decorative dog head

The History Behind Murphy

Dogs in Alaska

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, gold strikes in Alaska brought a rush of miners and opportunists. Big dogs like Murphy were used for hauling, transportation, companionship, and protection. In fact, they became more valuable than horses. “A dog that sold for fifteen dollars in Washington State would bring ten times that in the Yukon.” (Murphy, Gold Rush Dogs, page 16)

Even before the gold rush, native Indians and Eskimos relied on dogs to transport their goods when they moved to and from their seasonal camping and hunting grounds. Inupiaq Eskimos made sleds of driftwood with bone runners and harnesses made of strips of moose and bearskin.

Dogsled teams were important, but so was the “one-man dog” like Murphy. Alaskans considered their dogs “worth their weight in gold.” A prospector needed his dog for survival. All breeds of dogs were valued, from spaniels to huskies, but they had to be hardy and strong to withstand the harsh environment.

Cool Dogs

The Nome Gold Rush

The town of Nome, isolated on the Bering Peninsula, relied on dog teams because it was iced in all winter. “All dog teams lead to Nome,” said an Alaskan musher about the importance of dogsleds. (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 127) This was especially true during the gold rush that began in the spring of 1899 and ended in September 1900, when it seemed everyone was headed to Nome.

In 1899, gold was discovered in the sand of Nome’s beaches and river bottoms. By 1900, the cry of “gold!” brought chaos to the area. News traveled to the states: there was “Gold in the creeks, gold in the beaches. Even the sands of the seashore gleamed with yellow flakes!” (Kunkel, Alaska Gold: Life on the New Frontier, 1898–1906, page 2) Prospectors looking for great wealth came by boat from the west coast as well as by dogsled, horse, bicycle, and on foot from other parts of Alaska.

These fortune hunters were called “sourdoughs” because many brought with them crocks of sourdough starter to use for biscuits. They were also referred to as “stampeders” since they raced to Nome once they heard the cry of “gold!” The town of Nome quickly swelled from a few thousand people to a population of 20,000.

By the end of the summer of 1900, the gold rush had ended and most people had left. The beach looked like a giant junkyard. Abandoned pumps, pipes, steam engines, tents, and rockers lined the shore. The “rotting timbers and rusting iron will only be left to tell the tale…” of many miners’ lost dreams. (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 91)

Finding Gold

The stampeders and sourdoughs arrived in Nome hoping to strike it rich. But few made a fortune. Panning for gold is an art, and most adventurers came unprepared both in knowledge and supplies. L. H. French, a mine manager, wrote in the Nome Nugget that miners “arrived on the gold fields without a dollar to their pockets or a penny’s worth of supplies…” (Kunkel, Alaska Gold: Life on the New Frontier, 1898–1906, page 5)

In 1900, there were as many ways to mine as there were creative miners. Beginners like Sally mined by hand using a pan or a rocker, a device that looked like a cradle. Sluice boxes—long wooden channels—were also used by men such as Mr. Smithson. Seawater was poured down the sluice. The gold—heavier than water—sank and was caught in the riffles or grooves on the bottom of the box.

More elaborate contraptions were brought from the states. “At least 35 different kinds of patent gold saving devices and gold washing machines were on sale in Seattle.” (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 46) They were given names like Yoho’s Scientific Gold Trap and were guaranteed to work perfectly.

The Real Carlick

Finding gold was difficult, but so was hanging on to a claim. Claim jumpers—people who illegally took over others’ mining areas—were a huge problem.

Carlick is fictional. But McKenzie, Judge Noyes, and the scandal involving the Alaska Gold Mining Company are real.

In the summer of 1900, McKenzie (the president of the Alaska Gold Mining Company) took over many of the richest claims in Nome. First he got his friend Judge Noyes, the new judge of the Second Judicial Division of Alaska (which included Nome), to evict the real owners. Then he moved in his own men and quickly stripped the mines of their gold. Meanwhile, Judge Noyes used the law to keep the real owners from taking back their claims. Because the judge was the highest authority in Nome, this illegal setup continued for several months. In August 1900, the lawyers for the other major mine companies went to San Francisco to seek justice. Still, McKenzie refused to obey. In October he was finally arrested.

Life in Nome

Sally and Mama arrived in Nome in the spring, when people could travel to the area. Most of the year Nome was locked in by ice and snow, and ships with supplies and news from the mainland could not reach the town. In the fall and winter Nome received only four hours of daylight. “We are prisoners in a jail of ice and snow,” one newspaperman wrote in November 1900. (Henning, Nome: City of the Golden Beaches, page 122)

Even spring and summer could bring bad storms and 75 mph winds. The ground was frozen all winter. When it thawed, it turned roads and paths into rivers of mud two feet deep, making travel by land difficult. In the summer there were sweltering 100-degree days that could drop to freezing temperatures at night. In July 1899, Ed McDaniel wrote of Alaska: “It is awfully hard to live up here. The mosquitoes are thick as bees and it rains all the time and the sun never sets. The ground is covered with moss and water.” (Kunkel, Alaska Gold: Life on the New Frontier, 1898–1906, page 55)

In 1900, Nome was a rough place for women and children. In the beginning, there was no police force. The lure of gold brought swindlers, tinhorn gamblers, and con men. Front Street, which stretched for five miles, was lined with more saloons than stores. Gangs roamed the street, and as Sally mentions—but didn’t include in her letter to Grandpapa—there were many murders.

Nome Today

Today in Nome the weather is still unpredictable. As always, the summer days are long and the winter days are short. The town has a population of over 3,000, and it is still one of the most remote communities in Alaska. And gold is still being mined. In fact, Nome is experiencing a second gold rush.

With the price of gold rising, Nome has become a hot destination. In January 2013, ABC News reported that gold fever was again gripping adventurers looking for riches. The Discovery Channel’s reality television show Bering Sea Gold features miners dredging for gold in the bottom of the Bering Sea. Like the stampeders of the first gold rush, these modern day prospectors are trying to hit it big. And like the prospectors of 1900, they still face incredible odds.

Bibliography

Henning, Robert A, Terence Cole and Jim Walsh. Nome: City of the Golden Beaches. Anchorage: The Alaska Geographic Society, 1984.

Jones, Preston. Empire’s Edge: American Society in Nome, Alaska, 1898–1934. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2007.

Kunkel, Jeff, ed. Alaska Gold: Life on the New Frontier, 1898–1906. San Francisco: Scottwell Associates, 1997.

Murphy, Claire Rudolph and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Dogs. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Books, 2001.

Murphy, Claire Rudolph and Jane G. Haigh. Gold Rush Women. Anchorage: Alaska Northwest Books, 2003.

For Further Reading

DeClements, Barthe. The Bite of the Gold Bug: A Story of the Alaskan Gold Rush. New York: Viking, 1992.

Murphy, Claire Rudolph and Jane G. Haigh. Children of the Gold Rush. Boulder, CO: Roberts Rinehart Publishers, 1999.

Ransom, Candace. Gold in the Hills: A Tale of the Klondike Gold Rush. Renton, WA: Mirrorstone, 2008.