneurs Ingenuity and enterprise accompanied the stampeders. More money was made by those who set up hotels, restaurants, and other businesses than by most of the Klondike prospectors. Several small towns sprang up along the Chilkoot Trail, providing supplies and services to stampeders. Tranporting the mountain of goods required for each stampeder was a business in itself. Local Tlingits hired out as packers carrying goods for a set amount per pound. Loads were weighed at the scales to calculate payment to the packers. Several entrepreneurs built tramways for hauling gear. A crude surface tramway pulled loads up the final slope to the summit. Several other aerial tramways were engineering marvels for their day. The most elaborate, completed in May 1898, was a tramway built by the Chilkoot Railroad and Transport Company that carried goods nine miles over the pass on cables hung on wooden tripods. Most stampeders, however, could not affort these luxuries. They slowly and methodically shouldered the heavy loads themselves.
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The Treacherous Passes Ethel Anderson's Story Ethel, her mother, and two brothers arrived in Skagway in the late fall of 1898, following her father, a stampeder who preceeded them. The four traveled over White Pass where a train route, which was under construction, would not be completed for another ten months. In later years, Ethel Anderson describes the hardships of the trip: "We arrived in Skagway, a peaked mother and three small children, ... I do not remember much of the trip to Whitehorse. ... A little red hood and wool coat were poor protection. The ground was frozen and snow had fallen on the upper levels. Packers, pack trains and horses, all top-heavy with freight, choked the trails, hoping to gain the headwater of the Yukon before the river froze. Somehow mother fed us and washed us, diapered Clay, and soothed him to sleep ... but it was an experience she would never talk about in later years. Hundreds of men turned back on that White Pass Trail. ... But that pioneer mama of ours was re-uniting her family. ... What greater urge is there?"
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The red wool coat of Ethel Anderson.
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Tortuous Trails White Pass Trail When the first stampeders arrived in July 1897, only a narrow winding trail connected Skagway Bay and the summit of White Pass. Within a few weeks, stampeders overwhelmed the trail, turning it into a morass of rocks, exposed roots, and deep mud. The trail, frequently impassable, became a trap where horses and other pack animals died by the hundreds. Once hard winter came, traffic switched to travel on the frozen Skagway River. A wagon road was completed to the top of White Pass in March of 1898. Later the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad followed the same route.
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Dalton Trail Jack Dalton, a long-time Alaska frontiersman, expanded on a traditional Tlingit trade route into the interior. Dalton charged a toll for use of the trail and advertised it as an easy trek for livestock. Because of the stampeders' heavy usage, however, the Dalton Trail, like the White Pass Trail, soon became a rocky, muddy mess in which livestock were easily mired. The trail began at Haines Mission, slightly southwest of Skagway. It followed the Chilkat River before crossing the mountains at Fort Selkirk, 125 miles upriver of Dawson.
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Chilkoot Trail Chilkoot Pass had been used for centuries by the Chilkoot and other bands of Tlingit Natives as a trading and hunting route. At the time of the gold rush, the trail was in relatively good shape. The first sections of it had been improved for pack animals in 1895. The first fifteen miles of trail followed Taiya River and gained only 1,000 vertical feet. After Sheep Camp the trail rose more steeply, culminating in an exhausting 35 degree slope for the final ascent. Once across the pass, a short, steep descent led to the headwaters of the Yukon River.
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"Whichever way you go, you will wish you had gone the other."
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Alaska and Beyond Most stampeders stepped onto Alaskan soil in Skagway or Dyea on their way to one of the tortuous passes that would take them into the Yukon. Dense forests, rugged mountains, snow-covered trails, and unforgiving weather awaited them. Illness, frostbite, accidents, and crime posed additional risks on the arduous journey ahead. Most stampeders crossed Chilkoot Pass from Dyea or White Pass from Skagway to reach Lake Bennett. There stampederrs built a variety of watercraft to travel downriver to Dawson City and the Klondike gold fields.
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Stampeders who camped at Lake Lindeman during the winter of 1897-98 paid 15 cents per letter (the equivalent of $3.30 in 2005) to unofficial carriers who packed the mail over Chilkoot Pass from Sheep Camp. At Miles Canyon, the Yukon River narrows from 300 feet to 40 feet wide with dangerous rocks below at Whitehorse rapids. Most stampeders portaged their goods around this stretch and hired an experienced pilot to take their boat through.
