Sam and Donald had been readying themselves for Donald’s leaving for the past few days. The wedding was less than a week away and they were heading to Dawson tomorrow. Donald needed some new clothes, and they had to help with the last minute arrangements. After the wedding, Donald would be staying in Dawson until the sternwheeler arrived.
They had divided the gold they had cleaned, dumping Donald’s share into the backpack. Sam insisted that Donald take a larger portion.
“No, the agreement was that we divide our gold in half,” Donald said.
“I’ll be finding more gold after you leave. Plus, in return for the claim transfer I did for Clarence, he ceded me an equal length of the lower end of the property. I will have whatever gold I get from that.”
“No.” Donald’s tone was firm. He closed the backpack then looked at Sam. “Are you thinking of coming home with us?”
Sam shrugged. “I’ve thought about it, but apart from my parents, there is nothing for me in Nova Scotia.”
“But with all the gold you have you could buy yourself a nice home, start a business, and see the world maybe even find a wife.”
“Or I could do most of that here.” Sam hated himself for it, but he was already wondering how soon he could start courting Isabel.
“True.” Donald looked around the small room. “This is our last night together in this cabin,” he said, a catch in his voice. “I feel like we should do something to mark it.”
“I’d invite our neighbours over to say goodbye to you, but most of them are also leaving on the same boat.”
“Except Isabel,” Donald said.
“Yes, except Isabel.” Sam’s voice softened as he said her name.
Donald looked at him. “Is that why you are staying? Because she is?”
Sam felt himself blush.
“It is.” Donald pounced. “You like her.”
“I just think that since the Berrys are leaving, she needs someone she can call on to help her,” Sam said.
“And that would be you.”
“I’ve let her know that I am staying.”
“Well, buddy, I hope it works for you.”
* * *
It was late afternoon when Pearl stood in Joseph’s warehouse and gazed at her cousin in her wedding dress. In spite of the short notice, they had managed to pull things together. Clara had done a wonderful job of making the white wedding dress. It had a fitted bodice with a scooped neck. The leg o’mutton sleeves ended in pleated lace at her elbows. Attached to the front of the bodice it had a matching layer of lace. The skirt of the dress was A-line and around the hem was a row of lace. Pearl had done her hair up and placed a diamond shaped piece of lace on top.
Emma looked as radiant as a bride should and Pearl hoped she, herself, looked half as good. She wore one of her white shirtwaists and a light blue walking skirt. There hadn’t been time for her to get a new outfit.
Sam and Donald had each bought new shirts from another seamstress but wore their old dungarees. One of the new arrivals in town was a barber so both men had gone to him for a haircut. Donald had gotten a shave while Sam had his beard trimmed.
Joseph and Paul had built a wooden archway for Emma to walk through and decorated it with spruce boughs. Since Sam was Donald’s best man, Joseph would walk Emma to her husband-to-be. The minister had the marriage license
Pearl peeked out the doorway. Word had spread about the first wedding in Dawson and the banks of the river were full of men and women. The invited guests clustered around the archway.
Reverend Bowen, Donald, and Sam stood waiting. Pearl stepped out of the warehouse, crossed Front Street and walked under the archway to stand across from Sam. She looked back and saw Emma and Joseph emerge. Emma had her hand in Joseph’s arm. Pearl wondered if Joseph would look as proud when he walked his own daughter down the aisle.
When Emma stood beside Donald, Joseph bowed and stepped back. The minister began the service by welcoming everyone. He read from the Bible then had Emma and Donald repeat their wedding vows. Sam handed Donald a wedding ring. It was a gold nugget that Donald had pounded into a line, then wrapped into a circle the size of Emma’s finger. It was soft and pliable but would do until Donald could buy her one in Nova Scotia.
Pearl looked sideways at Joseph. How she wished she knew what was on his mind. Was the ceremony before them stirring any feelings in him? Was he thinking that it would be nice to have a wife to come home to, to share his life with—like she was thinking it would be wonderful to have a husband, a husband named Joseph?
When the formalities were over, Donald leaned over to kiss his bride. A whoop went up from the crowd. Donald and Emma led the way back to the warehouse where they signed the necessary papers and Pearl and Sam witnessed them. Reverend Bowen rolled them up and put them in his pack. Sam handed him a sack of gold as payment for the ceremony.
Outside, someone began playing a fiddle. Donald and Emma went to the doorway. There was a loud cheer then they began chanting. “Speech! Speech! Speech!”
