Klondike Calls Missoulians
Klondike Called Men Of Missoula In Rush For Gold
Quarter-Century Ago Interest Was High; Adventures of People You Know.
About 25 years ago the report of the discovery of gold in Alaska and north-western Canada reached the then “outside world.” The result of that report is well known and need not be recounted here. It is enough to say that the first discovery was made by an Indian by the name of George Carmack, who was prospecting along the small creek known as the Eldorado in the year 1896. The secret of the discovery was kept for almost two years.
In the great “rush” that promptly ensued, Missoula contributed her share of men who were willing to “take a chance.” In the “25-Years-Ago” column you have been reading of their departure. Now read what happened to them.
Not all of those who left the city met success in their quest for treasure. The measure of their success is usually summed up by them in the laconic answers “made good,” “fairly well,” or “no luck at all.” Needless to say the latter answer predominates in their replies to queries.
Of those who made the trip not all returned. Some died in the great adventure. Others decided to remain in that country and enlisted, invariably, in occupations other than mining. Some, of course, returned.
Some Stories of Alaska
Perhaps it is the variety of results that attended the venture that makes their stories interesting. Some do not care to elaborate on their adventures. It is possible that the explanation of this lies in the fact that they consider their trips as “failures” from a financial standpoint. Some, of course, are to be credited with reticence since they do not like to talk about themselves. Most of them would rather tell of what happened to others rather than themselves.
Some of the most entertaining stories that can be told of the “rush” and the life into which the men were naturally thrown are recalled by A. M. Thornburgh, now with the Ravalli Flour Milling company of Missoula.
Mr. Thornburgh left Missoula some time in the early part of February, 1898, and reached Skagway, Alaska, in the same month. (The reason for Mr. Thornburgh remembering the month in which he reached Skagway, he explained, was that he and his partner, F. M. Osterhout, now in Seattle, left Missoula together and arrived in the Alaska port on the day that “Soapy” Miller[1], gun-man and gambler, was killed on the docks in that city).
The journey to Lake Linderman was made over the Chilcoot[2] [Chilkoot today] pass from Dyea with sleds which the men pulled themselves, being unable to purchase dog teams in either Dyea or Skagway. It was here explained by Mr. Thornburgh, that the two passes in the coast range of mountains, through which the rushers had to pass, were called the Chilcoot and the White Pass, the trails through both converging at Lake Linderman, which with five other lakes, virtually constitute the head of the Yukon river, down which the immigrants had to float to the gold fields, near Dawson at the junction of the Klondike and Yukon rivers. Lake Linderman being frozen, the tide of humanity was pushing its way west to Lake Bennett, where boats were built. About the first of June, 1898, Thornburgh and Osterhout had built their boats and had negotiated Lake Bennett and reached a smaller body of water known as Lake Tagish, where they were detained almost a week, because of the ice jam, with which they had floated down the stream connecting the two lakes. The next stop for the gold-hunters was made at the mouth of what was known as the Stuart river.
This river, and its tributaries, the gold-hunters prospected in hope of finding some of the precious medal, but after 30 days they decided to push on toward Dawson, and on the 8th of July, reached that famous city.
Dawson was, at that time, a veritable “city of tents,” inhabited by about 40,000 people. There was scarcely more than a dozen wooden buildings in the city.
In Dawson, Thornburgh, and his partner, Osterhout, became interested in some mining claims on Bonanza creek, about 14 miles above Dawson, where that stream emptied into the Klondike river. This venture rendered fairly successful financial returns for the partners, but they sold out after four years of work on the claims, and Thornburgh took a position in the main offices of what was then known as the North American Trading and Transportation company. He remained in the offices for about seven years before taking a position as traveling auditor for the concern. He held this position for one year.
In 1910 Thornburgh left Alaska for the United States and settled in Ronan. He remained there for some time and later moved to Stevensville in the Bitter Root valley. A year ago he moved to Missoula.
Mr. Thornburgh maintains that gold-hunting in the Klondike country is “all luck.” During his time in Alaska Thornburgh said that he had personally known of instances where the least possible thing was the turning point toward the success or failure of the gold hunter. The following incidents, related by him indicate the meaning of the theory of “all luck.”
In the locating of claims a man was allowed to stake any property unoccupied to the extent of 200 feet in either direction from the original discovery. But a man could file only once in each locality. With their rude implements for measurement the miners naturally made mistakes, and the government men, coming with their implements for accurate measurement, found that the original owners had over stepped when they had “stepped ‘er off” with the result that each claim extended from 10 to 20 feet too far. A small number of such claims gave what was known as a “fraction,” or piece of ground along the river that did not extend over an area wide enough for a regular claim.
