Early Days on the Yukon and the Story of Its Gold Finds
London, New York, Toronto: Bodley Head, John Lane and Bell & Cockburn, 1913. First Edition. Hardcover. Stout 8vo. Pp. Frontis. photo portrait. Filled with many b&w photo reproductions. Fore-edge untrimmed. Red linen with gilt lettering stamped on front cover and spine. Spine a tad faded, with slight fraying and a short tear to head and tail of spine. (See photos.) Previous owner name in ink on front pastedown; dates of author birth/death in ink on title page. That owner notes with some pride, on p. 91, that he visited the Sikanni Chief River, a tributary of the Nelson, in 1922. Two or three other bits of marginalia are present in the form of margin hash marks. Else, VG. Very Good. Item #59 Has details on Arthur Harper, who put forth first technical effort at mining in the region, utilizing Arrowsmith's London map of North America, and George Washington Carmac (referred to by some as "George Carmack") and his friends Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie or "Cultus Charlie". "Skookum" means "strong" as evinced by Ogilvie's employment of Jim, related in this book, to carry 156 pounds of bacon over a pass in one haul. Much of Ogilvie's account is told anecdotally, and with humor. RICKS, p. 164; SMITH, 7542; WICKERSHAM, 6784.
Ogilvie's stature as a bona fide primary-source observer of the Klondike Gold Rush is enhanced by his record as an explorer, surveyor and eventual commissioner of the region. Among other achievements, he laid out the town of Dawson City. Per Ricks, "one of the most valuable works on the gold rush" in part because Ogilvie's history of the "discovery of gold comes from participation."
Price: $100.00