In 1897, the world was in a state of economic depression. It was a particularly grinding form of recession for it hit the small businessman, laborer, and salaried white-collar worker especially hard. The dole was common, bread lines were long, and no end appeared to be in sight as summer neared.
Then rumors trickled out about a fabulous new gold discovery somewhere in the North. At first these accounts were either ignored or discounted; it was simply too good to be true. There were reports of nuggets the size of a man's thumb, lying on the ground just waiting to be picked up. No one was certain precisely where the gold fields were; apparently they were along the Yukon River, but whether they were in Canada or the United States, no one seemed to know. The area was described by a new term, the Klondike.
By July, 1897, this word was on the tongue of every adventurous soul around the world. This occurred with the arrival of the SS Excelsior in San Francisco and the SS Portland in Seattle, each with a fortune of gold on board. Rumor became fact, the new El Dorado had been found.
Overnight the West Coast hummed with activity as more than 100,000 men streamed in from around the world on one of history's strangest adventures.
By and large, these men were not miners or prospectors, but were clerks, teachers, accountants and other urbanized people. The reasons for going to the Klondike varied with each individual, as did the decision to keep going when things got difficult en route and as to how long one should remain in the Klondike.
A strange madness had gripped the world. To appreciate the people, places and events of the years 1897-1898, we will examine, in a whimsical manner, the individual in history. |