Donald held up his hand. The music stopped and everyone quieted.
“First of all, Emma and I want to thank all of you for coming, and we especially want to thank everyone who helped make this wedding happen on such short notice.”
The crowd clapped in acknowledgement.
“I’ve been in the north for five years. Some of them, well most of them, have been very lean. I am happy to say that my life has totally changed in the past ten months. I have a gold claim that is paying well, and I have a new wife.” He glanced down into Emma’s eyes. They exchanged a smile.
Cheers and whooping.
“I’m keeping my claim, because Emma and I are coming back next year. We both love living in the north and we want to make Dawson our home.”
More cheering and clapping.
Pearl and Sam looked at each other in surprise.
“That’s the first I’ve heard of it,” Sam whispered.
“Me, too,” Pearl admitted. “They sure managed to keep it a secret.”
“Dance! Dance! Dance!” the crowd yelled.
The fiddler started playing again. Donald took Emma into his arms and they began to waltz along Front Street. After a few rounds, Sam and Pearl joined them. There was laughter and clapping. The wedding party had begun.
Sam released Pearl after two dances and cut in on Donald. Donald, in turn, held out his hand to Pearl. She grinned and slipped into his arms. When he went back to Emma after one dance, Pearl stood alone watching the dancers. She looked around for Joseph and saw him talking with Paul. She decided that she had waited long enough.
Pearl walked up to Joseph. “Would you care to dance?”
She almost laughed at the startled look on both Joseph and Paul’s faces. It went against all convention for a woman to ask a man to dance. Paul moved aside.
Without a word, Joseph took her in his arms and they did the two-step. The fiddler seemed to know only two types of dance music. He next played a waltz. Last time Pearl and Joseph had waltzed together, he had pulled her tight against him. This time he kept her at arm’s length.
Pearl almost cried in dismay. What had happened? Why was he suddenly so distant? Was he mad at her for over stepping the boundaries of a man-woman relationship? It wasn’t as if people cared. The north was a more carefree place than where she had grown up.
“I need to talk with you,” Joseph said, when the dance finished.
Pearl’s heart fluttered with excitement as he led her down Front Street away from the noisy crowd. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe he was about to declare his intentions to her. When they were by themselves, he stopped and turned to her.
“I don’t know how to say this,” Joseph began.
Just say it, Pearl wanted to tell him. I will say yes.
“I cannot court you.”
“What?” Pearl wasn’t sure she had heard right.
“I cannot court you,” Joseph repeated.
She knew he was saying that because of Sam. She took a deep breath to control her anger at her cousin.
“I overheard the conversation Sam had with you at Christmas,” she said. “He had no right to talk to you like that and you don’t need to listen to him. I’m a grown woman and I can decide who I want to see.”
“Sam was right, though.” Joseph’s voice was quiet as he looked at the ground. “I should not have led you on, making you think I cared.”
“You mean you don’t?” Pearl could barely keep the anguish from her voice.
“Oh, I do love you.”
“You do?” Pearl’s heart swelled. He had finally said it. He loved her. They would have a life together.
“I do, but I cannot marry you.”
Pearl was confused. “How can you love me but not marry me?”
“Because I am engaged to a woman in Schuyler Falls.”
Pearl felt as if the wind had been knocked from her. He was already engaged, had been when they’d watched the northern lights, had been when they’d waltzed close together at Christmas, had been when he’d held her at the ice breakup. All the time she had been thinking there was something between them, he’d been thinking of another woman.
“Who?” she asked weakly.
“Her name is Anna Mason and she has been waiting for me to return a rich man so that her family will let her marry me.”
The life seemed to drain from her. She felt faint and would have fallen to the ground if Joseph hadn’t grabbed her.
“I love you!” Pearl cried, holding tightly to him. “I really love you.”
“And I love you.” Joseph’s voice cracked as if he was going to cry. “But I have loved her longer. I will be leaving on the first boat out.”
Pearl looked up and saw the truth in his eyes. She let go and backed away from him, her heart broken. She stumbled to her cabin and threw herself on her bunk. Her life was ruined. The man she loved had professed his love for her but was leaving her to go to his betrothed. Tears ran down her cheeks and she cried until she had no tears left.
Pearl lay on her bed listening to the faint music and laughter of the wedding dance. She had no desire to return to it. There was no way she could share Emma’s happiness right now. She was about to disrobe and climb under the covers when she remembered that Donald and Emma were spending the night, and the following weeks until the boat arrived, in the cabin. She was staying with Clara.
