Romancing the Klondike

by Donadlson-Yarmey, Joan;

  “Is that how the men get down there?”

  “Usually they just climb down the rope. You can do it that way if you wish.”

  “No. I’ll go down in the bucket.”

  “Miss Owens coming down,” Clarence yelled into the shaft. “Give her the grand tour.”

  He lowered the bucket a bit, then held tight to the handle. Joseph steadied her as Pearl stepped down into it. She wrapped her hands securely around the rope. Clarence slowly turned the handle and unwound the rope. She began to sink into the cold, murky ground. She looked up as the circle of light grew smaller and the shaft got darker.

  Pearl felt hands grab her as the bucket hit the bottom. She stepped out and turned to the man. His face was grimy with dirt and he was barely visible in the poor light. Slowly her eyes adjusted and she could see the shovel he was using to scoop the thawed permafrost that would go into the pail. She could hear other men but couldn’t see them.

  “How do you do, Miss Owens,” he said, formally. “My name is Brad Connolly. I am your guide for the grand tour.”

  Pearl could hear the smile in his voice. “Thank you, Mr. Connolly,” she answered, just as formally, but also with a smile.

  “You just came down the shaft,” Brad said. “In case you were wondering, it doesn’t need to be shored up because the ground is frozen solid and there is no fear that it will cave in on us. When Mr. Berry reached this depth, he discovered a paystreak of gold. He found the direction of the paystreak and he lit a large fire against that side of the shaft. This was done at night and by the morning the fire would be out and the smoke and gas cleared out of the shaft. He then lowered himself, threw the ashes to the side and hoisted the pay dirt to the top. When he realized how rich the streak was, he hired us to continue the work.”

  Brad squatted and pointed into a tunnel. “That may look like an ordinary tunnel to you but to us miners it is called a drift. We are drifting in that direction, following the path of the paystreak.”

  Pearl bent and looked into the drift which she could see from the light of a kerosene lantern. Two men worked at moving the debris in what seemed like intolerable conditions. The lighting was poor, the air almost unbreathable, and the temperature barely warmer than that above. One man lay on the ground scraping at the thawed permafrost while the other crouched on his knees shoveling it into a wheelbarrow.

  “That will be wheeled over and lifted to the surface by the bucket you came down in,” Brad said.

  “Thank you, Mr. Connolly.” Pearl didn’t like the closeness of the walls and the suffocating feeling of being deep in the ground. A strong desire to get out of the shaft overcame her “I’ll leave you to your work,” she said, stepping towards the bucked. Brad helped her inside and gave two tugs on the rope. “Hang on tight,” he said, as she rose upwards.

  When Pearl reached the top, she climbed awkwardly out of the bucket and took a deep breath of cold air. “That was wonderful!” she exclaimed, smiling broadly.

  “Can I go down using the rope like the men?” Gregory asked, stepping forward.

  “No.” Henry pulled him away from the edge.

  “But I’m big enough and I’ve got muscles.”

  “Gregory, we don’t allow you down our shaft that way,” Henry said, sternly. “And you certainly are not allowed to do it here.”

  “That’s not fair,” Gregory pouted, crossing his little arms on his chest.

  Pearl had to smile at his stance of irritation.

  “We’re only stopping you because we love you and don’t want you to get hurt.” Isabel drew him into her arms.

  He squirmed to get free as Isabel planted a kiss on his cheek.

  “Do you have time to come in for lunch?” Ethel asked.

  Pearl looked at Joseph waiting for him to answer.

  “I’ll just give the dogs some food and water and be right there,” Joseph said.

  It was dark when they finished eating. Joseph helped Pearl climb into the sled and with a wave and promise to return they were off. The moonlight was intense making all the trees along the creek appear to be ghostly sentinels and the snow to be full of miniature glistening diamonds.

  Pearl gasped when she saw the first silver swoop of the aurora borealis. She pulled her arm out from under the skins and pointed. Joseph halted the sled. Pearl threw aside the robe and Joseph helped her out. They stood on the frozen creek to watch the spectacle.

