Frank Wadelton's Letters from the Gold Camps

Prospectors at Derwent, a mining camp near the mouth of the Charley River, August 23, 1899. Click the photo link to read more about the Charley River Gold-Seekers.

Seattle Public Library, Arthur C. Pillsbury Collection (123)

When Frank Wadelton of Sterling, Illinois followed the Klondike gold rush to Dawson City and then crossed the U.S.-Canada boundary to search for gold in Alaska, he took the time to write letters to his mother. These letters, which were reprinted in the Sterling Evening Gazette, are important to the history of Yukon-Charley Rivers National Preserve because of their rarity—precious few accounts survive from stampeders in this part of Alaska and, in particular, from the Charley River.

At Dawson City, Wadelton expresses the frustration many new-arrivals felt who observed corrupt practices among Canadian officials and found themselves unable to stake profitable claims in the gold fields. He lists the high local prices of common products like eggs, cigars, and nails, and he describes the chaos of a 4th of July among patriotic Americans. Soon he and his partners—likely friends from his hometown—decided to leave for the Alaska side of the international boundary, specifically for Star City and Seventy Mile, both supply depots at the mouth of the Seventymile River.

Once at Star City, his crew cut lumber to build a boat they would drag upstream with ropes to well-established mining operations on Barney Creek and Crooked Creek. From there they continued upriver and overland to reach the headwaters of an entirely different watershed—Charley River. Along the 105-mile length of Charley River, prospectors were busy panning for placer gold at the surface and digging holes to find gold in ancient streambeds. When they weren’t prospecting, Wadelton and his comrades built log cabins (a necessity with winter coming) and hunted bear, caribou, and moose. Like most of his fellow gold-seekers, Wadelton spent the winter of 1898-1899 searching for a fortune that never came. He then moved on to Nome, became the postmaster in the nearby mining town of Bluff, and did not return home until 1903.

 

Letters Home from Frank Wadelton of Sterling, Illinois

Reprinted in the Sterling Evening Gazette, 1898-1899

 

Miners in Dawson City queuing to register gold claims, 1898.

Alaska State Library, P.E. Larss Photograph Collection (215)

Dawson City, July 12, 1898

Things are just about the same here as they were when I came, only there are lots of people going down on the American side on account of the way things are run here by the gold commissioner and mounted police. There were some pretty good bench claims over on Dominion Creek that were being held by the gold commissioner, who posted a notice that they would be open for prospecting on last Monday and anyone going over to prospect had to have a permit from the commissioner’s office. Last Saturday night at 12 o’clock another notice was put up that the permit was done away with and that the claims were open for prospecting. But the authorities had all their friends and whoever would give them so much money or an interest in what they staked, started out five or six hours ahead of the rush, so by the time the crowd got there, everything was staked.

People have to stand in line and wait their turn to get their mail. It takes from two to four hours to get into the post office, but if a person takes a dollar and goes around to the back door, they will get their mail ahead of the others. Everything is done that way. If I had the rake-off the gold commissioner gets every week, I would leave for the outside on the next boat.

The river raised here three or four feet and there have been three or four boats up loaded with grub, but none direct from St. Michaels. These boats loaded last fall and pulled up into the river and wintered there and as soon as the ice went out they came up. Boats are expected from St. Michaels any day.

Prices have gone down since the boats got in. Eggs are only $2.00 per dozen. Oranges and lemons were sixty cents each but dropped to 25 cents. Meals dropped from $2.50 to $1.00 and $1.50. Cigars are 25 to 50 cents. Butter is $1.00 per lb., bacon as low as 20 cents, tobacco is $2.00 but as high as $10 per lb. Last winter a keg of nails (100 lbs.) sold for $600.

We had quite a celebration July 4th, had foot races, a prize fight and wrestling match, also a band of eight pieces, the drum having but one head. On the morning of the fourth, just after 12 o’clock midnight, everyone commenced shooting off shot guns, rifles and revolvers and the racket nearly scared the life out of the Siwash dogs. They ran up the street until someone would head them off, then they would come back. At night there were some fireworks, but as it does not get dark here now, they did not prove a success—too much like shooting them off in the daytime.

On the Queen’s birthday, (before we got here) the mounted police and the ‘sourdough stiffs’ had a tug of war and the latter were victorious twice. They had some boat and foot races also. I expect to leave here for Seventy Mile Creek in a few days. The boat Charlie went down on got stuck on a sand bar, but I guess they are off by this time.

Frank

 

A paddlewheel steamboat docks at Eagle City, 1899. The photograph was taken by Henry J. Goetzman who had a photography shop in Dawson City.

University of Alaska Fairbanks, Selid-Bassoc Collection (1964-92-228)

Star City, August 7, 1898

We arrived here all OK and have been here a little over a week. We cut up our scow and made a cache of it. A cache is a box built up on four posts about 20 feet from the ground to put outfit in until it freezes so we can sled it up the river—Seventy Mile River. We whip-sawed some half inch lumber and built a river boat. The boat is twenty-three feet long, eighteen inches wide at the bottom and comes to a point at each end. We can take about six hundred pounds up Seventy Mile River.

We expect to leave here in a few days for Barney Creek which empties into Seventy Mile about forty-five miles from here. We will have to walk along the bank and pull the boat up with a rope as the river is too swift to row. We are going to take a good supply of grub with us, then I will leave Johnnie there and I will come down and go over to Charlie River prospecting for about six weeks. There will be two other fellows go[ing] with me. Charlie River empties into the Yukon river about sixty miles from here.

We will go down to the mouth of the Charlie River and then up (. . .) about sixty miles. Charlie River heads up close to the head of Seventy Mile River. We could go over from here by taking a pack and going up Seventy Mile River and crossing the mountains to the head of Charlie River, but a fellow can’t pack more than enough to last him till he gets over and back.

There are lots of moose, bear and caribou up Seventy Mile. Several parties who have come down have brought a moose with them and dried it. They got them close to where we are going. There is a small lake on top of the mountain and the men get behind rocks and when the moose come for water shoot them.

Two fellows who came down not long ago had their moose hanging up drying close to their tent when a bear came along and standing on his hind legs commenced to smell of the moose. The fellow shot him without going out of the tent.

They said they saw thousands of caribou in droves of about 150. They got three but could have had more if wanted. A caribou is a kind of deer that weighs about 250 lbs. A moose weighs 800 to 1,000 lbs. We have a .30-.30 rifle that shoots a steel ball with a lead tip. Tell Andy Gerdes this is the place he ought to be to go hunting.

Blue berries and currants are ripe now. There are lots of them on the hills and a few red raspberries, also lots of mosquitoes.

You can direct your letters to Star City, Alaska. There is a post office here but all they have is a wooden stamp to cancel letters with. The inspector came down the river and said they could have a post office here and left that stamp, but no mail has ever been left here and taken away. I will send this letter to Dawson by some fellow who are going up tomorrow. There is only one store here and they have no grub.

There is a town up the Yukon two miles from here called Seventy Mile, containing only one store which has no grub either. If the companies who own steamers on the river build here there will plenty of grub, but if they don’t get up faster than they have been doing, they will be short of grub at Dawson again this winter, as only a few steamers have gone up and the water is low.

Will write again when I get back from Charlie River.

Frank

 

Residents of the newly established Alaskan town of Star City assemble in front of their post office, ca. 1899

Courtesy of Eagle Historical Society

Barney Creek, October 18, 1898

We are up on the creek 45 miles from the mouth [of Seventy Mile River] and have seen but one man since writing last. We saw him a few days ago and he told us the [Spanish-American] war was over. After we got our boat finished we brought a load of stuff up here and left Johnnie Waite here and Al Peterson and I took the boat back. It took us 6½ days to come up and twelve hours to go back.

Seventy Mile River is a small stream that runs down the mountains and it is riffles, rapids and falls every hundred yards. We had to unload our boat four times coming up. Once it filled with water, but we got our stuff out before it got wet enough to damage it any. The river is full of rocks and runs very swiftly. Going down I stood up in the front end of the boat and Al sat in the back. We each had a pole about ten feet long to keep the boat from striking the rocks but the water runs so swiftly and the rocks are so numerous that we struck some rocks that I thought would tear the bottom out of the boat—but she went through all right.

It was getting too cold to try to go to Charlie River by going down to the mouth and going up, so we thought we would go up Seventy Mile and cross the mountains. So we loaded the boat again and a fellow from Ventura, California came with us. We came up this far and left some flour and bacon here and then went up to where the river forks. That was as far as we could take the boat as there was not water enough in either of the forks to take a boat through. The forks are seventeen miles from here.

Then we took a pack on our backs and went from there to Charlie River. It was forty-five miles from the forks. We crossed four ranges of mountains before we got to the main river. We prospected in four different creeks but did not have enough grub to last us till we could sink a hole.

I saw another black bear as we were going through the timber and thick brush. I was ahead and heard a noise in the brush and a bear came down the side of the mountain and went through the brush about twenty feet ahead of me. Al had a rifle but by the time he got where I was the bear was out of sight.

We only came back as far as here and we built a cabin and have been sinking a hole and hunting moose ever since. There is a lake on the other side of the ridge from here. Johnnie went up on top one afternoon and found a moose in the lake. He shot him and followed him two miles by the blood but he lost the trail. We have seen several moose but have not been close enough to get a shot at them. One came down to the cabin one night as Johnnie was outside. Johnnie came in after the rifle and we all went out. We could hear the moose going up through the brush but it was too dark to try to follow him.

We have a hole down fourteen feet and have just struck gravel. I passed out three pans yesterday and got 11 colors in one, 12 in the next and 25 in the next. They are good coarse colors but we can’t tell if it will pay until we get to bedrock and we have to leave now as we are nearly out of grub. We will go down to the mouth and sled our outfit as the river is frozen over. It froze ice on our water bucket on the 26th of Augusts and we had the first snow September 11. That was the day we got back from Charlie River and we got back just in time as we had no stove or tent with us.

Our cabin is 13x15. We have two bunks, two stoves, two tables and two windows. Each window has two panes of glass so we have plenty of light. We went down to the mouth of Barney and sawed lumber for door, tables and shelves and packed it up here. Our floor is made of poles about three or four inches thick. With the top side chopped off a little it would make a very good floor to dance on, but it is as good as we could make it.

There are no Indians around here. The nearest ones are at Forty Mile River, between here and Dawson. You needn’t look for any more letters as I don’t know if we will be able to get any more out or not. I don’t know how I am going to get this out but will leave it at the P.O. at Star. If the U.S. mail carrier goes out I suppose he will take it, but we will be up here forty-five miles from the mouth and may not have a chance to send any down.

Star City, October 27—We are now at the mouth of the river in a cabin with some boys from Ventura, California. It started to snow the day we left and snowed three days and nights. We had to break trail through a foot of snow. It took us six days to come down and we are going to stay here until there is a good trail up Seventy Mile. We got a letter from Kansas City from Charlie dated August 26, saying he was about to leave for here. He is not here yet but the Yukon is not frozen and he may be here before we leave. It has been 20 degrees below but it is only at zero now. The mail will leave here as soon as the river freezes but that will not be for some time yet.

Frank

 

The mining camp of Seventy Mile near where the Seventymile River enters the Yukon River, 1899.  Both the Alaska Commercial Company store and the 70-Mile Roadhouse are sporting signs.

Seattle Public Library Special Collections, Arthur C. Pillsbury Photographs (175)

Crooked Creek, April 11, 1899

Dear Mother—Read your welcome letters dated February 2, ’99, September 15, ’98 and July, ’97, also a few dated last summer, but don’t know the dates of them now.

Crooked Creek empties into Seventy Mile Creek about twenty-six or twenty-seven miles from the mouth. We are going to work on this creek this summer, on No. 2 above Discovery. The fellow who owns it gives us what we can take out of it this summer for opening it up. Can’t tell yet what we can make, but I am sure we can make some money.

We have been working all winter on different creeks, but the claims we had were not much good. The one on Barney would pay if it was on top of the ground, but there is not enough gravel in it to pay to take it out in the winter. I have a claim on a fork of this creek called Eldorado Fork and I think it is all right, but I will not work it until next summer unless this one should fail to pay. A fellow from here went over to the Tannanaw [Tanana] River this winter and if he strikes anything I will go over there next winter. He is going to come back this fall.

You said you registered a letter to Dawson to me, but I have not got it. I am going to write to the postmaster to send it down here. There is no post office at Seventy Mile, but here is one at Star. It is a general store, recorder’s office, post office and saloon all in one. Good combination, isn’t it? If you direct your letters to Star, on Seventy Mile River, Alaska, I will get one once in awhile.

We did not get a moose this winter, have been too busy, but we are stopping with two boys who got one, so we eat moose just the same.

It has been colder this winter than it was last, 71 below twice and 60 several times. One fellow froze one of his toes so that he had to go to Eagle City and have it taken off, and a fellow by the name of Butler from Hueneme [Port Hueneme, California] got two of his frozen down on Charlie River and had to go down to Eagle and have his taken off also. He started in which Ferris Meyers. I froze my cheeks once and my nose every time I would stick my head out of the cabin, but they are all right now.

I don’t know whether this letter will get over the ice or not, but I hope it will as this is the first time I have had a chance to write for some time. Will have more chance to write now, as we are going to stay here all summer. I would like to have been home when Albert was there and the boys all got home from Cuba [after fighting in the Spanish-American War]. Must have had a great time when the boys came back from Cuba.

Peterson and I put on snow shoes and went all around the head of Barney Creek, but there hasn’t been a moose there all winter. Well, I will close now. Give my best regards to all the folks and write again soon.

Frank

 

This hand-drawn map (oriented with south at the top) shows the Charley River tributaries, most of which were prospected in 1898-99. The tributaries of Bonanza Creek (bottom left) were the most heavily mined. Sam Creek (bottom right) also attracted a swirl of gold miners.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer, January 17, 1899

Charlie River, September 27, 1899

Dear Mother—We have stopped here, built a cabin and are going to prospect here this winter. It is a much better looking country than the head of the river.

John Waite, Alex Little and I went up the river about sixty or seventy miles, hunting. The fourth day out from here we got three mountain goats [Dall's sheep]. We saw two caribou the same day but the dog ran after them before we could get to the rifles. We stayed there about two weeks and hunted. Alex got three more goats [sheep] and I got one more, also one caribou and black bear. There was a big cinnamon bear after the caribou when I killed it (the caribou). I shot the bear once and knocked him down but he got into the brush and I could not see his trail on the moss. Where he passed over a gravel bar I could see the blood all along.

We have seven goats [sheep], the caribou and bear, and they will last a long time. John is now up the river about ten miles from here to see if he can get a moose.

Our cabin, where we are now stopping, is about twenty miles from the mouth of Charlie River. We have a fish trap in a creek close to our cabin and as soon as the fish commence to come down we will have all we want. We will freeze a lot of them and have meat and fish all winter.

I read your letter dated July 16, 1898; that is the only mail I have received since we left Seventy Mile. You can write to Star and the postmaster will send it down to us.

There are several creeks close to our cabin that we are going to prospect this winter. We could get colors on all of them and there is a lot of quartz in the gravel. Peterson is up the river hunting and when he comes down I will give him these letters and he will take them to Circle City. I don’t think they will get out till the Yukon freezes. Give my best regards to everyone. I will close now hoping this will find you well.

Frank

 

Read more about the Charley River Gold-Seekers