The Klondike Stampede
New York: Harper and Brothers, 1900. Near Fine. First Edition, 1st Printing. [8.25x6in] xiii [1], 471 pp., frontispiece image of Adney and dog, 143 images in text and on 25 plates (four multi panel panoramas), two maps (one double page, with insets), appendix; Red cloth cover with gilt lettering on front and spine, black ink borders on front, all edges trimmed; Minimal shelf wear to covers, edges and corners, two small spots on front, spine darken with one small spot, prior owner ink inscription and embossed stamp of the Charles E. Ennis Library on front end paper, tipped in articles on Adney. [Kurutz Klondike 4, Tourville 14, Wickersham 4272, Arctic Biblio 55, Graff 22, Smith 59] CS. Item #14143
Edwin Tappan Adney (1868-1950) was an American writer, artist and photographer that covered the Klondike gold rush in 1897-98 for Harper's Weekly and the Cape Nome gold rush in 1900 for Collier's Weekly. Below is an excerpt from the book about the trail from Skagway.
"The path - if, indeed, it can be called one - twists and turns and worms its way from ledge to ledge and between the masses of boulders. Here a tree has been cut down, and we clamber over its stump. There a corduroy bridge lifts one over a brook. Men with stout alpenstocks and with packs painfully struggle upward, stopping now and again for rest. It has been comparatively dry for a day, and the trail is said to be not so bad .... Every man we meet tells of the trials of the trail. Anxious and weary are they. I saw one half-way up a hill asleep on his pack, with his closed eyes towards the sky and the rain' pattering on his face, which was as pale as death. It gave me a start, until I noticed his deep breathing. little way on three horses lie dead, two of them half buried in the black quagmire, and the horses step over their bodies, without a look, and painfully struggle on .... No one knows how many people there are. We guess five thousand - there may be more - and two thousand head of horses .... A steamer arrives and empties several hundred people and tons of goods into the mouth of the trail, and the trail absorbs them as a sponge drinks up water. They are lost amid the gulches and trees."
Tappan Adney, journalist “The Klondike Stampede," 1900
From Kurutz, "Tappan Adney ... wrote arguably the finest account of the Klondike. Although not a gold seeker himself, he did make the arduous journey and often stood side-by-side with the miners and merchants, adroitly capturing the flavor and spirit of the stampede as no other."
This book was from the library of the late Dr. G. Warren Smith of Pennsylvania. He had a long career as university professor and administrator, and was a collector of over 6,000 books, maps, illustrations, and artifacts relating to the Arctic, Alaska and Pacific Northwest.
Price: $400.00