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Building the boats with hand tools.
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At Tagish Lake, stampeders were required to stop and have their boats inspected and licensed by the Northwest Mounted Police. By mid-June 1898, Mounties had inspected and registered over 7,000 boats. At times, the waiting crowd of boats stretched for a mile white boats tied two or three across.
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A Wild River Ride Once over the passes, stampeders arrived at a series of lakes, headwaters of the Yukon River. The gold fields still lay 550 miles north by river. New challenges awaited the weary stampeders who managed to get this far. Makeshift Cities Stampeders who had left Seattle promptly after the arrival of the SS Portland were able to cross the passes and continue by boat before the waterways froze for the winter. Most, however, arrived during the winter months and joined makeshift tent cities at Lake Lindeman and Lake Bennett. Here they anxiously awaited the thawing of the lakes and rivers so they could continue their journey. Some stampeders purchased prefabricated boats that were hauled over the passes in pieces and reassembled. Those with sufficient means hired others to build a boat. Most faced the daunting task of building a boat from scratch - something few had done before. Some rose to the challenge and a good-natured camaraderie developed as stampeders shared skills and tools to get the job done. For others, it was a cause of argument and the breakup of partnerships. Backbreaking Work Finding suitable wood for boat-making was difficult. Forrests near the lakes were quickly stripped of useable timber. Logs were floated down rivers or carried or dragged considerable distances from other areas. The logs were then set on elevated log platforms and tediously sawn into planks using two-person whipsaws. Once the timber was cut, crude boats were fashioned. The most common was a flat-bottomed skiff 22 to 25 feet in length that could carry a two or three-ton load. Seams between planks were packed with oakum - tar soaked hemp or jute fiber - and covered in pitch. Launch Day Arrives On May 29, 1898, the day the stampeders had been waiting for, finally arrived. The ice began to break, clearing the waterways for travel. On the first day, 800 boats set sail for the Klondike. In all, nearly 7,000 boats began the 550-mile journey from the lakes to Dawson. The journey took about three weeks. A series of rapids challenged the stampeders, many of whom had no previous boating experience. In the first few days, more than 150 boats were wrecked and ten people drowned. Mounties to the Rescue Trying to protect lives and keep control over the stampede, Canada's Northwest Mounted Police established specific regulations for boats descending the Yukon. Boats were inspected and licensed at Lake Bennett before proceeding. The name and next of kin of each passenger was recorded and each boat was required to display a registration number. These numbers were sent to police posts in order to track boats. Family members were notified in the event of a mishap.
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Descending the Yukon Lucille Hunter's Story Most stampeders descended the Yukon from its headwaters just across Chilkoot and White Passes. Lucille Hunter and her husband, however, had taken the Stikine River Route to Teslin Lake. Here many stampeders paused, just as at Lake Bennett, to build a boat and await the spring thaw to start their journey down the Teslin and Yukon rivers to Dawson. But, shortly after New Year's Day, 1898, Lucille and Charles, now with infant Teslin, courageously pressed on alone through the wilderness. They travelled more than 150 miles by dog team over the frozen rivers and through frigid temperatures, howling blizzards, and deep snow drifts. The undoubtedly exhausted family of three arrived in Dawson in February 1898.
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Finally Arrived! It is hard to imagine the grit and stamina required to get this far - to the Klondike gold fields. Still, arrival was no guarantee of success. The Herculean efforts led to riches for very few. In fact, by the time even the earliest stampeders arrived, most good claims had been taken by miners already in the vicinity at the time of the original strike.
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"I tell you this is more than I barained for. ... If any person had told me I could stand this I would certainly have thought they were crazy. ... I would not go through it again for all the gold in Alaska." - Jonas Houck, 1898 "Do not worry about any danger, for there is no more here than in Detroit except what comes with hard work. ... Plenty of that will be at hand. ... I fully expected hard work and lots of it and I shall not be disappointed." Mac McMichael, 1898
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Sourdough, a form of yeast, was used to make bread or pancakes rise during the gold rush. A person who spent at least one full winter in Alaska was called a "Sourdough."
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