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The Klondike Stampede
Gold was discovered in the Klondike in August 16, 1896. When news of the discovery arrived in Seattle and San Francisco the following year it triggered one of the largest gold rushes in the history of North America. Tappan Adney, a young writer and photographer who worked for Harper’s Weekly, set out on a journey to uncover and record what it was like in the Klondike stampede. This book is a fascinating portrayal of adventurers and prospectors who descended on the Yukon during this extraordinary event in the late nineteenth century. Adney explains in vivid detail the treacherous route that these gold-hunters were forced to make in order to make it to the Yukon. The White and Chilkoot Passes were fatal for many who attempted to get through them with poor equipment. He stayed in Dawson, where the gold rush was centered, from October 2nd through to September 16th the following year. While there he interviewed men and women who hoped to make their fortune, observed the community that had seemingly sprung up overnight and records in detail how the prospectors searched for gold. “Of hundreds of gold rush accounts, his stands out as one of the best” The British Columbian Quarterly Tappan Adney was an artist, writer and photographer. He recorded the Klondike Gold Rush in his book The Klondike Stampede which was first published in 1900. He passed away in 1950.
259 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 1, 1900
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
May 6, 2023
Twenty-odd years ago I read Pierre Berton’s hugely entertaining history of the Klondike gold rush. Berton is a great storyteller, much more so than the author of this book, Tappan Adney. What makes Adney’s book stand out though, is that he was there. Adney, an American, was a newspaper man sent by Harper’s Weekly to report on the Klondike Stampede. He therefore both observed and was a part of “one of the most remarkable movements of people in the history of the world.”
Adney explains that after the 1848 gold strike in California was played out, prospectors gradually moved north, striking gold here and there, particularly in British Columbia. Each strike drew in a rush of “professional stampeders” – prospectors who reacted to news of each discovery. There had never been a gold strike as big as that of the Klondike though, nor as big a stampede. The gold was found in 1896 but the old-timers who mined it over-wintered in the Yukon, and the stampede started in June 1897 when a steamer arrived in Portland with some unusual passengers - grizzled prospectors from the Yukon carrying sacks of gold down the gangplank. It’s thought that about 100,000 people started for the Yukon in the following weeks and months. Many people will have seen the famous photo of would-be miners on the Chilkoot trail.
Adney didn’t leave until August from Victoria, BC, and he made it (just) to Dawson City at the end of October. Any later and he wouldn’t have got through until the spring. He took the route along the west coast to Skagway, Alaska, then over the Chilkoot Pass to the headwaters of the Yukon, then by boat to Dawson. He describes how, on the trail, everyone’s greatest fear was the onset of winter and “getting left behind”, as in fact most were. A large majority of Klondikers didn’t get to Dawson until the spring of 1898, by which time the diggings had been staked and worked for 2 years. Adney comments that most inhabitants of Dawson were in “varying degrees of bustedness.”
He’s good in describing the difficulties of the trail, and especially the suffering of horses, which were worked to death in their thousands. Anyone with even the slightest notion of forward planning knew they needed enough food and other supplies to see them though an arctic winter in the wilderness, something which required the Klondikers to make several trips up and down the passes before they got to the river. Outfitters made small fortunes. As Adney put it, “there are ways of making money other than by going to Klondike.”
I listened to this as an audiobook, which I think probably worked out well. Adney includes a lot of detailed descriptions, covering everything from the price of flour to mining techniques to the bills of fare in Dawson City restaurants. Some of it might have been a struggle if I had been reading as opposed to listening.
The value of the Klondike diggings never ceases to amaze. Adney thinks that gold to the value of $20 million was taken out during 1896-98. The Internet tells me the equivalent 2023 value would be $737million. One miner, Jimmy McMahon, ran up $28,000 in a single bar bill, just over $1million in today’s prices. That is impressive!
Adney left Dawson in September 1898, by steamer to the mouth of the Yukon on the Bering Sea, from where he caught an ocean-going ship back to the main part of the US. His account of the Stampede is variable, but is worthwhile as a contemporary voice to a unique historic event.
Adney explains that after the 1848 gold strike in California was played out, prospectors gradually moved north, striking gold here and there, particularly in British Columbia. Each strike drew in a rush of “professional stampeders” – prospectors who reacted to news of each discovery. There had never been a gold strike as big as that of the Klondike though, nor as big a stampede. The gold was found in 1896 but the old-timers who mined it over-wintered in the Yukon, and the stampede started in June 1897 when a steamer arrived in Portland with some unusual passengers - grizzled prospectors from the Yukon carrying sacks of gold down the gangplank. It’s thought that about 100,000 people started for the Yukon in the following weeks and months. Many people will have seen the famous photo of would-be miners on the Chilkoot trail.
Adney didn’t leave until August from Victoria, BC, and he made it (just) to Dawson City at the end of October. Any later and he wouldn’t have got through until the spring. He took the route along the west coast to Skagway, Alaska, then over the Chilkoot Pass to the headwaters of the Yukon, then by boat to Dawson. He describes how, on the trail, everyone’s greatest fear was the onset of winter and “getting left behind”, as in fact most were. A large majority of Klondikers didn’t get to Dawson until the spring of 1898, by which time the diggings had been staked and worked for 2 years. Adney comments that most inhabitants of Dawson were in “varying degrees of bustedness.”
