More of my adventures in Dawson City, YT as I researched my Historical Fiction Novel, A Drink of Darkness
“You can drink it fast. You can drink it slow,
But your lips must touch the toe.” -The Sourtoe Cocktail Oath
I did a poll a while back about which blog posts people
wanted to see. While the Sternwheel Graveyard won the poll to go first, I did
promise to circle back around to the Sourtoe Cocktail.
The Sign for the Sourtoe Cocktail club. Yes, that many people have imbibed. I was #91346
What’s the Sourtoe Cocktail?
A tourist attraction in Dawson is to join the Sourtoe
Cocktail Club. It is even in the Yukon, Larger Than Life, tourist pamphlet.
What is the Sourtoe Cocktail, though? It is quite simple, but yet kind of
gross. It is a shot of alcohol (must be more than 40% by volume—no beer or wine)
with a toe in it.
It is an actual human toe preserved in salt.
How the hell did they come up with this idea?
Captain Dick Stevenson came up with the idea in 1973 when he
found the preserved toe of Louie Linken. The rum-runner lost the toe to
frostbite in the 1920’s.
Did I join the Sourtoe Club?
So at first I was resolutely in the no category. But my
husband wore me down in the week or so leading up to our trip—you know, the
whole when in Rome idea. We were staying at a B&B just down the street from
the Sourtoe Saloon, so we figured we’d just saunter down, do the shot and go
home. They don’t start up until 9pm. Much to our surprise, there was already a
huge crowd. We watched people down the shot for a while, then decided to come
back early the next day and get our spot in the queue.
The next day, I got a call from my boss letting me know our business unit was being sold, so I was going to be laid off at the end of the year. Primed for a few good drinks, I headed to the Saloon ready to join the club.
You pay for your shot of choice in advance. I decided on Jameson Irish Whiskey. When you sit down across from the Good Captain, he fills out your Sourtoe Membership certificate. You have to agree that you will not swallow, bite, or purposefully put the toe in your mouth at the risk of a $2500 fine.
The current toe used in the Sourtoe Cocktail. It is NOT the original toe.They are on #10 after the alst one was stolen.
Yes, if you are wondering—the toe has been swallowed more
than once. Last time on purpose. The toe I had the—uh—pleasure of imbibing is
not the original toe. They are actually on their 10th or so toe in
this game.
The toe looks more like a small shriveled sausage than a toe. I took the oath from the Captain and became the 91346-th member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club. If you are interested, you’ll be happy to know that you only have to pay the fee one time. After that if you want to do it again, you can just show your certificate and the fee is waived.
Me with my certificate proclaiming me to be a proud member of the Sourtoe Cocktail Club
Wait—people want to do this MORE THAN ONCE?
Once was good enough for me. Apparently, the record is 14
times—in one night. One of the times the toe was swallowed was when a guy was
trying to beat the record.
Overall it was a fun experience. After Ray and I joined the club, we sat around joking and heckling others. The atmosphere draws a light-hearted tourist crowd, and everyone joins in on the fun. If you’re interested in joining the club, the Sourdough Saloon is in the downtown hotel on the corner of 2nd and Queen St. As previously mentioned, they start promptly at 9, but I would recommend getting there early and getting your shot ready (maybe have a few before hand to build up your courage).
Me posing with the Captain at the Sourdough Saloon.
Thanks for reading. My Alaska horror novella, The Dark Land is now available on Amazon. Subscribe to my newsletter below and get a sneak peak of The Dark Land.
Lured by her high peaks and vast forests, adventurers swarm to the siren call of Alaska’s backcountry. Her harsh bite scars many. Some never return.
The legend of the Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. Its hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter…
In the meantime stay tuned for more of our adventures in Dawson and the interior of Alaska.
Gold nugget from Jack Wade Gold Co. Guess how many oz this weighs
A side-trip on our visit to Dawson as part of my research for my Historical Fiction novel, A Drink of Darkness
There were two ways to get to the Klondike goldfields during the stampede of 1898. There was the treacherous and shorter (by mileage) overland route from Skagway over the Chilkoot or White Passes, then float the Yukon River from Bennet Lake through Carmacks up to Dawson. This route took longer (4 months on average), and could only be done when the passes were open. It could also only be done by those willing and able to pack the 1000 lbs of gear necessary to cross the Canadian border. The passes were too steep for horses, so the gear had to be packed by hand. It took a person on average 40 trips to lug the gear the 33 miles over the Chilkoot to Lake Lindeman.