She climbed off the bed and gathered up her bedding. She would have to move the mattress tomorrow. Heedless of what she looked like, she left the cabin dragging her blankets behind her. It was still daylight, but no one was about. She found her way to Clara’s tent and drew the flap aside. She arranged her bedding on the wooden floor and dropped onto it, clothes and all.
* * *
Pearl spent the next two weeks aimlessly wandering the streets, for she didn’t have a home right now. Somehow, she had managed to make it through the time since Joseph had told her he loved another woman and would be leaving Dawson to marry her. No one had particularly noticed her change in mood. Emma and Donald were wrapped up in their lives as newlyweds and spent most of their time in the cabin. Sam and the Berrys had returned to their claims, Sam to do more work and the Berrys to pack up their gold and a few possessions for their trip out. Clara and Hattie were both busy with their businesses. She avoided Joseph and the warehouse.
As the time grew close for the first sternwheeler to arrive, Pearl noticed an air of impatience in the miners who had come from their claims with bulging suitcases, canvas sacks, and blankets full of gold. Some were anxious to return to the life they had rejected for whatever reason years ago. Having gold now made it seem much better. Others were happy to go back home with a fortune to show for their time spent in the north and stories to tell of their adventure. All were glad to leave their cramped cabins and their dark, murky mine shafts.
Then, one day there was a shrill whistle. The small sternwheeler Alice rounded the curve and pulled up to the wharf that Joseph had built as soon as the ice had left the river. Pearl, along with everyone else in the town, headed to the shore to greet her. As soon as the gangplank was down the crew hauled large, overflowing sacks down to the shore.
This got the crowd stirred up. Some men hurried along the wharf and literally grabbed the sacks out of their hands. A path formed in the crowd as the men walked through, and then it closed behind them. The men carried the sacks to a high dry spot on the shore. They pulled open the tops and turned them upside down. Pearl saw the envelopes, magazines, and newspapers fall to the ground in heaps. The mail had come.
Pearl was shocked at the mail delivery, but the long-time residents of the north had been through this before. She guessed that, in lieu of a post office, the shore worked quite well.
A row of men knelt on each side of the piles. They picked up handfuls of the mail and called out the names.
“Yo.”
“Here”
“I’ll take that.”
Pearl watched as the men stepped forward, took their piece of mail, and moved out of others’ way. But they didn’t go far. Pearl saw smiles on their faces when they ripped open their envelopes. Some of their hands shook as they read and reread the letters. It had been nine months since any mail had made it to them and they were hungry for news.
“I’m a father,” one man yelled after reading his letter. “I’ve got a new son.” Then he stopped and saddened. “Well, he would be almost a year by now. Damned, I’m glad I’m going home.”
Often a man’s name was called more than once. The other prospectors would part so that he could step in and retrieve his mail or pass it from hand to hand to him. If it was a magazine or newspaper he stuffed it in his pocket to be read later on his claim.
Then Pearl heard her name called. She accepted a package passed to her. She saw the return address was from the newspaper. A few minutes later her name was called again and she received a box from her parents. Her publisher and parents had been prompt in their return mail so that it got on the first boat north.
Since she wasn’t expecting any more Pearl carried her mail to Clara’s tent. She walked around where Clara was busy sewing a shirt and sat on her rolled up mattress. She would be glad to get back to her cabin.
“Mail is here,” Pearl told Clara.
“I’m not expecting anything,” Clara said.
Pearl opened the box. On top was a letter. She read it eagerly. All was well at home. One of her cousins had given birth to a boy, and her younger brother, Anthony, had turned fifteen.
Pearl rummaged through the box. Her parents had sent the requested sketchpads, writing pads, and pencils.
Pearl then opened the package. A letter written by the publisher told her how wonderful her articles and sketches were. Also enclosed were the newspapers with her articles in them. She glanced at them then set them aside to show Hattie and Clara later. In a separate envelope she found her payment in cash, minus the advance. She counted the money. It was more than she had expected and would certainly last her the summer and even over the winter if she stayed. More than once in her grief, she had thought about leaving, but each time she reminded herself that Joseph would be on the same boat.
Pearl did not attend the party that lasted all night to celebrate the arrival of the boat, but she listened to the revelry. In the morning, though, she was out to sketch the loading.
