Gamblers and Dreamers: Women, Men, and Community in the Klondike

Charlene L. Porsild

UBC Press, 1998 - History - 250 pages

The popular image of the Klondike is of a rush of white, male adventurers who overcame great physical and geographical obstacles in their quest for gold. Young, white, single American men carried forward the ideals and structures of the western frontier. It was a man's world made respectable only after the turn of the century with the arrival of white, middle class women who miraculously swept out the corners of dirt and vice and 'civilized' the society. These impressions endure despite recent attempts to correct them.

Gamblers and Dreamers tackles some of the myths about the history of the North in the era of the gold rush. Though many inhabitants came and went, Charlene Porsild focuses on the concept of community commitment to show that many put down roots. This in-depth study of Dawson City at the turn of the century reveals that the city had a cosmopolitan character, a stratified society, and a definite permanence. It examines the lives of First Nations peoples, miners and other labourers, professionals, merchants, dance hall performers and sex trade workers, providing fascinating detail about those who left homes and jobs to strike it rich in the last great gold rush of the nineteenth century. In the process, Gamblers and Dreamers puts a human face on this compelling period of history.

Contents

• KeishSkookum Jim and George Carmack Yukon Archives Skookum Jim Oral History: 3
• The Original Yukoners and the Klondike Gold Rush: 24
• A Klondike couple on the Chilkoot Pass National Archives of Canada PA200049: 43
• Moosehide Village National Archives of Canada PA017115 photograph by H J Woodside: 51
• A business transaction using gold dust National Archives of Canada C5393: 63
• Arcade Restaurant Yukon Archives VPL 2028: 73
• King of the Klondike Alex McDonald National Archives of Canada PA186696: 86
• A Klondike family seeks its fortune National Archives of Canada PA168981: 93
• A local bartender posing atop a ladder of local prostitutes BC Archives 51500: 103
• Dance hall performer the Belgian Queen National Archives of Canada PA013284 photo: 115
• Women Men and Community in the Klondike: 191

About the author

Charlene Porsild was born in the Yukon and raised innorthern Alberta. She teaches Canadian and American History at theUniversity of Nebraska and is the editor of the Great PlainsQuarterly journal. She is a well known expert on the Klondike andhas appeared on PBS for the "Gold Fever" episode of TheAmerican Experience (aired in Canada on May 12, 1997).

Bibliographic information

• Title: Gamblers and Dreamers: Women, Men, and Community in the Klondike
• Author: Charlene L. Porsild
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: UBC Press, 1998
• ISBN: 0774806516, 9780774806510
• Length: 250 pages
• Subjects: History / Americas (North, Central, South, West Indies); History / Canada / General; History / Canada / Post-Confederation (1867-); History / Canada / Provincial, Territorial & Local / Northern Territories (NT, NU, YT); History / United States / State & Local / West (AK, CA, CO, HI, ID, MT, NV, UT, WY); Social Science / Anthropology / Cultural & Social