Alex Burke
Hero Member
The following link is to a paper based on the early gold rush to Alaska. The mayor of Seattle quit his job to go mine gold in Alaska just over 100 years ago. Think about that fact for a second and imagine if that happened today
Senators visited the miners in the camps and were sworn into the mining brotherhoods! The government helped build roads and sent their best geologists like Collier and Hess to visit the mining camps and study the geology of the areas. They worked together by sharing and gathering information from and with the miners. Thousands of people traveled to the most remote areas and many died along the trail. They bravely prospected, built trails, survived brutal winters and built the towns we recognize now along the way.
Here is the link and some excerpts from the paper in hopes it will interest those reading this to read the full paper and get a better sense of the different attitudes towards mining in America and the struggles the heroic men and women endured as recently as 100 years ago.
http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/b...tivityRampoartManleyHotSpringFortGibbonLO.pdf
>>>>>Excerpts:
"The port of Seattle bustled as passengers swarmed on board ships bound for the strike on August 17, 1896. Passengers included General Edward M. Carr; Captain Andrew J. Balliet and John H McGraw, governor of Washington State from 1892-1896".
"Many people willingly gave up good jobs to seek the elusive gold. Seattle Mayor William D. Wood resigned his office to head the Seattle-Yukon Commercial Company".
"He spent his first night in Rampart in a small cabin with nineteen other men, one of whom snored loudly and most of whom were sick from eating sour caribou. At rest in his new home, Sundborg discovered he was covered with lice".
"B. W. Moore, Jr., of Montgomery, West Virginia, summed up survival lessons. He wrote his sage advice to himself in his Miller Creek diary:
Don'ts for Alaska from Observation December 13, 1897
Don't go out without waterproof matchbox filled.
Don't try to go out even 300 yards with wet feet in cold weather. Stop and make a fire.
Don't take a long trip or leave the trail by yourself. Be with someone as much as possible.
Don't try to go too far without eating and always arrange to have something to eat. Pine (W. G. Pinecoffin) says a man will die in seven hours and thirty-five minutes unless he eats.
Don't believe everything you hear.
Don't be too ready and willing to go in cahoot.
Don't try to cross a mountain in winter without snowshoes.
Don't for God's sake, let a hungry man pass your cabin.
Don't be stingy, selfish, or crabby. .
Don't think for a minute you know where the gold is, for it's just where you find it.
Don't go out without a piece of candle in your pocket. You can always get a fire with a candle".
"He also learned the laws of the mining camp where there were no locks on doors or caches. Anyone convicted by a jury of stealing would receive a public whipping,of 100 lashes, and would be released to float downriver on a raft to an uncertain end, probably death. If a miner was away from his cabin, any other miner had a right to enter that cabin, eat food from the shelves, and sleep there, but not to remove anything from the cabin".
"Beach described Joyce as a former Texas Ranger, seventy years old, lean, and hawk-faced. After a ten-hour workday, Joyce loped twelve miles into Rampart three times a week to be with his lady friend.
"To celebrate the conclusion of the hearings, Ramparters in the Arctic Brotherhood, Camp No. 15, initiated the senators and their staff at a smoker in their lodge. Through the senators, they invited President Teddy Roosevelt to join their camp".
>>>>>End excerpts
How these Americans inhabited this relatively new part of the United States in these early days of Alaska is a truly amazing and in my opinion lost completely when I talk to average people about the subject in my life.
I realize many people here on this forum know this history and understand all to well how quickly these stories have been forgotten as well as how in just a few decades small scale mining has been eroded through policies against the miner in large part due to a lack of public knowledge on this type of important history or for that matter modern techniques.
When people make a negative comment on the Discovery Gold Rush show it is often from a member in my opinion that understands the full context of the history, modern attitudes/misconceptions about small scale mining. Obviously a small number of comments are based on jealousy or just being a "hater" but most of these comments come from people that understand and care about mining and are worried about how it is being portrayed in the public eye.
I have talked to many people with limited knowledge about gold mining and they have almost all seen Gold Rush or Bering Sea gold but usually know little or nothing of the history of mining here in Ca or Ak. It is sad to me a large segment of the general public bases their opinions on mining on these shows. Most people I talk to see lots of glory holes, gold and drama but missed the episode they must have ran about reclamation.
