"Historic context study for: Gates of the Artic National Park and Preserve."

"Published by the United States Department of the Interior through the Government Printing Office."

Shipping list: 2017-0122-P.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 151-152).

"When thousands of stampeders raced to claim their share of the Klondike, reports already circulated that the Canadian gold fields were 'all filled up' and the gold-seekers faced a choice : work for wages at someone else's Klondike mine or search for gold on the American side of the international boundary. Those who chose the Koyukuk River came from as far away as Illinois, Michigan, and New York, and most were woefully unprepared for life above the Arctic Circle. During the winter of 1898-1899, an ad hoc commonwealth formed on the upper Koyukuk made up of steamboat captains, seasoned miners, know-nothing 'cheechakos,' and the merchants who set up to sell picks and shovels and beans and bacon. Soon rough-and-tumble mining camps took shape on the upper branches of the Koyukuk River system. The purpose of this study is to identify the origins of this extraordinary burst of human activity and to tell the story of the Koyukuk River stampeders as they struggled through a long, dark winter in one of Alaska'a most isolated gold rush hinterlands" --from introduction.

Also available online.

SACFinal081324