Avalanches were common. Once the prospectors crossed White Pass, they built boats at Bennet Lake, the headwater of the Yukon (or Lindeman if they took the Chilkoot) . According to the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) over 7,000 boats, some of questionable seaworthiness were built and launched in the spring of 1898. But it was not smooth sailing. They faced the White Horse Rapids. Their choices were to either to shoot the rapids, or pack their gear around. After many rafts and canoes were lost in the rapids, the RCMP decreed that women could not shoot the rapids, but had to hike around. Klondike Kate (mentioned in a previous blog) is famous for having defied this order. She hopped into a raft at the last minute before they could stop her.
Klondike Kate Rockwell, Queen of the Klondike ASL-P41-056 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904.
The longer route was by steamer from Seattle to St. Michael, then by Sternwheel (Paddleboat) up the Yukon to Dawson. The total trip usually took about 8 days (4 days travel up the Yukon). But in the summer of 1898, the year my main character Helena travels to meet her husband in Dawson City, water levels were notoriously low. The boat trip up the Yukon stretched into over a week. The boats ran out of food as they slogged the 1600 miles to the “Paris of the North.” This still seems like better option compared to 4 months on the trail, but it was expensive. Not only did you still need to have the 1000lbs of gear, you had to be able to afford a ticket on the boats. They were often overcrowded, dirty, unmaintained and got stuck often in the slow, muddy Yukon River.
Stermwheeler the Keno in Dawson City, YT
They also could only run when this massive Northern River was free of ice. Break-up in the spring of 1898 (not necessarily ice-free) was May 8. The first paddlewheels did not get to Dawson until June. The last steamer out with a load of gold was mid-September. Freeze-up was October 31. This was a narrow travel window for those coming to Dawson in the pursuit of gold.
Yukon River, looking north from Midnight Dome
On our recent trip to Dawson we decided to take a tour of
the Sternwheel Graveyard. We heard about it only by chance as we were researching
things to do in Dawson. It is not located in Dawson City, but on the West side
of the Yukon River. To get to the graveyard from Dawson, take the ferry across
the river to the Yukon River campground. You’ll have to park then walk through
the campground, then north along the river bank.
Approaching the Sternwheeler Graveyard from the campground from the river. The Julia B is the first sternwheeler visible.
This site by Murray Lundburg has comprehensive information
about the Sternwheeler Graveyard. Murray has been visiting the site since 1990
and has complied pictures of the decay of the wreckage over the years. He has
also done a great job of putting together the known history of the site. Rather
than try to duplicate his work I have included his link below:
You can see information about the 7 ships that were originally believed to have been abandoned at the site, along with an original picture from 1938 of the Julia B (the sternwheeler closest to the Yukon). He also includes a comprehensive list of the boats that travelled the Yukon and the dates they were believed to have been in service. For the purpose of my story, I used the Alice, as I know from references this boat brought the Sisters of St. Ann to Dawson in August of 1898 to work for Father Judge as nurses at St. Mary’s hospital.
Here our some of our photos of the graveyard in August of
2019:
View from the bank of the Yukon:
The Julia BJulia B’s boiler. Kind of made us wonder if it was the inspiration for “The Cremation of Sam McGee,” by Robert Service.Seattle No 3 can barely be read anymore. The letttering is almost completely weathered away.Seattle No 3 wreckage (in color)Seattle No 3 (in black and white..just for fun)Hull of unknown sternwheeler slightly upriver of the 3 main boatsRemnants of the paddlewheel of the Schwatka, slowly being taken over by the forest.Julia B’s paddlewheel rotor, wooden paddles completely gone.
If you are heading to Dawson and would like a unique
activity, I would highly recommend this excursion. As you can tell from these
pictures, this is a hazardous location with unstable structures. If you chose
to venture forth, please do not enter or climb onto any of the wreckage or take
“souvenirs.” Sturdy hiking boots are highly recommended.
Me standing with the paddlewheel of the SchwatkaThe Dark Land, Available on Amazon
Thanks for reading. My horror novella, the Dark Land is available on Amazon
The legend of the Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. The Dark Land’s hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter
Sign up for my newsletter to get sneak peeks at The Dark Land, and follow my blog to hear more about my excursion to Dawson and how it relates to my historical fiction, A Drink of Darkness.