In staking claims along the river or creek beds the prospectors did not have steel tapes for the measurement of their “200 feet” of river front, consequently they either used a piece of rope, which they estimated to be a certain length, or simply “stepped it off.” It was only natural that the Canadian government should take a hand in the proposition later and with proper surveys locate the claims accurately with the aid of instruments. When this time came a party of men, under the leadership of Civil Engineer Ogilvie, who later became famous as a geologist and engineer and was governor of the province of Yukon in later years [sic]. In the party of surveyors who came with Ogilvie for the purpose of assigning these claims to their proper locations was a young man by the name of Lowe.
It was while doing such work for the government that Lowe and the later Governor Ogilvie found a fraction of 100 feet. Lowe had announced his intention of filing on a claim while in the locality but insisted that he wanted a “full claim” such that he didn’t care to take a “fraction.” But the extra fraction was there after the men had finished their measurements and Ogilvie later prevailed on Lowe to file his claim on that extra hundred feet. It is a matter of history that the “fraction” Lowe staked was one of the richest in the world.
The Luck of A. S. Lippe.
Another instance of “luck” was in the case of A. S. Lippe, now a Chicago capitalist, and owner of the great Lippe building in that city.
Lippe was adventuring in the northland and happened to be drifting down the Yukon. He had never heard of the city of Dawson, but late one evening he was drifting down the Yukon river in a canoe. He saw the lights, and when opposite the great white mass of tents he was hailed by a number of people on the shore. He was told of his whereabouts on landing and prevailed upon to remain in the city for awhile.
It so happened that about the time Lippe stopped in Dawson gold was discovered on Bonanza creek, a few hundred feet blow the mouth of the Eldorado. A few days later gold was also discovered on the Eldorado.
Lippe decided he would take a chance and stake on the Eldorado. When he reached the place of discovery, about 14 miles north of Dawson, he found that claims of the gold-hunters extended to No. 27 on the small stream. Claims were going fast so Lippe staked on No. 28. He had not stuck a pick in his claim before a Swede, who had filed on No. 16 claim wanted to trade with him because, the Swede said, his partner had filed on No. 29 and they wanted to locate together in order to use the same tools and otherwise co-operate in working their claims. Lippe was not particularly interested in what claim he worked on, so he traded with the Norsemen’s descendant. Again, it is a matter of record that almost three million dollars in gold were taken from No. 16, Eldorado, while No. 28 was never worth the time it took the miner to measure off the claim.
Another interesting incident was the “framing of the Swede.”
Dawson, in the late ‘90s naturally included among its inhabitants the usual run of gamblers, gun-men, promoters of all sorts, and was, in fact, “wide open.” In other words, Dawson as a mining camp, was no exception to the rule regarding the character of its inhabitants.
During the early dawn of the gold rush men and women had hastened into the new country, intent on making quick money and claims were staked on any and all available space along the various creeks tributary to the Klondike and Yukon. On what was known as “Dominion creek,” some gamblers had staked claims and met disappointment in mining operations.
It so happened that Charley Anderson, a Swede, had drifted up to Dawson from the “40-mile-camp,” an old mining district to the south of Dawson. He possessed what was known as a “full poke,” that is, he had some gold dust. One night, while loitering in one of the “joints” Anderson became somewhat under the influence of liquor; and gamblers, knowing Anderson had some money, took occasion to see that he had more whiskey than he could manage. It was but a short time before the Swede was literally “under.” The condition was what the gamblers had been looking for and a properly executed bill of sale to a Dominion creek claim was slipped into the pocket of Anderson wherein the “poke” had reposed. Anderson, of course, was “broke” on awakening. He complained to the authorities. An investigation was made of the affair by the police but nothing came of it. The police, wise in the ways of the gamblers, suspected the truth of the affair, but were helpless. Anderson was “broke.” He loafed around the city of Dawson a day or so before meeting a friend by the name of Hanson. Hanson happened to have some dust and in the course of their association asked Anderson what he intended to do. The substance of Anderson’s reply was: “Vall, ay skall tank ay yould tak a chance on vorking dat claim on Dominyun crak if ay had sum money.” Hanson “grubstaked” Anderson. The result of the affair was that Anderson took over a million dollars in gold dust from the wildcat claim.
Joe Deschamps Went Early.
Among the first residents of Missoula to respond to the “Call of the Yukon” was Joseph Deschamps. Deschamps had reached Missoula in June, 1877, the year of the Nez Perce Indian war, and had taken up blacksmithing as an occupation. Having no entangling alliances at the time of the discovery of gold, Deschamps headed for Alaska immediately. He left Missoula in the latter part of March, 1897, and joined a company of men, backed financially by a company in Montreal, and led by a civil engineer by the name of Rainfrat. The party reached and crossed the White pass north of Skagway in April, 1898, after having obtained all supplies for operating in the mining country while in Seattle. The company halted on Lake Bennett for the purpose of building boats preparatory to floating down the Yukon. Two boats were finished and the float down the river was started. The first landing of the party was made at the mouth of the Stuart river, which empties into the Yukon a few hundred miles above Dawson. Prospecting was done along that river and its tributaries for some months, the quest leading the party of six up the river as far as Fort MacQueston.
