Archives West Finding Aid

Gold was discovered in the Yukon Territory in 1896. The news of the discovery reached the United States in 1897, causing the Klondike Gold Rush, a stampede of gold-seekers to the west coast to begin the journey to the gold fields of the Yukon River Valley. The shortest and most arduous route to the gold fields was by boat along the coast of southeast Alaska to Skagway, then on land over Chilkoot Pass or over the White Pass to the upper Yukon River at Whitehorse. An easier but less direct route to the gold fields was to travel by ship around the coast of Alaska to the lower Yukon River, continuing the river journey inland on a sternwheeler. Sternwheelers are paddlewheel-driven boats designed for travel on inland rivers. During the Klondike Gold Rush sternwheelers were often built at a shipyard in Seattle, Victoria, Portland, or Vancouver, and shipped and reassembled at the river site.

In the spring of 1898, the sternwheeler Philip B. Low began the journey to the interior gold fields at the mouth of the lower Yukon River at St. Michael, Alaska. The shipmaster for the 1898 sailing was Henry Bailey and the crew probably consisted of seven to fifteen men. Huskies were uses as sled dogs to haul supplies and often accompanied miners to the gold fields.

St. Michael was a popular trading post and supply depot for miners traveling to the Yukon Valley gold fields. The Yup'ik, native people from coastal western Alaska, lived in the surrounding villages near St. Michael and used the trading post to trade their goods for western supplies.