  Sweeping greens, purples, golds, blues, and reds joined the silver. At first, they plummeted and rose slowly, then with increasing speed until they danced wildly to some silent music across the dark sky. Pearl stared in awe at the beautiful sight.

  “What’s that noise?” Pearl asked, listening to a rustling, hissing sound.

  “That’s the lights,” Joseph said.

  “The lights make noise?” Pearl turned to Joseph.

  “Not always, but we are lucky to be hearing them now.”

  “Wow.” Pearl looked back to the swirling, twisting colours in the sky.

  She felt a movement and realized that sometime in the past few minutes she had put her hand through Joseph’s arm. She quickly dropped it and stepped away, embarrassed.

  “I’m sorry,” Pearl said.

  Joseph smiled at her. “That’s okay,” he answered, softly. “I liked it.”

  He put his arm around her shoulders and drew her close. Pearl felt a tingle down to her toes and a rush of happiness. And there was something else, a feeling of comfort and peace, like this was where she belonged, in Joseph’s arms. She wished, desperately hoped, that he was feeling the same way.

  For one quick moment she thought he was going to lean over and kiss her, but instead he dropped his arm.

  “We’d better go,” he said, and Pearl detected disappointment in his voice. “The others will be coming to look for us soon if we don’t.”

  They joined Paul at Sam and Donald’s cabin and the four of them said goodbye. The dogs sped across the frozen ground taking them back to the as yet, unnamed town site.

  Chapter Fourteen

  Joseph and Paul took Emma and Pearl to their cabin and Paul said good night.

  “I’ll come in and start your fire,” Joseph said.

  Pearl lit two candles while Joseph removed his mittens and opened the stove door. The ashes were cold. He shaved off fine pieces of wood from the kindling and stacked them on the ashes. When he had a pile, he added some pieces of kindling over them. He took a match and lit the shavings. Soon they and the kindling were burning brightly. The three of them chatted about the day while he worked.

  Joseph added some smaller pieces of wood. When they were burning nicely, he put a few more on top, closed the door, and straightened. Pearl was a little sad when the fire was going and the cabin had started to warm up. It was nice to have the heat, but it also meant that Joseph was leaving.

  “Thank you, Joseph, for a wonderful day,” Pearl said.

  “My pleasure.” Joseph put on his mittens and opened the door. “I’ll see you tomorrow when you bring my loaf of bread.

  Pearl’s heart swelled with joy as she watched him drive the dog team into the darkness. She had never felt so happy.

  “So, something happened between you two,” Emma said. “What was it?”

  Pearl told her about her about their visit at the Berrys’ and then about her accidently slipping her hand in Joseph’s arm while they watched the northern lights.

  “And he said he liked it,” Pearl told Emma, as they changed for bed. “And then he put his arm around me.”

  “I told you he’d planned a date. I’m so glad for you.”

  “Now tell me about how you and Donald spent the day.”

  “It was wonderful. He showed me the stake at one end of his claim, then we walked to the stake at the other end so I could see how long the claim was. He showed me the sluice box they had built to run the gravel through when checking for gold.” Emma laughed. “He tried to explain how it worked but I couldn’t understand it. He said I could come out i
n the summer and he would show me.”

  “I’d like to see that, too.”

  “Maybe Joseph could take you,” Emma teased.

  “That would be nice,” she sighed, “doing anything with him would be nice.”

  “Donald explained how he, Sam, and Gordon built the cabin on his place to save time. And he told me that Gordon is bushed.”

  “Bushed?” Pearl asked. “What’s that?”

  “From the way he explained it, it’s when a man has been in the north too long and he goes a little crazy.”

  “So that’s why he set a tent up on his own claim. I wondered.”

  “And….” Emma paused.

  Pearl looked at her and saw a big smile on her face. “What?” she demanded. “What?”

  “Donald kissed me.” Emma’s face glowed joyfully.

  “He kissed you?”

  “Yes.”

  “And you took all this time to tell me. You let me talk all about my day and then you calmly tell me he kissed you.”

  Emma laughed. “I wanted to save it for last.”