My research into Dawson City for my Historical Fiction novel: A Drink of Darkness
Gold was discovered in the Klondike in August of 1896 in a small tributary in the sprawling Yukon River. Due to slow communications, the rest of the world didn’t hear about it until July of 1897, after the Excelsior pulled into Seattle with “A ton of Gold.” A million people made plans to head north. Over 100,000 people actually crossed the Canadian border, taking one of few routes to the Klondike gold fields.
They could get to Skagway and take the “short,” treacherous
route over the Chilkoot Pass or White Pass. Too steep for horses, they carried
their 1000 lbs of goods mandated by the Canadian government on their backs. It
took an average of 40 trips over 33 miles to cart the goods over the passes to
Bennet City, where then the next leg was via river. This exercise took almost 4
months to complete.
Or they could take the 1600-mile, more expensive, all-water-route. They would travel by steamer from Seattle to St. Michael. Then they could take another boat up the Yukon. The steamers only ran from June until the end of September, when the river was free of ice. In the summer of 1898, the water levels were at record lows and the steamers got stuck multiple times, stretching the journey from 10 days into over two weeks.
In the summer of 1898, 40,000 people passed through Dawson City. A brash boom-town already calling itself the “Paris of the North.” During its boom from 1897-1899, it would be the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnepeg. By the time the “Stampeders” reached the Yukon, most of the best claims had already been staked. People had been mining for gold in the region for over 10 years. When miners close by heard of the strike, they quickly moved in and staked the best claims, leaving little to nothing for the men who arrived by 1898.
As I mentioned in a previous post, we writers are often
told, “Write what you know.” I know what it is like to live in Alaska, and work
in the extreme cold (the coldest temperature I have ever worked in was -65 with
WC of -80). I know what it is like to be really remote with no internet, power,
cell service, running water and other basic services. But going back to another
period in time is a completely different story.
For my Historical Fiction, A Drink of Darkness, set in
December of 1898, the peak of the boom in Dawson City, I needed to do some
detailed research to give the story more depth. I used several sources, but
this blog post is going to focus on the archived photographs from the Alaska Digital
Archives. It is a compilation of historical photographs from Alaska’s past,
taken from various resources (UAA, UAF, Alaska’s libraries and records) and
digitized into one location. You can view and search them here:
It is free to view these photos online, but in order to use these photos for a blog or website, permission must be granted from the Archives. You can find the form and instructions to do so like I did on their website.
I started by searching through the archived photos of Dawson. I wanted to get a feel for the layout of the streets and the way the buildings looked. Built at a rapid pace on a muddy turn of the Yukon River, the first year it was mostly tents, yurts and three-sided log cabins. There was no sewage system or electric grid. Most heat was either wood or fuel oil.
Front Street in Dawson in 1898. Image P-277-79
Wickersham State Historic Site. Photographs, 1882-1930s. ASL-PCA-277
Note how the cart is buried up to its axles in the mud. Dawson was built on the mudflats of the Yukon River and extremely prone to flooding. The streets through downtown were unpaved in this period
They didn’t account for the spring flooding of the Yukon River or subsidence into the mud. As time went on, more “permanent buildings” were constructed. However, there were multiple fires. The worst being in April of 1899. Before this, there was no sewage/plumbing system downtown. After this, the new buildings were mostly finished wood instead of log construction. These details are important to my research both in showing the crude conditions in which my main character Helena had to live, but in determining which buildings belong to which era of Dawson. They were also helpful in understanding how people dressed when out on the street.
Picture of Front Street with people gathered to receive mail and news from the “outside.” Image P-41-161 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
Note the crude log construction in this photo and the lack of telegraph lines (though there appear to be poles with cable in the background-the system was under construction, completed in summer of 1899). This photo is probably from 1898, before the large fire that devastated the downtown.
It is also critical to note how the hills and river looked.
This land is similar to where our cabin is in Chicken with boreal forests
containing spruce, birch and willow. At roughly the same latitude as Chicken
and Fairbanks, it is also prone to permafrost. Due to all of the mining and
need for wood, the trees were clear cut around Dawson by the winter of 1898,
leaving Midnight Dome, the mountain behind the city, bare to the weather.
