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A unique newspaper from the Klondike Gold Rush?
A unique newspaper from the Klondike Gold Rush?
Item # 701224
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May 16, 1898
THE CARIBOU SUN, Caribou Crossing (Head Waters Yukon River), N.W.T., May 16, 1898
* Very rare publication
* Volume 1 number 1
A very rare title from present-day Yukon Territory. This is the volume 1, number 1 issue, and may be unique. According to Gregory's "Union List of Newspapers" this may be the early newspaper in the Yukon. There is no current mention of a town called Caribou Crossing.
Nothing can be found about this newspaper other than the top of page 2 notes it was: "Published Supplementary to The Yukon Midnight Sun" which was in Dawson. Gregory notes that paper did not begin until June. This is verified by the prospectus on page 2 noting in part: "In making our debut at Caribou Crossing we have not the slightest apology to offer...It is an issue which will be followed up by the Yukon Midnight Sun and is the first paper published in the Yukon Valley...". Some great comments on the difficulty in producing & setting up a printing press in such a remote, rugged area.
This is from the Klondike Gold Rush so much of the content relates to it. The front page has: "A FABULOUSLY RICH STRIKE" "On McQuestion Creek" "The New Eldorado of the Northwest a Tributary of Stewart River" "Death of Swiftwater Bill" "News From the Yukon Valley & the Trail Leading Thereto" "Swiftwater Bill Drowned" and more.
The latter report is untrue. "Swiftwater" Bill Gates was an American frontiersman and fortune hunter, and a fixture in stories of the Klondike Gold Rush. He made and lost several fortunes, and died while mining in Peru in 1935.
Four pages, 9 by 12 inches, archivally strengthened at the spine with a few small archival mends at margins, Minor loss at the blank spine, good condition.
Category: Post-Civil War
No Longer Available
