All this year we're reading "homesteading" books instead of watching movies where plants are the stars. This ties into our "homesteading in the city" theme (and I'm using the term "homesteading" loosely). Instead of acquiring a 160-acre plot and living off the land while making improvements (often in the context of westward expansion in the United States), I've broadened the term to include being resourceful, making things from scratch, improvising, thrifting and recycling, and just trying something new. In that spirit, we've read several books where people leave their comfortable lives in pursuit of their own adventures.
Our fourth book is I Married the Klondike, written by Laura Beatrice Berton (McClelland & Stewart Limited, 1954). In 1907, twenty-nine year old kindergarten teacher, Laura Thompson, received a job offer to teach school in Yukon Territory. She jumped at the chance, and within a month left her home in Toronto, Ontario and traveled to Dawson City, Yukon by train, steamship, rail, and sternwheeler for the fall term. Along the way she met many of the people who would become her friends and colleagues. Her first sight of Dawson City--comprised of a collection of gray buildings, on the bank of the Yukon River, at the base of a mountain--was from the sternwheelers' deck. It seemed that the whole town had turned out to meet them.
Miss Thompson was immediately pulled into the social life of Dawson City, which included hosting and attending parties, entertaining visitors on an assigned day, and attending dances and other town events. Stores carried all kinds of delicacies and Parisian fashions (all of which was unexpected in a mining town, but expected to be implemented). She embarked on her teaching career in a modern school on the frontier, and later met and married kindred spirit, Frank Berton. Together they raised their children and embraced their lives in Dawson City - walking and hiking, exploring, and boating on the Yukon River in the summer.
It was a treat to read Ms. Berton's recollections about living and working in post-gold rush Dawson City, and about the international cast of people that populated their lives. Reading her memoirs brought back a flood of memories of my own. In my youth my family camped in Dawson City and the surrounding area, and fell under the spell of the Yukon. I remember fondly attending the Gaslight Follies; enjoying the view from Midnight Dome; hearing poetry read from Robert Service's cabin (one of my favorites is Spell of the Yukon); seeing the river boats pulled up on the beach of the Yukon River; and visiting the Dawson City Museum. I highly recommend this book if you're interested in history, adventure, and reading personal experiences from a unique period of history.
Learn More:
Some interesting items related to the book:
- Klondike Gold Rush - information about the gold rush that took place in northwestern Canada from 1896 to 1899. The lure of gold and riches brought men and women from all over the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klondike_Gold_Rush
- Dawson City - description of the town in Yukon Territory that boomed during the gold rush of 1898, and still exists today. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dawson_City
- Laura Berton: Teacher in the Klondike - blog article by Gwen Tuinman about Ms. Berton and the Klondike (with pictures). https://gwentuinman.com/2016/02/07/seeking-inspiration-laura-berton-teacher-in-the-klondike/
- Robert Service Cabin - article and podcast by Les McLaughlin from the Yukon Nuggets collection. The Scottish banker, Robert Service, turned full-time author in Dawson City. He was a beau and friend of Ms. Berton, and wrote the preface to I Married the Klondike. https://yukonnuggets.com/stories/robert-service-cabin/
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