Finding Aid
Klondike River Valley (Yukon) – Gold Discoveries
Klondike Gold Rush collection. – 1898-[195-?]. – 6 cm of textual records and graphic material. First-Third accruals.
First accrual
F.1 Typescript of Klondyke letters. The authors of these letters originated in Chicago and arrived in Dawson City in the fall of 1899. Written between 18 September 1898 and 12 March 1899, these letters describe the group’s journey from Seattle to Northern Canada, including their boat passage on Lake Bennett, and their eventual settlement in Dawson City. Notably, while en route to Dawson City, the authors encountered the Reverend S. Hall Young, who established the community’s Presbyterian Church in 1897. Reference is made to the early film industry, specifically in relation to the Monte Carlo Theatre. The typescript, typed at a later date and by an unknown typist, contains eleven letters. The first letter, from Walter to his mother is dated 18 September 1898. Subsequent letters are written by Dickie (or Dicky) or “Dickie and all” and are addressed to Alfie Wilson, Emma, or other unnamed family members (“Darlings”). Authors’ surnames are unknown.
Stereo cards (F2-F.9); some cards have information about the scenes printed on their backs
B&w photographs, two identical photographs pasted on each card:
F.2 James M. Davis (New York, St. Louis, Liverpool, Toronto, Sydney), copyright1898, B.W. Kilburn, 3 cards: “Onward and Upward over the Chilcoot Pass”, “Dawson City from the North, Alaksa”, “City of Cold Feet, Alaska”.
F.3 Griffith & Griffith (Philadelphia; Chicago; London; Hamburg, Germany; Milan, Italy), “Claim No. 2, below Anvil, Cape Nome, Alaska”
F.4 Keystone View Company (Meadville, Pa.; St. Louis, Mo.), copyright 1898 by B.D. Kingley, 13 cards with scenes of the Yukon River, the Chilkoot Pass, and Dyea Trail
F.5 Liberty Brand, New Education Series, “Climbing the Golden Way, Chilcoot Pass”
F.6 F.A. Messerschmidt (Naperville, Ills.), sold by agents of the Universal Art Company, copyright 1900 by William H. Rau, “Yukon Steamer ‘Canadian’ heading for the Gold Fields. The Klondike”.
F.7 Underwood & Underwood Publishers (New York, London, Toronto-Canada, Ottawa-Kansas), “Gold miners at work in the Klondike country, Yukon district, Canada”
F.8 Montgomery Ward & Co., Chicago, “The Klondike. Wooding up on the Yukon at Fifty-Mile”; photographs are of a ship with logs beside. Color tint has been added to this card.
Col. printed cards, with two images on each card:
F.9 Seven cards (two are identified as Griffith &Griffith). Scenes include: Dawson City, a miner’s home at Cape Nome, working No. 4 Bonanza, Kasa-an Village
F.10 Christmas card, “The Season’s Greetings to You, M. Joyssaye Fotheringham,Yukon, 1926”; the card contains a pasted on image titled “Prospector’s cabin near Dawson, Y.T.” as well as poems by Marie Joyssaye.
F.11 Col. post card, “Over Chilkoot Pass during the Gold Rush in Alaska”, copyrighted by E.A. Hegg, Cordova, Alaska. It was postmarked from Skagway in 1943.
F.12 Four tear-sheets of b&w artwork from a magazine depicting Dawson City and Bonanza Creek
F.13 Tear-sheet from Harper’s Weekly, titled “On the Way to the Klondike Gold-Fields”; 7 reproductions of photographs, 1897
Second accrual
F.14 B&w photographs as well as one serviette, 1898-[195-?]; predominant 1898-1899, 11 items. The serviette has text in red and green as follows: “Enroute to Klondike Gold Fields, at Lake Bennett, 1898, White Pass and Yukon Route”. Also stamped on the serviette is an illustration of Lake Bennett. There are photographs of prospectors at church at Lake Bennett; street scenes in Dawson City including the opening of Joe’s Road House on Dominion Day (1 July) and doing the laundry; prospectors on the White Pass in winter; a freight team on the summit of Hunker Creek; and people grouped in front of the Road House in Sulphur Creek. There is also one photograph of the Treadwell mine which was located on the north side of Douglas Island, just south east of Juneau, Alaska. Finally there is a group tear-sheet photograph of elderly former prospectors in Guelph with a poem typed below.
Third accrual
F.15 "Bonanza & Gold Hill, Wolfe photo Dawson Y.T.'08"; "Canadian Klondyke Mining Co. Operation Bear Creek, 1907. Wolfe Photo Dawson Y.T." 2 photographs
