Taking To The Trails
 |
| An 1898 Gold Miner, high on a hill near Valdez, surrounded by heavy gear that he'd hauled up the mountain by hand. |
During The Alaska Gold Rush
There were no shortage of "experts" on what to take to Alaska during the 1898 Gold Rush. Chief among them was the big Chicago mail order warehouse, Montgomery Ward.
Today, you can go to the Pioneer Museum in Fairbanks, and see a Monkey Ward poster with the heading, 'We Know What You'll Need in Alaska" The "Grocery Outfit for One Man...12 to 14 Months" included:
400 lbs. of flour, 20 lbs. of corn meal, 40 lbs. rolled oats, 25 lbs. rice, 75 lbs. beans, 75 lbs splilt peas, 25 lbs salt pork, 2.25 ozs saccharine, 10 lbs. baking powder, 150 lbs bacon, 25 lbs dried beef, 2 lbs. soda, 6 packages of yeast cakes, 24 lbs salt, 2 dozen cans evaporated milk, 3 bars tar soap, 5 lbs. laundry soap, a 10 lb. tin of matches, 5 lbs. raisins, 25 lbs. coffee, 10 lbs. tea, 3 dozen soap squares, a lb. of pepper, half a pound of mustard, 20 lbs. evaporated apples, 6 jars beef extract, half a pound ground ginger, 20 lbs. evaporated peaches, 25 lbs. evaporated potatoes (in 5-lb canvas bags) and 5 lbs. evaporated onions. In case you happened to find yourself in Alaska, with "three or four men" requiring a meal, for an extra dollar, Montgomery Ward threw in an "Army Ration Packet" -- a 19th Century MRE -- that included Irish Stew and hard tack -- weighing 4.75 pounds, and featuring little packets of salt, pepper, and coffee.
Montgomery Ward also had an equally heavy list of "Clothing and hardware" necessities for a single miner.
Montgomery Ward promised:
In making this list we offer only such articles as WE KNOW you should take to Alaska, and we confidently say, that with EVERY ARTICLE GUARANTEED AS REPRESENTED, there is no place in the world where, for the same money, you can duplicate this outfit in quantity and quality.
The well-prepared miner, said Montgomery Ward, needed 2 jumbo undershirts, 2 pairs of jumbo drawers, 2 summer undershirts, 2 pairs summer drawers, 2 pairs German socks, 3 pairs heavy hose, 4 pairs summer hose, a heavy sweater, with hood, a sleeping cap, a Danco cap, a Scotch camp, a blanket lined duck coat, a pair of duck pants, a mackinaw coat, a pair of mackinaw pants, 2 pairs duck overalls, a slicker, a pair of slicker pants, a souwester, 2 rubber blankets, 2 flannel overshirts, a "Klondike Esquimau" suit, a pair of horsehide gloves, 2 pairs horsehide lined mittens, 2 pairs woolen gloves, 2 pairs of suspenders, a 20 lb. sleeping bag, a Winchester 44. caliber rifle, a 44 Colt Revolver, bullets for both, a 7x7 wall tent, a pair of hip boots, a pair of leather boots, and 2 pairs of "Arctics." For actual mining and household and personal maintenance, the miner also needed: a pair of U.S. blankets, a 20 lb. setting of "agate tableware" a miner's shovel and clamps, a 3 1/2 lb. ax, an extra ax handle, a 7 lb. board ax, 2 picks, 2 pick handles, a 3 lb. coffee mill for that 25 lbs of coffee, a 2 lb miner's gold pan, a rifle cover, a 4 1/2 lb. belt, a holster, a hunting knife and sheath, 2 pieces of mosquito nettings, 3 augers of various sizes with a handle, snow glasses, a 5 foot whip-saw, 5 1/2 foot cross-cut saws, a 28 inch rip-saw, 12 assorted files, a draw knife for peeling logs, a 30 lb. Yukon Stove, a 3 1/2 lb "heavy" hammer, and a light hammer, a pair of "Miner's Shoes", a "Miner's Glass", a brass pocket compass, and a 50 foot tape line.
Then, to top it off, a miner needed a ten-pound medicine chest, with 45 items in it, including medicines for colds, diarrhea, heart ailments, headaches, piles, toothaches, worms, gonorrhea -- and 50 cents worth of anti-scurvy medication.
Montgomery Ward warned potential miners:
You should bear in mind that in a wild and inhospitable country, such as the Yukon is, where vegetables and fresh fruits are unknown, unless imported and sold at fabulous prices, something in the way of fruit is absolutely indispensable to ward off the dreaded scurvy. But there are other commodities which one's personal liking may induce him to take, as for instance, rice, syrup, oatmeal, hardtack and lime juice.
The average miner's gear ran around 1,500 lbs. The problem of what to do with the gear once you got to Alaska was not addressed . How could one person move this amount of gear around the countryside, without roads, or horses -- or, in most cases, even dogs to help him?
Montgomery Ward cagily solved this problem of transport by showing illustrations of prospectors who somehow seemed to have beasts of burden show up in Alaska -- to help them with this task One prospector is shown driving two horses and a large, heavily laden sled, across snow covered terrain on an obvious trail.
The other prospector is sauntering along, leading a burro with some packs strapped to its back, and carrying a rifle.