Pearl drew the shabby, bearded miners who lugged dirty canvas sacks, leather grips, packing cases, buckskin bags, and other containers onto the steamship. All of the packages were filled with gold. She had learned the stories of some of them. One was a blacksmith before he came north two years ago. Another had owned a dry goods store that was floundering. A third had lost his wife and had come north to get away from the memories. She saw the man who had been close to suicide when he found $35,000 worth of gold on his claim. He looked quite happy now. The men had come from all walks of life and many different countries and were going home rich.
She did not sketch Joseph Ladue as he walked up the gangway.
Pearl went to say goodbye to the Berrys. Ethel’s worn and tattered dress was held together with Clarence’s belt. She certainly didn’t look like a woman worth over $100,000. Her smiling happy face looked out of place among the grizzled male miners.
“I’m going to miss you.” Pearl hugged Ethel.
“Clarence and I will be returning next year,” Ethel said. “We will see you then.”
As more men and women carried their gold aboard, the decks began to sag under the weight. Loading had to be halted while logs were brought from the sawmill to shore them up.
Then it was time to say goodbye to Emma and Donald. Pearl couldn’t stop the tears as she embraced her cousin.
“This has been a wonderful time,” Emma said. “It scares me sometimes to think that if I hadn’t come with you I wouldn’t have met Donald again.”
“I’m going to miss you so much.” Pearl sniffled.
“It’s only for a year. Once we’ve seen both our families we will return on the first boat in the spring.”
“We’ll make sure your package gets to the newspaper,” Donald said, as he returned her hug.
“Thank you and take care of my cousin.”
The sternwheeler pulled away and headed downstream. Those on deck waved madly to those on shore. The ones on shore weren’t quite as exuberant about their friends leaving.
The next day the sternwheeler Portus B. Weare arrived and the performance was repeated. The men and women remaining in the town stood on the shore and waved to those heading south with their gold.
* * *
Sam knocked on Pearl’s door. He was glad to see her smile when she opened it.
“Sam, what are you doing here?”
Sam didn’t know how to tell her he’d come in to check up on her and to have a spree. He knew she didn’t like that he thought she couldn’t look after herself, and she probably wouldn’t like that he was going to get drunk. But a spree was a high point in a miner’s life and a way to show his success as well as treat his fellow prospectors to drinks.
“It’s been a while since I’ve been to town.”
“And you’ve come for a spree,” Pearl said, her eyes sparkling.
“You know about them?”
“Heard about them in Circle City. You can stay here, if you want. Emma’s bunk is empty.”
“And I’ll cut your wood in return.” Sam eyed the pile of logs lying beside her cabin.
“Oh, that would be wonderful. I bought these from Paul and was going to saw them myself.”
Sam dropped off his backpack and grabbed Pearl’s saw. Within a few hours, he had the logs cut into stove lengths.
“Let’s quit and have supper.” Pearl threw the last length of wood on the pile. “You have a spree to get on.”
“I’ll split them tomorrow,” Sam said.
After eating, Sam grabbed a stick of firewood and headed to the saloon with a sack of gold. He handed the sack to the bartender and then banged the wood on the bar.
“A round for all these good gentlemen,” he yelled.
A cheer went up and everyone crowded to the bar. Many of the men were already well on their way to being drunk. But they recognized a spree and set their glasses on the bar. It would be an affront to Sam if they didn’t. The bartender poured the liquor. Sam picked up his glass and lifted it in the air.
“To gold!” he shouted.
“To gold!” the men hollered back and downed their liquor.
They lined up their glasses again and the bartender filled them. This time they toasted the Yukon River. Then it was gold pans, shovels, trees—because they supply the wood for cabins and fires—and riverboats because they bring in the supplies.
Drinking that much liquor so quickly set Sam’s head spinning. He looked away while the bartender measured out enough gold to pay for the liquor and then wove his way to the doorway followed by the staggering group of men. They went to one of the other saloons in town. Sam dropped his sack on the bar and banged the firewood. This got everyone’s attention.
“Drinks are on me!”
The men rushed over to add their glasses to those on the bar and watched as the bartender filled them. This time the toasts were to Joseph Ladue, George Carmack, and Donald Miller. The men hesitated when Sam yelled the name, Gordon Baker, but that didn’t last long. The ones who remembered him held up their glasses and drank to his memory and the ones who didn’t just drank. As the men put their glasses on the bar again there was a scuffle at the end of the bar.
