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| It will be a gold day in hell if the mine ever shuts down. |
In the year 1897, a young man named Jonathan Quimby set out for adventure from the frontier city of Seattle. He'd risked his entire life savings to make the trek to the Yukon to prospect.
He started his journey full of excitement and hope. he'd purchased his nearly 2,000lbs of gear and supplies and two fine stock horses to help him carry it.
The voyage to Skagway was difficult. The seas were rough and Jonathan spent many hours at the rail, emptying his stomach into the frigid, frothing waters.
His journey from Skagway to the Klondike wasn't any easier. Halfway through the journey, a blizzard caught him by surprise. One of his two-pack horses didn't survive the frigid night. Wolves took care of the other three days later.
Pressing on he finally arrived in the Yukon, pulling his sled by hand. There, he discovered that all the claims had been taken, except for one on the outskirts of the town. The claim had not been taken because it seemed to have little promise.
He worked the claim for weeks, with his gold pan, his pick, and his shovel. Day after day he toiled, his supplies and hope dwindling with each shovelful of frozen soil lifted from the earth.
After 9 months, his food supplies were exhausted, as were his mind and body. For all his labor, Jonathan still had nothing to show for all his labor. Dejected and despairing, he made his way back to Dawson and spent his last dollar on a shot of watered-down cheap whiskey. He'd brought his gold pan with him to use as a plate for a meal, but he didn't have the means to purchase even a cup of moose stew.
With tears welling in his eyes, he left the bar and slumped to the muddy boardwalk outside the blacksmith shop. The pan dropped from his dejected fingers onto the ground in front of him.
After all his labor, sacrifice, sweat, blood, and tears, he had nothing to show for it. Full of shame and despair, he wept in bitterness unabashedly, heedless of the men passing by on the boardwalk.
A few minutes later, a prospector in a fine broadcloth suit and a bear skin coat passed by young Jonathan. Looking down at Jonathan, he took pity on the broken young man. From his pocket, he pulled forth a nugget the size of an acorn. Bending low, he dropped it into Jonathan's discarded pan with a loud clang.
Jonathan, aroused by this sound, shook himself free of his stupified state. He stared down into the pan, disbelief dawning on his tear-stained face.
Looking up at the man, with gratitude in his eyes, he said in a breaking voice, "Thanks for my first gold, kind stranger!"
Image: ©Æ Firestone/Storyteller
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