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Sterling Point Books: Stampede for Gold: The Story of the Klondike Rush

The Klondike gold rush, which occurred between 1896 and 1899, was one of the strangest outbreaks of “gold fever” ever to take place. With news of California’s rush still fresh in their minds, thousands of men with get-rich-quick dreams hurried to stake out claims in the Yukon. But they did not count on the murderous weather…or the severe mountain passes that protected the gold. Among those who came with high hopes were author Pierre Berton’s parents; here, he presents vividly written, firsthand accounts of the gunfights, con men, avalanches, frostbite, and starvation people endured. It is an amazing and unforgettable true story of superhuman challenges, death-defying adventure, and lifelong friendships.

This old gold miner keeps watch over an old gold battery, where slurry passes through a number of gold extraction processes. The noise from the pounding is deafening, hence the ear plugs. I've been camping from a week and visited several old gold mines in my travels.

The note on the back of this photo says, "Placer mining near Atlin. This old miner sold the nuggets which he panned for the amount of gold in them. June 25"

Taken circa 1915 (+/- 10 years)

Both a history of an overlooked community and a well-rounded reassessment of prevailing assumptions about Chinese miners in the American West, In Pursuit of Gold brings to life in rich detail the world of turn-of-the-century mining towns in the Northwest. Sue Fawn Chung meticulously recreates the lives of Chinese immigrants, miners, merchants, and others who populated these towns and interacted amicably with their white and Native American neighbors, defying the common perception of nineteenth-century Chinese communities as insular enclaves subject to increasing prejudice and violence.

While most research has focused on Chinese miners in California, this book is the first extensive study of Chinese experiences in the towns of John Day in Oregon and Tuscarora, Island Mountain, and Gold Creek in Nevada. Chung illustrates the relationships between miners and merchants within the communities and in the larger context of immigration, arguing that the leaders of the Chinese and non-Chinese communities worked together to create economic interdependence and to short-circuit many of the hostilities and tensions that plagued other mining towns.

Peppered with fascinating details about these communities from the intricacies of Chinese gambling games to the techniques of hydraulic mining, In Pursuit of Gold draws on a wealth of historical materials, including immigration records, census manuscripts, legal documents, newspapers, memoirs, and manuscript collections. Chung supplements this historical research with invaluable first-hand observations of artifacts that she experienced in archaeological digs and restoration efforts at several of the sites of the former booming mining towns.

In clear, analytical prose, Chung expertly characterizes the movement of Chinese miners into Oregon and Nevada, the heyday of their mining efforts in the region, and the decline of the communities due to changes in the mining industry. Highlighting the positive experiences and friendships many of the immigrants had in these relatively isolated mining communities, In Pursuit of Gold also suggests comparisons with the Chinese diaspora in other locations such as British Columbia and South Africa.