  “I’m so happy for you.” Pearl gave her cousin a hug.

  “Thank you.”

  Pearl climbed up onto her top bunk and snuggled under the covers. She envied her cousin. She wished Joseph would kiss her. Maybe after tonight, he would. After all, she had certainly let him know how she felt about him.

  * * *

  Sam woke up the next morning and rekindled the fire in the stove. During the night whoever woke up would add wood to keep the fire going. He climbed back in bed while the cabin warmed up. Sam slept in his woolen underwear and woolen socks and kept his clothes under the covers with him to keep them warm.

  “I’ve decided that with my first thousand dollars from the claim I’m going to buy Emma an engagement ring,” Donald said, from the lower bunk.

  Sam sighed. He was getting tired of listening to Donald mooning over Emma and making plans for them, especially since Donald had only kissed her once, and that was yesterday, and he still hadn’t told her his feelings for her. So far Sam hadn’t said anything out loud to Donald, but what if Emma had a suitor in the town site they didn’t know about? What if she was tired of waiting for Donald to express the way he felt to her? Not every woman was an Anna Mason waiting for a Joseph Ladue to return home and marry her.

  And speaking of Joseph, Sam still wasn’t over his surprise at Joseph bringing Pearl out to the claim. Joseph was spoken for. He shouldn’t be taking another woman on a dog team ride, even if it was only out to the creeks. Pearl didn’t know about Anna Mason. She didn’t know that Joseph loved someone else.

  “Then we’d better hurry up and find our paystreak soon.” Sam pulled on his clothes and found his boots. He added more wood to the fire but, before closing the stove door again, he stuck the tip of a candle into the flames to light the wick. Its flickering light barely dispelled the darkness of the cabin and sent shadows wavering and jerking across the walls. He took the tin cup that had a mound of cold wax on the inside and set it on the stove. When the wax had softened, Sam pushed the bottom of the candle in it and waited until the wax hardened again around the candle to hold it upright.

  The smoke from the candle made the stale air of the cabin murky.

  Sam had just begun breakfast when there was a pounding at the door. His first thought was that Gregory had gone again. He opened the door to find Gordon standing there. His hair was covered by his hat and a full beard hid his face. He was dressed in his woolen shirt and dungarees, no coat. His backpack was strapped to his back and his axe was tucked in a rope he was using as a belt.

  “Good morning, Gordon,” Sam said, trying to hide his shock. “Come in out of the cold.”

  Gordon stepped into the cabin. Donald scrambled out of his bunk and into his clothes.

  “Would you like some coffee? Breakfast?” Sam asked.

  “I’ve just come to say goodbye.”

  “Goodbye?” Sam looked at Donald. “Where are you going?”

  “My claim is worthless. I’m selling it to the first sucker who will give me enough money for a ticket home.”

  Sam felt his jaw drop. What was happening? It felt like they were in a time warp. This was a discussion they had had in August. Now it was near the end of November. He searched his mind for an answer to Gordon’s statement. He grabbed at the memory of his side of the argument.

  “I thought we were going to give this one more year,” Sam said, tentatively. He waited for Gordon’s reaction.

  “That was if we found something. We haven’t.” Gordon turned to Donald. “Are you coming with me?”

  Donald looked bleakly at Sam. He was at a loss, too. “Uh, no, I guess I’ll stay.”

  Sam stared at Gordon. He was talking normal, he was acting normal, but his eyes had a feverish look to them. And he was reliving their August conversations. He was talking about leaving just as he had done then.

  “So be it,” Gordon said. “I’ll be going.”

  “Do you want to take some time and think about it?” Sam asked. He couldn’t just let Gordon walk away in this condition.

  Gordon shook his head. “I should have left after that first year. At least by now I would have a good paying job and maybe a family. And speaking of families, is there anything you want me to tell yours?”

  “Just that we are doing okay,” Sam said and Donald nodded.

  Gordon opened the cabin door.

  “Wait, Gordon,” Sam grabbed his coat and held it out to him. “You’ll need this.”

