Ray-Richardson "Starvation Winter in the Klondike" Archive 1897-1898 Circle City and Fort Klondike, Alaska

1898. Ray-Richardson "Starvation Winter in the Klondike" Archive 1897-1898. Circle City and Fort Klondike, Alaska.

Archival collection consisting of telegrams, letters, financial documents, and newspaper clippings all pertaining to the Klondike Gold Rush, especially regarding the winter of 1897-1898 in and around Circle City and Fort Yukon Alaska, and Dawson, Yukon Territory. About 3 inches of documents. Expected wear but overall, the archive is in very good condition and is generally legible and organized. A full inventory will be provided with the collection along with transcriptions for a number of the important holograph letters.

The Klondike Gold Rush triggered a migration of an estimated 100,000 people into southeast Alaska headed towards Yukon Territory and the Klondike. More than half those who left for the Klondike never made it, turning around. Regardless, such a surge of people in remote interior Yukon/Alaska going into the winter of 1897, when no supplies could be moved, left a huge risk of starvation or malnutrition.

The Canadian Government required each prospector to bring a year's supply of food, in order to prevent starvation. Meanwhile, the United States Government, by orders of President McKinley and Secretary of War Alger, would, on August 4th, 1897, dispatch Captain P. Henry Ray and Lieutenant W.P. Richardson to "report as fully and frequently as you can, the condition of affairs, and make such recommendations as you may deem best." The telegram from Alger would go on to itemize an extensive list of questions that he and the President expected Ray and Richardson to provide answers, including, "Is there food in the country for the population to winter there?" This archive contains several versions of this telegram.

Captain Patrick Henry Ray (1842-1911) was born in Wisconsin and served as a captain with the 1st Wisconsin Heavy Artillery Regiment in the American Civil War and later served in the Indian Wars. By 1881 he had established a meteorological and magnetic observation station at Barrow, Alaska and the Ray River and Ray Mountains were named after him. After the "Starvation Winter" Ray was recalled to Washington and was soon sent to fight in the Spanish-American War.

Wilds Preston Richardson (1861-1929) served in the United States Army and became known for his skills as an explorer and geographer of Alaska in the late 19th century and early 20th century. It's very likely Richardson and Ray were at least acquainted prior to their joint orders to be stationed in Circle City in 1897. During World War One Richardson was involved in the "Polar Bear Expedition" as part of the Allied Intervention in the Russian Civil War. This collection apparently came through Ray family heirs and only contains several Richardson documents--albeit one of the most important letters in the archive is from Richardson to Ray.

The collection is organized chronologically beginning with 10 telegrams authorizing Ray to collect supplies at Fort Russell Wyoming preparing to head north. A telegram dated August 3, 1897 from Ray's wife Ada reads, "Take a Kodak, be good to yourself, good bye, good luck."

As early as August 26th, we see warnings of impending trouble. In a letter from two private companies at St. Michael, Alaska to Captain Ray we read, "Believing the situation here to be critical owning to the number of people now here...state of destitution...absence of civil authority...request a suitable guard...."

A September 22, 1897, letter from North American Transportation and Trading Co., Circle City, Alaska reports on a "miner's meeting" to plan on commandeering the vessel P.B. Weare and taking the goods. Several days later Captain Ray signs a note, "Goods taken from Steamer Bella by miners at Circle City...."

On October 1st, Ray receives a letter from Dawson City which offered free passage for up to 1,000 miners on the Steamer Bella on its return trip up the Yukon River to Fort Yukon as Canadian officials fear starvation in Dawson. Officials still expected up to 10,000 additional prospectors to arrive and overwinter in Dawson. Knowing there were not enough foodstuffs for these numbers, they encouraged miners to overwinter in United Stated Territory at Fort Yukon or Circle City. "There is not a restaurant open, or anything left but beef to be bought...send this letter through if possible--at any risk."

A month later Lieutenant Richardson writes Ray a two-page letter regarding the attempt to take possession of the cache of provisions belonging to the Alaska Commercial Company at Fort Yukon. "I should estimate the number armed at 35 or 40." Ray replies, "I at once issued a notice taking possession of the cache & had them posted that night on the door of the store house...." The holograph letter goes on in vivid detail the threats made against Ray and the continued threat to seize the food. Cooler heads eventually prevailed. Several letters of thanks, from the Alaska Commercial Company and North American Transportation & Trading Company to Ray for his swift actions are in the archive.

Three letters to Ray from J.J. Healy in Dawson City talks of the need for martial law and the threat of seizure of the stores of liquor at Ft. Yukon. Healy was sheriff of Choteau County Montana before establishing a trading post at Dyea, Alaska about 1886. The collection also contains a typed letter signed from the Alaskan poet Sam Dunham regarding a bill for provisions.

With starvation a real possibility, one idea floated was to import reindeer for a food source. The reindeer visionary was Sheldon Jackson, a Presbyterian missionary and the government's General Agent of Education for Alaska. This archive holds a letter to Captain Ray ordering cooperation with Dr. Jackson with his mission of reindeer evangelism.

Despite dire predictions, death from starvation did not happen--mostly because many fewer miners overwintered than predicted. Meanwhile scurvy, dysentery, malaria and typhoid took its toll on Klondike miners.

This large archive also contains several rosters of names of men who accompanied Ray, 9 affidavits of men on board one of the ships whose provisions were threatened plus several holograph records of mining results in various mining districts.

On April 18, 1898 Captain Ray was relieved of further duty in Alaska and ordered to return to Washington. We find no record of Richardson's end of duty in the Klondike.

The second half of the archives contains detailed financial records including receipts, vouchers, checks, and multiple war department reports. Services paid for include that of laborer, clerk, the purchase of dogs, wood, boat supplies, a sleeping robe, and yes, a Kodak camera!

In researching this material, we found no references to this archive and is an amazing cache of primary source material regarding this amazing and desperate period of Alaska and Yukon history.