While navigating the Stuart river one of the boats owned by the party capsized and spilled its cargo in the river. Some of the cargo was recovered when the MacQueston Indians salvaged it from the river and returned it to the prospectors following proper financial reimbursement. Stoves and whipsaws were among the articles recovered. The tents, blankets, and lighter articles being a total loss. The trip up the Stuart was unsuccessful and the party disbanded.
Deschamps and his nephew, I. J. Deschamps, who is now in Alaska, but was formerly of Missoula, prospected in the Stuart river country for almost a year with doubtful success before heading for Dawson, where Joseph became interested in many claims on the Gold Run creek, which later turned out to be invaluable as gold producers. But no gold reached the pockets of Deschamps from these claims since there was no way of registering, or recording, the claims of the miners. Deschamps attempted to record and get clear title to his claim but could not. In the meantime men who were working for the Canadian government filed on the same claims in the name of one of Canada’s largest banking institutions and succeeded in usurping them in the name of that institution and through it unlimited influence with the government.
Deschamps spent a year prospecting on uncertain claims without success, and, finding himself going “broke,” went to work for the partnership of Hall and Picotee, owner of the “Famous 17,” on Eldorado creek. In the interests of the partnership he later worked at the blacksmithing trade on the “14 Bonanza” (the number indicating the position of the claim among the others; and the name indicating the district in which the claim was located.) He spent the summer there and returned to his home in Missoula in the fall of 1900.
Mr. Deschamps, since his return has been plying his trade as blacksmith in the Front street shop which bears his name. He was compelled to retire from work four years ago, on account of an attack of the influenza. He is the owner of the building now occupied by the County garage on Front street, and now lives at 221 Front street, island.
Another of Missoula’s residents who left for Alaska and the gold fields, was Will Cave, now justice of the peace with offices in the county court house. Having nothing in particular to keep him from responding to the call for adventure and gold, Cave left Missoula among the very first treasure hunters. He had become associated with a man by the name of A. B. Ferguson from Kansas City who insisted that they take their chances together in Alaska.
They outfitted themselves in Seattle and bought horses, which sold at comparatively little at that time. They were landed in due time at Skagway, and headed over the White pass for Lake Bennett, the head of the Yukon, where they intended to build boats for the float down to Dawson. While making the trip over the White pass, which crowded by man and beast in the mad rush to reach the gold fields, Cave became engrossed with the idea of establishing a transportation company with feed-stations along the trail leading through the pass, which would facilitate the passage of the travelers. Ferguson concurred with the idea and insisted that Cave make a trip back to his (Ferguson’s) home in Kansas City where, Ferguson said, financial aid could easily be enlisted. Cave came back to Kansas City, but could not raise the desired money for the business proposition from the friends of Ferguson.
Realizing at once the futility of trying to raise money among the friends of Ferguson, Cave headed back for Skagway still imbued with the “gold-hunting fever.” He did not have a great deal of money at the time but reached Seattle and embarked for Skagway, this on January 20, 1898, on the steamboat Corona. On the 23rd of January the Corona was wrecked opposite what is now the port of Prince Rupert, and near Kennedy Island. Cave lost his supplies and outfit in the wreck of the steamer, but pushed on to Skagway at the first opportunity. But when that place had been reached, he found that the “fever” had begun to wane and Cave decided to return to Missoula. Having lost practically all his belongings in the shipwreck and finding himself without funds, he pawned his gold watch and returned home.
At the time of Cave’s return the Spanish American war was claiming most of the attention and Cave at once began the organization of a company of volunteers for service. His company was later received into the service of the nation as the “Third U. S. Volunteer Cavalry” and Cave was given the rank of second lieutenant in the company. This was the first volunteer organization to be received by the government.
Many of the old-timers who left Missoula in the quest of gold in Alaska have not returned from that country, establishing themselves in business there and finding prosperity in other callings than mining. A few met their death while in Alaska; not a few have returned to Missoula and subsequently removed to some other locality. Many have died. Some refused to tell of their adventure in the “rush.”
But regardless of the difficulties encountered in getting their “stories” and in getting the adventurers to recall events, there is a fascination in following the lives of these men while going to and from Alaska and specially their impressions of the events that took place during that historical period.
The above article appeared in The Sunday Missoulian on April 1, 1923.
A photograph of the miners crossing Chilkoot Pass in 1898 appears in the Library of Congress Canada:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chilkoot_Pass#/media/File:Miners_climb_Chilkoot.jpg
[1] Likely “Soapy Smith” who was a real person during this time.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soapy_Smith