Synopses & Reviews
"Ten-year-old Donald McDonald watched the miners shovel the pay-dirt into the wooden sluice boxes. When the miners stopped the water flowing through the boxes, Donald's father motioned him over. Dipping both hands in the freezing liquid, Donald felt around in the gravel and sand at the bottom. Suddenly, up came his fingers clutching shiny nuggets. 'Gold!' he screamed. 'Look, Mama, I'm rich!'"
Donald was just one of many children who came North with their parents in search of gold. In yet another previously untold chapter of the gold rush era, Claire Rudolf Murphy and Jane G. Haigh have gathered individual stories, vintage photographs, and historic memorabilia to tell what life was like for these indomitable kids a century ago.
In a land where freezing, dark winters and mosquito-filled summers challenged even the hardiest pioneers, children, like their parents, had to be tough and quick to adapt to harsh conditions. They lived in boomtowns and rugged encampments on the gold creeks. They sold newspapers, baked bread, learned to read from pages torn from magazines-if there was anyone with time to teach them, performed on stage, and learned to make the most of their new situations. And perhaps infected by the eternal optimism of the gold-seekers, they learned to be positive, even during times of misfortune. Their stories continue to inspire hope and a positive attitude today.
Synopsis
In yet another previously untold chapter of the gold rush era, Murphy and Haigh have gathered individual stories, vintage photographs, and historic memorabilia to tell what life was like for children in the harsh and sparse gold-mining camps a century ago. Illustrations.
Synopsis
These individual stories, vintage photographs, and historic memorabilia tell what life was like for the children who came North with their parents in search of gold.
About the Author
Claire Rudolf Murphy is the author of two previous novels and several books of nonfiction. She was inspired to write Free Radical while contemplating her own feelings about the Vietnam War and how teenagers view it today. After spending many years in Alaska, Claire and her family now live in Spokane, Washington. This is her first book for Clarion.Jane G. Haigh began her career as a local historian in Fairbanks, Alaska, which she continues to call home. She is the author of a number of books of popular Alaskan history, including Gold Rush Women, Gold Rush Dogs, and King Con: The Story of Soapy Smith.