Personally I would rather see the real forgotten stories like in the link that in essence paved the quickly narrowing road left in American mining for these TV shows to still, barely take place. My mining heroes are the people from papers like these and some members of this forum. I have nothing against entertainment and people are free to idolize the stars of these shows but lets put the shows in their correct context. Sorry for the rant Alex
Senators visited the miners in the camps and were sworn into the mining brotherhoods! The government helped build roads and sent their best geologists like Collier and Hess to visit the mining camps and study the geology of the areas. They worked together by sharing and gathering information from and with the miners. Thousands of people traveled to the most remote areas and many died along the trail. They bravely prospected, built trails, survived brutal winters and built the towns we recognize now along the way.
Here is the link and some excerpts from the paper in hopes it will interest those reading this to read the full paper and get a better sense of the different attitudes towards mining in America and the struggles the heroic men and women endured as recently as 100 years ago.
http://www.blm.gov/style/medialib/b...tivityRampoartManleyHotSpringFortGibbonLO.pdf
>>>>>Excerpts:
"The port of Seattle bustled as passengers swarmed on board ships bound for the strike on August 17, 1896. Passengers included General Edward M. Carr; Captain Andrew J. Balliet and John H McGraw, governor of Washington State from 1892-1896".
"Many people willingly gave up good jobs to seek the elusive gold. Seattle Mayor William D. Wood resigned his office to head the Seattle-Yukon Commercial Company".
"He spent his first night in Rampart in a small cabin with nineteen other men, one of whom snored loudly and most of whom were sick from eating sour caribou. At rest in his new home, Sundborg discovered he was covered with lice".
"B. W. Moore, Jr., of Montgomery, West Virginia, summed up survival lessons. He wrote his sage advice to himself in his Miller Creek diary:
Don'ts for Alaska from Observation December 13, 1897
Don't go out without waterproof matchbox filled.
Don't try to go out even 300 yards with wet feet in cold weather. Stop and make a fire.
Don't take a long trip or leave the trail by yourself. Be with someone as much as possible.
Don't try to go too far without eating and always arrange to have something to eat. Pine (W. G. Pinecoffin) says a man will die in seven hours and thirty-five minutes unless he eats.
Don't believe everything you hear.
Don't be too ready and willing to go in cahoot.
Don't try to cross a mountain in winter without snowshoes.
Don't for God's sake, let a hungry man pass your cabin.
Don't be stingy, selfish, or crabby. .
Don't think for a minute you know where the gold is, for it's just where you find it.
Don't go out without a piece of candle in your pocket. You can always get a fire with a candle".
"He also learned the laws of the mining camp where there were no locks on doors or caches. Anyone convicted by a jury of stealing would receive a public whipping,of 100 lashes, and would be released to float downriver on a raft to an uncertain end, probably death. If a miner was away from his cabin, any other miner had a right to enter that cabin, eat food from the shelves, and sleep there, but not to remove anything from the cabin".
"Beach described Joyce as a former Texas Ranger, seventy years old, lean, and hawk-faced. After a ten-hour workday, Joyce loped twelve miles into Rampart three times a week to be with his lady friend.
"To celebrate the conclusion of the hearings, Ramparters in the Arctic Brotherhood, Camp No. 15, initiated the senators and their staff at a smoker in their lodge. Through the senators, they invited President Teddy Roosevelt to join their camp".
>>>>>End excerpts
How these Americans inhabited this relatively new part of the United States in these early days of Alaska is a truly amazing and in my opinion lost completely when I talk to average people about the subject in my life.
I realize many people here on this forum know this history and understand all to well how quickly these stories have been forgotten as well as how in just a few decades small scale mining has been eroded through policies against the miner in large part due to a lack of public knowledge on this type of important history or for that matter modern techniques.
When people make a negative comment on the Discovery Gold Rush show it is often from a member in my opinion that understands the full context of the history, modern attitudes/misconceptions about small scale mining. Obviously a small number of comments are based on jealousy or just being a "hater" but most of these comments come from people that understand and care about mining and are worried about how it is being portrayed in the public eye.
I have talked to many people with limited knowledge about gold mining and they have almost all seen Gold Rush or Bering Sea gold but usually know little or nothing of the history of mining here in Ca or Ak. It is sad to me a large segment of the general public bases their opinions on mining on these shows. Most people I talk to see lots of glory holes, gold and drama but missed the episode they must have ran about reclamation.
Personally I would rather see the real forgotten stories like in the link that in essence paved the quickly narrowing road left in American mining for these TV shows to still, barely take place. My mining heroes are the people from papers like these and some members of this forum. I have nothing against entertainment and people are free to idolize the stars of these shows but lets put the shows in their correct context. Sorry for the rant
Alex
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