“Get off my foot,” one man shouted.
“I was here before you,” the other one yelled.
The first man shoved the second man almost knocking him off balance. Thus began a pushing match which led to fists flying and then erupted into a full-room brawl. Punches were thrown and missed, men tripped over their own feet and fell, pieces of wood were flung about, and the stove was upset. The stovepipe fell from the ceiling, sending a dark cloud of soot over the room and the men in it.
The bartender hid the bottles of liquor so they wouldn’t get broken and watched. These fights didn’t last long. It was just another way for the miners to let off steam. In a few minutes the men began to run out of energy and their punches slowed. Instead of throwing chairs, they fell on them.
Sam pulled himself up at the bar. “Another round for the house,” he slurred.
This effectively ended the fight. The men climbed to their feet and lurched to where the glasses were still lined up. No one cared if the glass in front of him was his or not.
“To Dawson!” Sam almost fell over in his effort to yell the toast.
The men mumbled in return and downed their drinks.
Sam had heard of sprees that lasted for two or three days, but he had had enough. This was something he should be doing to celebrate with Donald and Gordon. The thought of his two friends sobered him a bit. He was lonely in the cabin by himself. Digging out the gold wasn’t as exciting alone.
Sam nodded to the bartender and turned his back. It was impolite and a sign that you didn’t trust him if you watched him measure out the gold needed to fix the damage and for the liquor. When he finished, he handed the sack back to Sam. Sam hefted it. There wasn’t much gold left. He gave it back to the bartender and headed out the door. The men went back to their drinking.
* * *
Pearl dressed and stepped out from behind the curtain blocking off her bedroom. She looked at Sam snoring on the floor and smiled. He’d come back early that morning from his spree and immediately fallen asleep.
Not wanting to disturb him, she let herself out the door and headed to the restaurant for breakfast. She was feeling happy again.
Yes, she missed Emma and Donald, the Berrys, and even Joseph, but the northern summer was upon the land. The trees had leafed out and their branches were alive with the songs of many different birds, while others dove and wheeled in the sky. The hills along the river gleamed with dark pink fireweed, blue lupins, and yellow daisies. The water held a shimmering beauty as it flowed past the town, and she felt alive and energized by the ceaseless force of the great river.
But what held her in wonderment was the twilight that lasted most of the night and made it possible to read and write outside at three o’clock in the morning without a candle. Like most people in town, she had lost all sense of time with the almost continuous daylight. Her sleeping patterns changed and she sometimes found herself wide awake and wandering the town at midnight. And she wasn’t the only one up at that time. Some nights she, Clara, and Hattie sat outside her cabin drinking tea and talking.
Pearl ate her bacon and eggs and stepped outside again. The town of Dawson remained in a constant state of transition. More people arrived every day, some setting up tents and businesses and others heading to the gold fields. There were wooden buildings in various states of construction and a lot of hammering and shouting going on. In the distance, she listened to the whine of the sawmill cutting lumber.
The town now had a hotel, three saloons, two restaurants, three bakeries, plus rows of white tents—some with short square-timbered walls, some set on the ground. All of them had stove pipes sticking out the roofs. Many had a sign propped against the front wall stating the business inside others had a table set out front with their wares on it. The place almost had a carnival air.
Pearl liked to wander the streets of the town, meeting the new arrivals and seeing what they offered. Today, she saw a woman selling cold lemonade and stopped for a glass. She visited, learning that the woman had arrived with her husband who had a job working in one of the saloons. At another tent, she met a man with a table full of moccasins for sale.
Pearl stopped and stared at the next table. On it was silk underwear, bolts of cotton cloth, and hot water bottles. What an odd combination. She introduced herself to the woman.
“I’m Belinda Mulroony,” the young woman said. She was trim and a few years older than Pearl.
“When did you get here?” Pearl asked.
“I arrived yesterday.”
“Where from?”
“Alaska by way of the Chilkoot Trail.”
“You climbed the Chilkoot Trail?” Pearl thought of Ethel Berry’s story of her trip across the pass in the winter.
Belinda nodded nonchalantly. “I lived in Juneau and when I heard of the gold strike crossing the pass was the cheapest way I could get here.”
“I’d like to buy two of your silk underwear,” Pearl said. The price was a little steep but she thought about how soft they would be against her skin.
“What about a hot water bottle for the cold nights, or some cloth for a new dress?”