Front Street looking north toward “Midnight Dome” Image P-277-001-58 Wickersham State Historic Site. Photographs, 1882-1930s. ASL-PCA-277
The lack of telegraph lines and street lamps indicates the above photo was once again probably from 1898
Front Street along the waterfront Image P-277-001-81 Wickersham State Historic Site. Photographs, 1882-1930s. ASL-PCA-277
This is another view of Fronts Street. The better constructed buildings and docks along with the telegraph lines running along the water lead me to believe this photo has to post-date the fire of April 26, 1899 which leveled the waterfront.
I was also able to get an understanding for which businesses and Saloons were actually open the year Helena would have been in Dawson, along with an idea of the location of buildings critical to my plot (the Royal Mounted Police Barracks from which Liam and Zhang break into/out of at one point in the story).
Canadian Royal Mounted Police Barracks P-41-41, according to maps, it is still in this location P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
There were fantastic pictures of the boats pulling into
Dawson. I used these, along with my other references to show what Helena’s
arrival into the “Paris of the North” would have been like.
Steamers pulling into Dawson and unloading, 1898 Image P-41-41 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
Pictures of steamers waiting to load/unload. Note the tents pitched right next to the river, along with the small boats just left along the shore. In the summer of 1898, boats pulled into Dawson by the hundreds nightly. But could you imagine wintering in the Yukon in a tent? Not to mention, the Yukon is notorious for flooding in the spring. Just ask the residents of Eagle, AK:
Dawson had a telegraph installed by summer of 1899, but little other communication to the outside world. The Yukon froze October 31, 1898. Steamer travel would have ceased weeks before as the river began to clog with ice (starts to happen beginning of October, pictures I reviewed online indicate mid-to end of September was the last Steamer out). Once the river freezes, the only way to transport supplies was by dog sled. This was treacherous at best, presuming the aforementioned passes were open. Skagway to Dawson was 444 miles over rough trails prone to avalanche, but a few brave souls did it for profit.
Dog Sled Team pulling into Skagway from Dawson, winter 1898. Image P-41-10 P. E. Larss Photograph Collection, 1898-1904. ASL-PCA-41
This is critical to my plot as well, both stranding Helena in Dawson for the winter (the Yukon typically won’t completely break up until May, with the first steamer arriving from Seattle until June). She then has to survive the boomtown madness. It is also critical to Liam. He needs to contact his brothers in Sitka and his oldest brother Jack, who is on the American side of the border, scouring the gold rush towns of Jack Wade, Steel Creek, Chicken and Eagle. The only means of communication by December of 1898 would have been mail delivered by dog sled.
According to the unofficial census taken by the Mounties, approximately 16,000 people wintered in Dawson, but only 500 of them were women. Something else is stalking the Yukon in the winter of 1898. Something deadlier than typhus or scurvy.
Helena will struggle to resist the Drink of Darkness. The taste is to die for.
Conrad J Kenneman Died Jan 23, 1911 age 51 years
Thanks for reading! For my next blog, I will be talking about my research into the real ladies of the night of Dawson City and other boom towns of the Alaska-Klondike Gold Rush.
Our second trip to Kennecott Mines National Historic Landmark and Wrangell-St. Elias National Park.
In 2007, I made the decision to pack up everything I had and take a job in Alaska working a rotational job in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. I didn’t know anyone, and had no idea what I was getting into. I moved from an office job in Seattle to a field-based job in the arctic. I can say, without a doubt, it absolutely was the best decision I ever made. And not only for myself, but for others I have met along the way, there is an enduring mystique about the land that is still dubbed: The Last Frontier. Wherever I go, I get peppered with questions about what it is like to live and work in Alaska. Some of my novels are based on adventures I have had along the way, but others are based here in the 49th State. While I have lived here almost 13 years now, I am amazed at how much I still don’t know about one of America’s youngest states.
My Alaska Adventures have become the inspiration for so much of my writing (as you’ll see below), and yet I am blown away by how much I don’t know.
A particular piece of writing advice that writers hear time
and time again is:
WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW.
