 |
|
|
Аляска, общие положения
/
ny_rpg
|
|
|
|
26.12.15
14:52 |
Аляска, общие положения
Клондайк, зима 189... год.
Осенью прошлого года недалеко от городка "92-я миля", в ~100 милях от Доусон-Сити, на развилке притоков Юкона, нашли золото. Первооткрыватели - Чарли Доусон, Скокум Джим и Джон Кармак - стали баснословно богатыми. Как только новости об этом достигли цивилизации, начался наплыв людей - сначала ручейком, затем рекой. За несколько месяцев "92-я миля" превратилась из деревни трапперов и места зимовки следопытов в городок золотоискателей - не такой большой как Доусон, но быстро разрастающийся. Старожилы - Уильям Кроули, Наоми, Айрин, Ситка Чарли, и другие - внезапно были окружены золотоискателями, проводниками, предпринимателями и другими, привлеченными вестями о богатстве неглубоко зарытом в земле как бабочки огнем.
Салун 92-й мили, "Киларни" стал таким образом внезапно не менее (а многие говорят что более) интересным местом чем салун в Доусон-Сити. Держит его Уильям Кроули. Здесь уже можно встретить практически кого угодно - индейцев нескольких племен, самых разнообразных предпринимателей, картежников, и, конечно, золотоискателей. Путь на 92-ю милю далек и непрост. В летние месяцы сюда можно дойти на лодке, но зимой единственный путь - через Белый Перевал, и затем несколько дней на собаках или пешком вверх по замерзшей реке. Нанять проводников становится все сложнее, а без них городок можно и не найти.
Задача золотоискателей осложнилась тем что золото нашли на краю земли племени Хан. Когда-то многочисленное, сегодня племя только тень прежнего, но тем не менее достаточно многочисленно чтобы причинить серьезные неприятности в случае ссоры. Вождь племени Большой Арэнк Хаан, недавно умер от оспы. Его дочь, Тейни Хаан, винит в этом белых людей.
Approximate conversion rate of 189... dollars to present: $1 ~= $28. Thus, a $5,000 claim is ~$4,000,000 in 2016 money.
The indigenous peoples in north-west America had traded in copper nuggets prior to European expansion. Most of the tribes were aware that gold existed in region but the metal was not valued by them. The Russians and the Hudson's Bay Company had both explored the Yukon, but ignored the rumours of gold in favour of fur. In the second half of the 19th century, American prospectors began to spread into the peninsula. Making deals with the Native Tlingit and Tagish tribes, the early prospectors succeeded in opening up the important routes of Chilkoot and White Pass to reach the Yukon valley between 1870 and 1890. Here, they encountered the Hän people, semi-nomadic hunters and fishermen who lived along the Yukon and Klondike Rivers. The Hän did not appear to know about the extent of the gold deposits in the region.
... The borders in South-east Alaska were disputed between the US, Canada and Britain since the American purchase of Alaska from Russia in 1867. The US and Canada both claimed the ports of Dyea and Skagway. This, combined with the difficulties in exercising government authority in such a remote area, made the control of the borders a sensitive issue. Early on in the gold rush, the US Army sent a small detachment to Circle City, in case intervention was required in the Klondike, while the Canadian government considered excluding all American prospectors from the Yukon Territory.
In 1883, Ed Schieffelin identified gold deposits along the Yukon River, and an expedition up the Fortymile River in 1886 returned having discovered considerable amounts of it and founded Fortymile City. The same year gold had been found on the banks of Klondike River, but in small amounts and no claims were made. By the late 1880s, several hundred miners were working their way along the Yukon valley, living in small mining camps and trading with the Hän. On the Alaskan side of the border Circle City, a log town, was established 1893 at Yukon River. In а few years it grew to become "the Paris of Alaska" with 1200 inhabitants, saloons, opera houses, schools, and libraries. In 189... it was so well known that a foreign correspondent from The Chicago Daily Record came to visit.
Under Canadian law, miners first had to get a license, either when they arrived at Dawson or en route from Victoria in Canada. They could then prospect for gold and, when they had found a suitable location, lay claim to mining rights over it. To stake a claim, a prospector would drive stakes into the ground a measured distance apart and then return to a registration bureau to register the claim for $15. This normally had to be done within three days. 92nd Mile is able to register claims.
... The claim could be mined freely for a year, after which a $100 fee had to be paid annually. Should the prospector leave the claim for more than three days without good reason, another miner could make a claim on the land. The Canadian government also charged a royalty of between 10 and 20 percent on the value of gold taken from a claim. The proper size of a claim was a matter of dispute. Traditionally, a mining claim had been granted over a 500-foot (150 m) long stretch of a creek.
... Mining was challenging as the ore was distributed in an uneven manner and digging was made slow by permafrost. As a result, some miners chose to buy and sell claims, building up huge investments and letting others do the work. Claims could be bought, however, their price depended on whether they had been yet proved to contain gold. A prospector with capital might consider taking a risk on an "unproved" claim on one of the better creeks for $5,000; a wealthier miner could buy a "proved" mine for $50,000.
... Built of wood, isolated and unsanitary, Dawson suffered from fires, high prices and epidemics. Despite this, the wealthiest prospectors spent extravagantly gambling and drinking in the saloons. The new towns were crowded, often chaotic and many disappeared just as soon as they came. Most prospectors were men, but women also travelled to the region, typically as the wife of a prospector. Some women entertained in gambling and dance halls built by business men and women who were encouraged by the lavish spending of successful miners. Saloons were typically open 24 hours a day, with whiskey the standard drink. Gambling was popular, with the major saloons each running their own rooms; a culture of high stakes evolved, with rich prospectors routinely betting $1,000 at dice or playing for a $5,000 poker pot.
Many women arrived with their husbands or families, but others travelled alone. Most came to the Klondike for similar economic and social reasons as male prospectors, but they attracted particular media interest. The gender imbalance in the Klondike encouraged business proposals to ship young, single women into the region to marry newly wealthy miners; few, if any, of these marriages ever took place, but some single women appear to have travelled on their own in the hope of finding prosperous husbands. The female dress code of the time was formal, emphasising long skirts and corsets, but most women adapted this for the conditions of the trails.
Once in the Klondike, very few women—less than one percent—actually worked as miners. Many were married to miners; however. Wealthier women with capital might invest in mines and other businesses.
The Native Hän people, on the other hand, suffered from the rush. By the beginning of the gold rush their number has already been reduced by disease and famine. The degree of involvement between Native women and the prospectors varied. Many Tlingit women worked as packers for the prospectors, for example, carrying supplies and equipment, sometimes also transporting their babies as well. Hän women had relatively little contact with the white immigrants, however, and there was a significant social divide between local Hän women and white women. Very few prospectors married Hän women, and very few Hän women worked as prostitutes. "Respectable" white women would avoid associating with Native women or prostitutes: those that did could cause scandal.
|
|
|
|
|
|
первая
наверх