Hard Drive To The Klondike

The Alaskan Klondike Gold Rush coincided with major events, including the arrival of the railroad, and it exemplified continuing trends in Seattle's history. If not the primary cause of the city's growth and prosperity, the Klondike Gold Rush nonetheless serves as a colorful reflection of the era and its themes, including the celebrated "Seattle spirit." This historic resource study examines the Klondike Gold Rush, beginning in the early 1850's with the founding of Seattle, and ending in 1909 with the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition commemorating the Klondike Gold Rush and the growth of the city. Chapter 1 describes early Seattle and the gold strikes in the Klondike, while the following three chapters analyze how the city became the gateway to the Yukon, how the stampede to the Far North stimulated local businesses, and how the city's infrastructure and boundaries changed during the era of the gold rush. Chapter 5 looks at how historians have interpreted the Klondike Gold Rush throughout the 20th century. The final chapter brings the Klondike story up to the present, describing the establishment of Seattle's Pioneer Square Historic District and the Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park. The chapter titles include: (1) "'By-and-By': The Early History of Seattle"; (2) "Selling Seattle"; (3) "Reaping the Profits of the Klondike Trade"; (4) "Building the City"; (5) "Interpreting the Klondike Gold Rush"; and (6) "Historic Resources in the Modern Era." Contains an extensive 147-item partially annotated bibliography; 12 appendixes contain historical documents and photographs.

In 1896 gold was discovered in British Columbia on Rabbit Creek. People from far and wide planned expeditions to the icy field of the far north. This is a in-depth study of the economics and culture of the time.

This sesquicentennial project of Presbyterian College tells the stories of thirteen individuals, chosen from among its graduates, faculty and benefactors, whose still voices represent in unique ways the history and influence of the college over the past 150 years. Each chapter presents a biography, a sermon, address, letter or report, followed by a commentary showing how this still voice spoke to the issues of the time and why it still should be heard. The themes remind us of the college's continuing mission to provide the Church with strong and visionary leaders. The book concludes with useful lists of Presbyterian College's students, scholars, supporters and societies down through the years.

Exploring the significance of places that built our cultural past, this guide is a lens into historical sites spanning the entire history of the United States, from Acoma Pueblo to Ground Zero. Historic Sites and Landmarks That Shaped America: From Acoma Pueblo to Ground Zero encompasses more than 200 sites from the earliest settlements to the present, covering a wide variety of locations. It includes concise yet detailed entries on each landmark that explain its importance to the nation. With entries arranged alphabetically according to the name of the site and the state in which it resides, this work covers both obscure and famous landmarks to demonstrate how a nation can grow and change with the creation or discovery of important places. The volume explores the ways different cultures viewed, revered, or even vilified these sites. It also examines why people remember such places more than others. Accessible to both novice and expert readers, this well-researched guide will appeal to anyone from high school students to general adult readers.

"A very enjoyable biography of a woman on the cusp of change in the North. Recommended." Choice “Beautifully written biography…much to learn, enjoy, and recommend in this book.” Pacific Northwest Quarterly “A riveting story told by a brilliant writer.” Pacific Historical Review The never-before-told story of Kate Carmack, whose resilience and survival made gold rush history Headlines shouted the discovery of a century—Gold! Gold! Gold! With pluck and grit, Tagish Indian Kate Carmack was at the center of it all. Raised in the ways of her people, Kate married a white man who took credit for finding the first Klondike gold. But Kate was there, and she knew the truth. In the frenzied aftermath of the gold rush, Kate’s husband took her away from everything she knew. Then he abandoned her. Defiant, she fought for the wealth that was rightfully hers, only to discover the real wealth that was hers all along. Hidden history that reads like a novel, Wealth Woman celebrates the triumph of spirit in the face of adversity. If you loved Empire of the Summer Moon and The Woman They Could Not Silence, you’ll love Wealth Woman. A True West Best Biography pick.

The Borderlands of the American and Canadian Wests is the first collection of interdisciplinary essays bringing together scholars from both sides of the forty-ninth parallel to examine life in a transboundary region. The result is a text that reveals the diversity, difficulties, and fortunes of this increasingly powerful but little-understood part of the North American West. Contributions by historians, geographers, anthropologists, and scholars of criminal justice and environmental studies provide a comprehensive picture of the history of the borderlands region of the western United States and Canada. The Borderlands of the American and Canadian Wests is divided into six parts: Defining the Region, Colonizing the Frontier, Farming and Other Labor Interactions, the Borderlands as a Refuge in the Nineteenth Century, the Borderlands as a Refuge in the Twentieth Century, and Natural Resources and Conservation along the Border. Topics include the borderlands environment; its aboriginal and gender history; frontier interactions and comparisons; agricultural and labor relations; tourism; the region as a refuge for Mormons, far-right groups, and Vietnam War resisters; and conservation and natural resources. These areas show how the history and geography of the borderlands region has been transboundary, multidimensional, and unique within North America.

As the Klondike gold rush peaked in spring 1898, adventurers and gamblers rubbed shoulders with town-builders and gold-panners in Skagway, Alaska. The flow of riches lured confidence men, too—among them Jefferson Randolph “Soapy” Smith (1860–98), who with an entourage of “bunco-men” conned and robbed the stampeders. Soapy, though, a common enough criminal, would go down in legend as the Robin Hood of Alaska, the “uncrowned king of Skagway,” remembered for his charm and generosity, even for calming a lynch mob. When the Fourth of July was celebrated in ’98, he supposedly led the parade. Then, a few days later, he was dead, killed in a shootout over a card game. With Smith’s death, Skagway rid itself of crime forever. Or at least, so the story goes. Journalists immediately cast him as a martyr whose death redeemed a violent town. In fact, he was just a petty criminal and card shark, as Catherine Holder Spude proves definitively in “That Fiend in Hell”: Soapy Smith in Legend, a tour de force of historical debunking that documents Smith’s elevation to western hero. In sorting out the facts about this man and his death from fiction, Spude concludes that the actual Soapy was not the legendary “boss of Skagway,” nor was he killed by Frank Reid, as early historians supposed. She shows that even eyewitnesses who knew the truth later changed their stories to fit the myth. But why? Tracking down some hundred retellings of the Soapy Smith story, Spude traces the efforts of Skagway’s boosters to reinforce a morality tale at the expense of a complex story of town-building and government formation. The idea that Smith’s death had made a lawless town safe served Skagway’s economic interests. Spude’s engaging deconstruction of Soapy’s story models deep research and skepticism crucial to understanding the history of the American frontier.