I think we can all agree that this is a bit misleading, and
really, not very well defined. My perspective is that it means to write from
your life’s experiences and passions. When George Orwell wrote the War of the
Worlds, I don’t think he knew first hand anything about alien invasion, but he
understood people. Ernest Hemmingway wrote incredible novels based on his life
experiences as an ambulance driver during WWI. Charlotte Bronte wrote
passionate Gothic Romance based on her hardships and privations as a child
raised in a poor, rural English parish in the mid-1800’s.
Historical Fiction has always intrigued me, as well as historical non-fiction. It is fascinating to read about characters from the past and imagine what their lives must have been like. We can’t really KNOW what it was like to live in their time and walk in their shoes, but we can research and Imagine.
Pressure gauge on boiler in the old power plant at Kennecott
In my quest to write a series of both contemporary and
historical fiction about Alaska, I have been visiting some of the lesser known
historical sites. This trip, we went back to Kennecott, AK. This copper mine in
Wrangell-St. Elias National Park operated from 1911-1938. It produced 200-300
million dollars’ worth of copper and silver (4.5 tons of copper ore). Owned by
the Kennecott Syndicate, a corporation formed between the Havemeyer,
Guggenheim, and J.P. Morgan Families, it operated 363 days a year. A 96-mile
long railroad project costing $23 million was built from Cordova to Kennecott
to bring the ore to market. Deemed the Can’t Run and Never Will Rail Road
(Copper River Northwestern Railroad—CRNW RR), it ran until 1938, until the mine
was shut down.
Rail trestle over the Gilhana River. Part of the CRNW Railroad from Cordova to Kennecott. One of the few sections still intact.
My series a Copper Year is set in the roaring 20’s. It’s a
story about a young woman who survived the horrors of WWI France and travels to
Kennecott to work as a nurse. The novels are about her journey from Europe,
across America to Alaska. It then will detail the life of a single, female
nurse in a camp dominated by men. The societal expectation being that she
wouldn’t stay single long. She would find a good husband and settle down,
putting her career aside to raise a family (apparently, they had a rule that
once a woman got married, she could no longer work). No one really takes into
account if that is what she really wants.
This story was inspired by two ideas. One my own work
experience as a woman in engineering working almost always only around men.
Then also my research into the archived pictures of Kennecott. While most of
the women who got married were named in the photographs, the unmarried nurses
were just labeled “unknown nurse.” It was a symptom of the time in which they
lived. They weren’t considered a critical part of the story until they found a
man to marry. Otherwise, they merely faded into obscurity. This gave me the
idea for creating a romance around one of these “unknown women.”
Part of my research has been to dig into not only the photo
archives and written history, but to take actual trips out to Kennecott and do
tours to learn what life was like for the people who lived and worked at the
mines. It is fascinating to learn about day to day life at the mining
operation. The park rangers give daily talks about camp life and the people who
lived here.
Concentration Mill at Kennecott. At 14 stories tall, considered to be one of the largest free standing wooden structures in the world. It has metal buckles throughout to tighten it down from all the vibration.
We have also taken multiple tours of the Concentration Mill,
Power Plant, and Leeching Plant. These tours can be booked through St. Elias
Alpine Guides. They do a great job explaining some of the back history of
Kennecott and the purposes of the various buildings.
While my story A Drink of Darkness is currently set in
Dawson City, I plan on expanding the series to Kennecott eventually (rap wood
it gets that far). In this case, I will have my immortal vampires Eve, Bianca
(and others) who masquerade as “Ladies of the Night,” showcase the rowdy town
of McCarthy. Sitting at the toe of the root glacier, 5 miles away from
Kennecott, it was also the turnaround point for the CRNW Railroad. Kennecott
was a “Company Town,” owned by the Syndicate, with strict rules, and
technically dry. McCarthy was a boomtown that sprung up to cater to the whims
of the working men. Complete with bootlegging and brothels, a man could work
months for his pay check, walk to McCarthy, then be back at the mines in a week
or two, having blown it all.
My contemporary horror novella (currently available on Amazon), The Dark Land is also set in the area. This novel was inspired by the remote wilderness areas of the park, and local Athabascan Legends.
The Legend of Alaska’s Headless Ravine is steeped in blood. It’s hunger for human flesh never sleeps, even in the deepest cold of winter. Skill, courage and lover will be stretched to the limits on the isolated boundaries of The Dark Land.
Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for more book reviews and Alaska adventures!
