The hunt for gold has fascinated man for centuries, and played a key role in the discovery of new land and settlement of mining boom towns throughout 17th and 18th century America. Prospectors scoured the country, making discoveries that often turned desolate valleys into crowded settlements overnight. Claims of abundant, rich gold were wildly exaggerated more often than not, but folks flocked to the new finds religiously. A few lucky prospectors got rich, but most left the gold fields with nothing but broken dreams.
Today the legacy of the gold rush days includes various mining ghost towns scattered throughout the western U.S., and stacks of literature piled high on some dusty library shelves. Books are filled with information on gold rushes of years past, but much of that writing was hyped up or misrepresented to the point of being patently false and downright dishonest. The goal was to sell papers and books to would-be miners, and most folks would believe just about anything they read back then.
Perhaps the most glorified gold rush in North American history was the Klondike, where an estimated 100,000 people migrated to the Klondike region of the Yukon from 1896-1899. While most of the old literature on the Klondike is even more useless today than it was for gold rushers back then, one book stands above all of the rest. William B. Haskell’s “Two Years in the Klondike and Alaskan Gold-Fields” was one man’s true personal account of the time he spent living and prospecting in the Klondike.
Unlike most of the books on the Klondike, Haskell told folks how life really was in the gold camps. He didn’t bother to make exaggerated claims or paint a rosy picture. In fact, his advice to people wanting to join the Klondike rush was to stay home. Throughout the book, Haskell described mining and life in the Klondike with a style of writing not commonly seen in his time. For a book that’s over 100 years old, his writing is surprisingly easy to read, and his unique observations and witty remarks help make the book a gem.
Bill Haskell’s book on the Klondike was originally published in 1898, and was republished by the University of Alaska in 1998. It has been widely used as a reliable reference for gold rush historians. It’s also an easy book to find. The original version is available as a free e-book online, and the reprint is fairly common.
Bill Haskell and the Klondike might sound familiar to some folks. That’s because the History Channel aired “Klondike”, a TV mini-series based on Haskell’s experiences in the book, back in January. The show was an incredible success, averaging over 3 million viewers per episode.
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