alaska

Published in 1886, Wonderland was a free guidebook promoting travel via the Northern Pacific Railroad to the minimally developed and gloriously natural northern territory of the United States between the Mississippi Valley and Alaska. Wonderland includes a reference to a previous journey through Alaska made by E. Ruhamah Scidmore, who published a travel guide titled Alaska, its Southern Coast and the Sitkan Archipelago in 1885.

Published at the very beginning of the Yukon Gold Rush, this small book presents geological information on how and why gold was deposited in polar lands, with advice for “those who will heedlessly rush into the perils to be encountered in the nugget lands of the Arctic World” (p. 1). Gold was discovered in the Klondike region of the Yukon in August 1896, and as many as 100,000 prospectors trekked to the area over the next three years, hoping to strike it rich. Few did, but in 1899, gold was also discovered near Nome in western Alaska, attracting even more prospectors.

Though the California gold rush of 1849 is perhaps the most well-known, a major strike along the Klondike River in 1896 sparked one of the largest gold rushes in the history of North America. An estimated 100,000 prospectors flooded the Klondike region, located in the Yukon in northwestern Canada. This book, published in 1897, gave readers “authentic instructions” on how to reach Klondike, a remote region accessible only via the Yukon River.

This book compiles 100 love letters written by Edwin B. Sherzer, a prospector in Nome, Alaska to his girlfriend, Clara M. Miller. The historical setting is the gold rush of 1899 in Nome. The book is edited by Canadian author Kenneth J. Kutz, an expert and enthusiast in both philately and gold. Kutz is former President of Texasgulf Mining Corporation. He is also the former President of the Collectors Club of New York, one of the oldest existing philatelic societies (founded in 1896) in the United States.