He’s good in describing the difficulties of the trail, and especially the suffering of horses, which were worked to death in their thousands. Anyone with even the slightest notion of forward planning knew they needed enough food and other supplies to see them though an arctic winter in the wilderness, something which required the Klondikers to make several trips up and down the passes before they got to the river. Outfitters made small fortunes. As Adney put it, “there are ways of making money other than by going to Klondike.”
I listened to this as an audiobook, which I think probably worked out well. Adney includes a lot of detailed descriptions, covering everything from the price of flour to mining techniques to the bills of fare in Dawson City restaurants. Some of it might have been a struggle if I had been reading as opposed to listening.
The value of the Klondike diggings never ceases to amaze. Adney thinks that gold to the value of $20 million was taken out during 1896-98. The Internet tells me the equivalent 2023 value would be $737million. One miner, Jimmy McMahon, ran up $28,000 in a single bar bill, just over $1million in today’s prices. That is impressive!
Adney left Dawson in September 1898, by steamer to the mouth of the Yukon on the Bering Sea, from where he caught an ocean-going ship back to the main part of the US. His account of the Stampede is variable, but is worthwhile as a contemporary voice to a unique historic event.
October 18, 2024
Beware if downloading the Kindle edition! I really enjoyed this book but it was hard work!! Some pages the text was virtually impossible to read and the photographs impossible to see which did spoil the overall enjoyment of what is an amazing account of someone who was actually there and who experienced the conditions and characters of the Klondike Gold rush. Such a shame about the quality of the download!!
March 12, 2014
Delightful book - a wonderful first-person account of his journey to the Klondike gold-rush. I appreciate the voices of 100 years ago - this is definitely a classic.
November 18, 2015
An excellent first person account of the harrowing trip through gold rush Alaska
May 3, 2018
Interesting Stories and Details Yukon and Klondike Gold Rush
I thoroughly enjoyed the description of a journalist who travelled throughout the gold camps early on! While like most people, I had heard of the California and Yukon Gold Rushed but this book goes into considerable detail regarding the journeys required to reach the gold fields. Life in the mining camps is described in a way that can't help but to build respect for those who made it there and how they overcame all the obstacles!
I thoroughly enjoyed the description of a journalist who travelled throughout the gold camps early on! While like most people, I had heard of the California and Yukon Gold Rushed but this book goes into considerable detail regarding the journeys required to reach the gold fields. Life in the mining camps is described in a way that can't help but to build respect for those who made it there and how they overcame all the obstacles!
August 7, 2025
This is an account by a journalist who was sent to cover the Klondike Gold Rush. It was well written, though occasionally get got a little bogged down in the details. He took the Skagway route to the goldfields, and spent a winter up there, enduring many of the same trials the miners did. He even filed a claim himself during a stampede, though I believe it was valueless and he never actually worked it. Some parts of his journey were exciting, but not extraordinarily so. But he did a good job explaining what the trip was like.
August 22, 2018
This book is a First Hand Story of the Klondike Stampede
This book is written in first-person. The author actually experienced himself all the depravations of being one of the first to be apart out of the Klondike stampede.
The book is historically accurate and a very good read. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to find accurate information of a famous Klondike Stampede.
This book is written in first-person. The author actually experienced himself all the depravations of being one of the first to be apart out of the Klondike stampede.
The book is historically accurate and a very good read. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking to find accurate information of a famous Klondike Stampede.
July 31, 2023
Not a page turner however since it was written in real time, the content was relevant following a trip to Alaska and the Yukon. The book is loaded with detail about what life was like during the 1896 gold rush, and without it, much of the history could have been lost or merely told and re-told by others who were not documentarians.
As with any documentary, the author gets into the woods with detail, which is easy to skip without missing the essence of the experience.
As with any documentary, the author gets into the woods with detail, which is easy to skip without missing the essence of the experience.
December 26, 2019
Gold Madness
An amazing amount of detail written about men who went into this rush to try to get rich in the gold fields only to find incredible hardship. Many returned home without much reward for all their efforts.
An amazing amount of detail written about men who went into this rush to try to get rich in the gold fields only to find incredible hardship. Many returned home without much reward for all their efforts.
July 22, 2024
I really enjoyed this book. It was the journal entries of an individual who actually participated in the Klondike stampede, so the writing was first hand and very entertaining. It felt like I was right there.
May 16, 2018
Artic essay.
A rambling essay of the Yukon gold rush. The lack of a cohesive narrative plan limits insights. Rustic entertainment of a sort.
A rambling essay of the Yukon gold rush. The lack of a cohesive narrative plan limits insights. Rustic entertainment of a sort.
September 14, 2020
An exceptional book which describes with enough detail but without prejudice or bias, the events of the 1897 Alaskan Gold rush. You strike gold with this book!
December 31, 2024
Interesting ethnographic read, a contemporary reporting on one of the greatest gold rushes ever; the people, the landscape, the mania, the drama, the successes; thoroughly enjoying, excellent audible format; recommended listening/reading.
July 30, 2014
If you have any interest in the gold rush to the Yukon in the 1890s then this is a great book to read. It was written by a newspaper man sent to document the Klondike stampede and he has a definite journalistic bent. It is full of interesting anecdotes and lots of hard facts, including lots of data on the amount of gold discovered and its value. If you want to read some history from someone who was there, this is a great choice, and since it is in the public domain, free copies are readily available at Google Books and elsewhere.
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews