Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike
4.5/5
()
Currently unavailable
Currently unavailable
About this ebook
Scurvy, dysentery, frostbite, and starvation stalked all who dared to be in Dawson. And yet the possibilities attracted people from all walks of life—not only prospectors but also newspapermen, bankers, prostitutes, priests, and lawmen. Gold Diggers follows six stampeders—Bill Haskell, a farm boy who hungered for striking gold; Father Judge, a Jesuit priest who aimed to save souls and lives; Belinda Mulrooney, a twenty–four–year–old who became the richest businesswoman in town; Flora Shaw, a journalist who transformed the town's governance; Sam Steele, the officer who finally established order in the lawless town; and most famously Jack London, who left without gold, but with the stories that would make him a legend.
Drawing on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and stories, Charlotte Gray delivers an enthralling tale of the gold madness that swept through a continent and changed a landscape and its people forever.
Charlotte Gray
CHARLOTTE GRAY is one of Canada’s best-known writers and the author of ten acclaimed books of literary non-fiction. Her most recent bestseller is The Promise of Canada—150 Years: People and Ideas That Have Shaped Our Country. Her bestseller The Massey Murder: A Maid, Her Master, and the Trial That Shocked a Country won the Toronto Book Award, the Heritage Toronto Book Award, the Canadian Authors Association Lela Common Award for Canadian History and the Arthur Ellis Award for Best Nonfiction Crime Book. It was shortlisted for the RBC Taylor Prize, the Ottawa Book Award for Non-Fiction and the Evergreen Award, and longlisted for the BC National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. An adaptation of her bestseller Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike was broadcast as a television miniseries. An adjunct research professor in the department of history at Carleton University, Charlotte Gray is the recipient of the Pierre Berton Award for distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history. She is a Member of the Order of Canada and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Read more from Charlotte Gray
Reluctant Genius: Alexander Graham Bell and the Passion for Invention Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Passionate Mothers, Powerful Sons: The Lives of Jennie Jerome Churchill and Sara Delano Roosevelt Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Promise of Canada: 150 Years--People and Ideas That Have Shaped Our Country Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Murdered Midas: A Millionaire, His Gold Mine, and a Strange Death on an Island Paradise Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Related to Gold Diggers
Related ebooks
The Trail of the Goldseekers: A Record of Travel in Prose and Verse Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWhen the West Was Young Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Looting Of Alaska Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsGold!: Madness, Murder, and Mayhem in the Colorado Rockies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsBeyond the River: The Untold Story of the Heroes of the Underground Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Call of the Wild Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the West Was Young Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsA Wild West History of Frontier Colorado: Pioneers, Gunslingers & Cattle Kings on the Eastern Plains Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Boom Copper - The Story Of The First U.S. Mining Boom Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTopographies Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Years in the Klondike Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Discovery of Yellowstone Park: Journal of the Washburn Expedition to the Yellowstone and Firehole Rivers in the Year 1870 Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Red River Half-Breed: A Tale of the Wild North-West Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAlaska Travels Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCalifornia Gold: A Novel Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Trail Tales Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDown the Great Unknown: John Wesley Powell's 1869 Journey of Discovery and Tragedy Through the Grand Canyon Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sheboygan Tales of the Tragic & Bizarre Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsTrue Tales of Arctic Heroism in the New World Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrough the Yukon Gold Diggings Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Human Face of the Alaska Gold Rush: It was a Riotous Time With Saints and Scoundrels Living Side-By-Side Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsShabaikai Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Disaster Which Eclipsed History: The Johnstown Flood Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsHard Road West: History and Geology along the Gold Rush Trail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Travels in Alaska: “In every walk with Nature one receives far more than he seeks.” Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Emigrant Trail Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThree Sheets to the Wind Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThe Gold Hunters: A First-Hand Picture of Life in California Mining Camps in the Early Fifties Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsThrough the Yukon Gold Diggings: A Narrative of Personal Travel Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsCrossing Open Ground Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Modern History For You
The Little Red Book Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The God Delusion Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Gaza: An Inquest into Its Martyrdom Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Story of Christianity: Volume 2: The Reformation to the Present Day Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Principles for Dealing with the Changing World Order: Why Nations Succeed and Fail Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Devil's Notebook Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Story of the Trapp Family Singers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Israel: A Concise History of a Nation Reborn Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Plot to Kill King: The Truth Behind the Assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Israel: A Simple Guide to the Most Misunderstood Country on Earth Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5All But My Life: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Midnight in Chernobyl: The Untold Story of the World's Greatest Nuclear Disaster Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Gulag Archipelago [Volume 2]: An Experiment in Literary Investigation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5My Mother, a Serial Killer Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Complete Titanic Chronicles: A Night to Remember and The Night Lives On Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5What Every Person Should Know About War Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Myth of Mental Illness: Foundations of a Theory of Personal Conduct Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A History of the American People Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fall and Rise: The Story of 9/11 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Anarchy: The East India Company, Corporate Violence, and the Pillage of an Empire Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Profiles in Courage: Deluxe Modern Classic Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World's Most Precious Manuscripts Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Bible With and Without Jesus: How Jews and Christians Read the Same Stories Differently Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratings
Reviews for Gold Diggers
25 ratings4 reviews
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I very much enjoyed this interesting read about the Yukon gold rush. In it, the author weaves the stories of 6 people who sought their fortunes in very different ways in the Klondike during that time. I particularly enjoyed reading about Jack London as his novella "Call of the Wild" was a favourite childhood read. I also liked learning about Belinda Mulrooney and Flora Shaw, pioneering women who were instrumental in the development of Dawson City. All in all, Gray's book is an informative read about an integral part of Canada's history.
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Gray took most of her info from journals so it was quite interesting. Good pictures.
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A good thorough history of Dawson City and the Yukon Gold rush along the Trondike river, with a special focus on several of the city's characters: the old priest, the young Irish businesswoman, Jack London, and a royal mountie. She does have an annoying habit of throwing in little lecturettes about the Indians and the socialists though (At one point she actually insists that the gold rush would have been more efficient if it was run collectively.)
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Via a review in my local newspaper, the non-fiction book, Gold Diggers: Striking it Rich in the Klondike caught my attention. I had never read a book about the Klondike Gold Rush, and through this book I learned so much.Despite being a non-fiction book- index, bibliography, sources and all –this book reads like an enthralling novel. Author Charlotte Gray draws on personal letters, diaries, books and poems written by both the well known and the lesser known people that populated the Klondike at that time in history.So many intriguing characters populate the book, to say nothing of the varied and fascinating events that unfold in the Klondike. Among the first to make the difficult journey to the Klondike is Bill Haskell, a rough and tumble character seeking fortune and adventure. Father William Judge, a Jesuit priest goes about his business of attempting to save souls, as well as building a hospital for this rough and ready town and helping others in a practical manner as he is able. Initially he is as close to the areas doctor as they have available. Father Judge is anything but judgmental, and is immune to gold fever or riches. He is well loved and celebrated by his fellow Klondikers. Belinda Mulrooney is an astute, prim young businesswoman far ahead of her time, building a small empire of hotels and businesses in the Yukon town. Author Charlotte Gray tells the story of the celebrated Klondike author Jack London with the ability that only the passage of time, access to his diaries and research can bring. Likewise I got to know the stern Mountie, Sam Steele in an intimate look into letters written to his wife, as well as through his diaries and the actions of the Canadian Government at the time. The stories of each of the main characters are both separate and interwoven along together with many other lesser characters that make up the Klondike. Charlotte Gray has thoroughly researched the characters and events both before and after the Gold Rush to create a wonderful, detailed overview. She touches on so many historical details and physical details of the area that I feel like I have experienced the Klondike Gold Rush personally.This non –fiction book reads like an exciting novel, and I truly hope others will be encouraged to read this lively, colourful and informative piece of Canadian history.