  Gordon looked at the coat and then at Sam. He burst out laughing and shook his head.

  “Then I’ll come with you.” He quickly put on his coat.

  Gordon’s good mood evaporated. He eyed Sam suspiciously. “Why?”

  “Uh, for company.”

  “I don’t need company,” Gordon said, gruffly. He slammed the door shut.

  Sam pulled on his hat and mitts and ran out the door. Maybe if he pointed out the reality of the season.

  “Gordon, look around you. It’s winter. Snow is falling. Bonanza Creek is frozen, the Yukon River is frozen. There is no boat to catch.”

  Gordon ignored him and continued walking away, but he was going in the wrong direction. He was headed back towards his tent.

  Sam heard Donald come up behind him. They both watched as Gordon trudged up the creek.

  “We’ll go check on him in a while,” Sam said, quietly. “But I think it’s time we mentioned Gordon’s problem to the men along the creeks. We’ll need help looking for him if he actually does leave.”

  * * *

  For the past three days there had been a northern cold snap that shut down the saw mill and the hammering of building construction. The snap was so much colder than any Pearl had experienced in Nova Scotia. At home the temperature was measured by mercury in a thermometer. Here, she’d learned, it was measured by the liquids they had on hand. Hudson’s Bay rum froze at -8 degrees Fahrenheit. Kerosene froze at -35 to -55 degrees F, depending on the grade. Pain killer at -72 degrees F and St Jacobs oil at -75 degrees.

  In Sam’s letters he’d mentioned they were only about two hundred miles south of the Arctic Circle and the temperatures could dip quite cold, but it wasn’t until she was living it, that Pearl understood. She and Emma had taken to sleeping as close to the stove as they could get and getting up more often to tend the fire. Their food froze in spite of the heat given off by the stove. The water in the bucket had a layer of ice on it. They had to chip at it with the axe and drop the pieces in the kettle to melt.

  Then, this morning, the snap was over. It was still cold, but life was back to normal. They had made bread and pies and were now ready to make their deliveries. Snow was falling when they stepped out of their cabin.

  Pearl breathed deeply. “It’s great to get out in the fresh air again.”

  “Yes,” Emma agreed. “I’m going for a walk after we make our rounds.”

  They now had ten customers for bread, five of whom also
wanted pies, and when they had delivered their ninth loaf Pearl carried the last one into the warehouse alone. Since their dog team ride out to the claims, Emma had quit coming with her to see Joseph, taking the empty tub back to the cabin instead. Pearl appreciated Emma’s attempt to let her and Joseph have some time alone.

  After they’d discussed the cold snap, Joseph said, “Christmas is drawing near and I would like to host a party on Christmas day to celebrate the finding of gold and our new town.”

  “Oh, that sounds wonderful.” Pearl clapped her hands. She had been thinking about Christmas the past week and wondering if it was observed in the north and if so, how.

  He blushed a little. “And I would like you to be my hostess and to help me plan it.”

  Pearl’s breath caught. Her heart beat wildly as she tried to keep her voice calm. “I’d love to help you.”

  “Thank you. There will be a lot to do.”

  Pearl tried to tell herself that he’d asked her to help plan a party and be the hostess because he didn’t have a wife to do it. And he hadn’t asked her to the party as in a date. But a small voice inside her told her that this was his way of telling her he had feelings for her.

  “I don’t know how Christmas is celebrated here in the north,” Pearl said.

  “It’s not much different. We invite people, we decorate, we eat, we dance.”

  “Sounds easy enough. I guess the first thing we have to do is send out invitations.”

  Joseph laughed. “That’s not necessary. All we have to do is tell one person and ask him to pass it on. Word will get out to everyone and those who can make it will show up.”

  “Then we really won’t know how many to expect.” That didn’t sound very organized. She’d planned many family parties in Halifax and she knew that head count was important.

  Joseph shook his head.

  “It’s going to be hard to decide how much food we’ll need.”

  “We just do up a lot and sometimes people bring something to add.”

  Do up a lot. That sounded very vague to Pearl, but it was the early stages of planning.