Williamsburg Regional Library

Gold rush in the Klondike, a woman's journey in 1898-99, Josephine Knowles

eng

autobiography

illustrations

index present

non fiction

Gold rush in the Klondike

928111805

Josephine Knowles

a woman's journey in 1898-99

"When Josephine Knowles left for the Klondike gold fields with her husband in 1898, she didn't know she would be facing a constant battle with cold, disease, malnutrition, and the ever-present possibility of death. With quiet determination, she resolved to survive, to endure each fresh hardship without complaint, and to be of service to the community around her. "Gold Rush in the Klondike" is Knowles's true story of her year in the Yukon territory, a revealing, never-before-published personal memoir of day-to-day life at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush. Written in a clear, forthright, nineteenth-century style, "Gold Rush in the Klondike" presents terrifying struggles against a hostile environment, picturesque descriptions of an untouched Arctic wilderness, and Knowles's keen observations of men and women on the frontier. A Victorian gentlewoman of refinement, Knowles found herself among swearing, whoring, sometimes violent miners, whom she won over with her grit and compassion. Deciding to never moralize or condemn, Knowles writes frankly of the intense hardships that drove miners into lives of drink and dissipation and the frontier women who were forced to make stark choices between prostitution and starvation."--Provided by publisher

Our search for gold begins -- Off to the Yukon -- Almost a disaster -- The ways of a brute -- Rapids on the way to Louse Town -- Dawson -- Disease -- Slumming in Dawson -- Hardships at the mines -- Spring drives away the darkness -- The hazardous voyage home -- Appendix -- Biography of Josephine Knowles

adult