“Thank you but the nights are warm and I don’t know how to sew.”
Belinda grinned. “I don’t either, but when I decided to come I used all my money to buy these items. I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I’ve been selling them for six times what I paid.”
“A tidy profit.” Pearl liked this woman.
“I’ve got big plans and I need the money to carry them out,” Belinda explained.
Pearl admired Belinda’s attitude and confidence she’d be another woman to write about. After passing several other tents she returned to her cabin with her purchases. She still had an ache in her heart, but she was happy. Dawson was her home and she knew she would meet new friends and maybe even find a new love.
The End
Life After The Trip Outside
Joseph Ladue
Before leaving Dawson, Joseph Ladue set up the Joseph Ladue Gold Mining and Development Company Ltd. to look after his interests. He returned to Schuyler Falls and on December 15, 1897, he married his long-time sweetheart, Anna Mason. They bought an orchard on 250 acres of land and adopted Francis Lamay, the son of a friend who had died. Joe enjoyed putting on parties and was an excellent host. He was also generous with his money, delivering food baskets to the poor at Christmas.
But the years of hardship in the north had taken their toll on Joseph’s health. He died of tuberculosis on June 27, 1901, at the age of forty-six years.
Anna remarried and lived until 1948.
George and Kate Carmack
George and Kate stayed in the north until 1898 when they, their daughter Graphie Gracie, Skookum Jim, and Tagish Charley sailed to Seattle with $100,000 in gold. While there George liked to ride around town in a carriage bearing the sign, Geo. Carmack, Discoverer of Gold in the Klondike.
The white man’s life was hard on Kate and she missed her family and her homeland. She was arrested and fined for being drunk. George tired of Kate but, instead of letting her go home, he sent her to live with his sister, Rose, in California. The two women didn’t get along.
George, Jim, and Charley returned to Dawson, where George made the most of his Discoverer status. He also met and fell in love with Marguerite Saftig Laimee, the owner of a brothel. He wrote back to Rose and requested that she send Kate north to her people as he was getting married.
Kate sued for divorce on grounds of desertion and adultery, and launched legal action for half of the couple’s more than a million dollars-worth of gold discoveries. However, they’d never filed the papers for their marriage, so the court didn’t recognize its existence. She received a government pension and lived in a cabin Skookum Jim built for her in Cariboo Crossing (Carcross). She died from influenza in 1920 at the age of sixty-three.
George and Marguerite were married late in 1900. He died a rich man in Vancouver in 1922. Marguerite inherited his wealth and died in California in 1949.
Tagish Charley
Tagish Charley went to Seattle with the Carmacks then returned north. He sold his claim in 1901 and moved to Cariboo Crossing (Carcross). He married, and he and his wife had two children, a boy and a girl, but within a few years the couple separated. He bought a hotel, entertained, and bought diamond earrings for his daughter. Natives were not allowed to drink but, because Charley was treated as a white man, he was permitted to have alcohol. One evening, in 1908, after a drunken spree, he fell off a bridge on his way home and drowned.
Skookum Jim (legally known as James Mason)
When Skookum Jim returned north, he moved to Cariboo Crossing (Carcross). He sold his claim in 1900 and married in 1903. They had a daughter, Daisy, and when the marriage ended a short time later, he got custody of Daisy. His holdings were bringing him in almost one hundred thousand dollars a year, but he continued the life of a prospector. He wandered the north in a quest for another gold strike. Eventually the hard life began to wear on him and his powerful physique and health began to fail. He died of kidney failure in 1916.
Clarence and Ethel Berry
The Berrys arrived in Seattle on the S.S Portland, a ship that carried almost two tons of gold. Because Ethel had gone north right after her wedding and returned a rich woman just over a year later, she was dubbed The Bride of the Klondike by the newspapers. The Berrys deposited their gold, visited with family, and returned over the Chilkoot Pass again in 1898 with the thousands of prospectors on their way to the gold fields.
They moved to Fairbanks, Alaska, in 1902 and bought claims in the Fairbanks and Ester areas. After successfully mining for a few years they invested in oil exploration and founded the Berry Petroleum Company. Clarence died in 1930 and Ethel in 1948.
Hattie Wills
Hattie Wills staked the claim she wanted. She used the money she made from her laundry to hire men to work it and spent time fighting off claim jumpers. She eventually took out a quarter of a million dollars from her claim. Hattie returned to Washington and died on May 23, 1901.