The Trail of '98
1
JULY 14th, 1897 -
A boat from Alaska sailed
into San Francisco harbor
.... to upset the world.
2
"Gold!"
3
The news began to spread!
GOLD! KLONDIKE! GOLD!
In a few minutes it had
reached the famous Palace
Hotel.
4
"He's Jack Locasto! Just
came from the Klondike
with a million in gold!"
5
"He's mine! I saw him
first!"
6
"But remember that terrible
hardships stand between
you and the gold fields
of Alaska!"
7
"Halves in everything,
Brother Joe."
8
"I just gotta get up to
the Klondike, too, Mister!
I'll pay you back when
I get rich!"
9
"Hop aboard, little pardner!
When I get to the end of
my run, I'm goin' with you!"
10
"ALASKA OR BUST!"
11
"Who's this woman Alaska
you was talking about all
night in your sleep?"
12
"Come on, Lars! Ain't no
wives in the Klondike!"
13
"Look! They've struck
gold! Solid mountains
of it!"
14
"Everybody's goin'!
I'm goin'!"
15
"There ain't a grain of
gold left in this whole
desert!"
16
"Perk up, Salvation Jim!
Look at this!"
17
"Oh, Lord .... take my
hand in Thine and
lead me to that golden
shore!"
18
By train... ship... wagon...
horse .... and foot they
came! Thousands of
men with millions of
hopes left San Francisco
every day.
19
"Grandpa.... here come
Mrs. Bulkey and her
husband."
20
"Such a slow-poke! Before
we get our restaurant
open.... the gold rush will
be over!"
21
"Don't worry. I wouldn't
even look at any another
woman but you."
22
"Sure! In Alaska the
mosquitoes are as big
as jumbo June bugs!"
23
"Yumbo Yune bugs!
Yumpin' Yimminy!"
24
"It also kills flies, fleas,
ants, cockroaches....
and scalp-squirrels!"
25
"You yipped me!"
26
"I'll save it for Sunday."
27
"She's just a poor relation
.... going up to work in
our restaurant."
28
"I'll bring you back a
million dollars."
29
"I'll bring you back a
million dollars."
30
"I'll bring you back a
million dollars."
31
"Pardon me. Seen any-
thing of a young squirt
with a blue cap on his
head?"
32
"Oh Lord, forgive me....
but verily, a blue cap
in his hand is not
a blue cap on his
head!"
33
San Francisco forgotten....
good-byes forgotten.... new
friends found.... strange
partnerships formed....
all with one purpose....
one urge.
GOLD! KLONDIKE! GOLD!
34
"You hell-hounds! The
devil's lollin' in the bay-
windows of your souls
while God's freezin' in the
attic!"
35
"Can you do that
to him?"
36
"With your strength and
my brains, we ought to
become pardners."
37
"He bane my pardner,
too."
38
"- and I'm going to open
the best restaurant in
Dawson City for you!"
39
"Won't it be great,
Berna, when we have
all the money we
want?"
40
"Larry, I've often dreamed
that some day Grandpa
and I would be rich."
41
"Gee, we're lucky....
aren't we?"
42
"Gee, but you're
beautiful!"
43
"It was only the door
slamming, Grandpa."
44
"Thanks for pickin' the
winner. That was my
chip."
45
"What my chip wins
is mine, too."
46
"You can't swipe what's
comin' to me!"
47
"Take your time, sonny
.... you'll get all that's
comin' to you."
48
Strange shipmates there were.
Lust.... Hate.... Greed....
Decency.... Love.... Romance.
GOLD! KLONDIKE! GOLD!
49
"Look, Berna! We're
here!"
50
"Alaska! The Klondike!"
51
"The land of gold!"
52
"Thank God, Mama.... the
worst is over!"
53
"Just think, Mama, all them
mountains full of gold and
nobody to pick it up.... but
Eskimoses!"
54
But the worst was not over.
There was still almost
a continent to be
crossed.
55
There was a freezing,
lifeless wasteland to
be treked - -
56
- an inferno of cold
to be conquered.
57
Into this wilderness of ice
the gold-mad army was
dumped.... and the long
march began.
58
There was no food in the
Klondike so each man
packed a ton... fifty pounds
at a time. Eighty miles
they trudged to move
ahead one mile.
59
A veteran of the trail - -
With his stock of provisions
already in Dawson City, Jack
Locasto soon left this green
army far behind.
60
Days of it - on every height
snow and wind - - in every
valley icy waters and
treacherous marshes!
61
"Do you think you can
make it, little pardner?"
62
What power has gold
to make men endure
it all?
63
"It's getting worse every
day, Larry. Must we
go on?"
64
"I'd rather die than
quit and go back
to.... nothing!"
65
"We'll go on, Larry!"
66
"What's got him....
the scurvy?"
67
"No.... the trail! He's
gone crazy. I'm takin'
him back home."
68
"Klondike! Klondike
or bust!"
69
"In the name of the Great
Jehovah, why don't you
hold on to this son-of-
an-anvil?"
70
"She bane my good luck
charm. She saved my
life!"
71
"My wife chucked it
at me.... and missed!"
72
"Ain't you got tired, too?"
73
"Oh, no! I coulda hung
on today for another
ten miles.... easy."
74
"Yimminy! I must be
awful sick!"
75
"You'd better take care
of yourself. We've got
a hard day ahead of
us tomorrow."
76
CLIMBING! PLODDING!
MUSHING!
Back and forth....
back and forth.
77
"A snowslide!"
78
Then before them loomed
the most disheartening
barrier of all.
CHILKOOT PASS.
79
"I can't go on.... I'll
never make it!"
80
"We must go on! Larry's
already carried half our
load to the top!"
81
Forty times they struggled
up.... Forty times they
straggled down.
82
"You'd better go on without
me, Brother Jim."
83
"No, Brother Joe! We're
halves in everything....
good luck or bad."
84
"How's your little pardner?"
85
"He's dead, Jim....
dead."
86
"Anything I can do?"
87
"Nothin'... except mebbe
say a prayer for him."
88
All winter the trail claimed
its dead, but Spring halted
the living with the greatest
obstacle of all - rivers and
lakes of melting ice and
snow!
89
Endless work.... night and
day.... Building shapeless
flimsy boats to ride the
most treacherous rapids
in the world.
90
"Ain't you bane tired,
Yohnny?"
91
"I must be awful sick
some more."
92
"Yump down here.... you
young yelly-fish!"
93
"Mosquitoes! Spring
is here!"
94
"I'll put out the light....
and they'll go away."
95
"Yumpin' Yimminy!
They come lookin'
for us with lanterns!"
96
"The ice is breaking up!"
97
Then with rivers and lakes
swollen from melting snow
and ice, the eager army
started in their frail craft.
98
Down the river toward
the perilous WHITE
HORSE RAPIDS where
more lives were lost
than anywhere else on
the trail.
99
"It's all up with them!
They've lost control!"
100
Days of drifting - -
then before them
DAWSON CITY,
the gateway to the
Klondike.
101
"We're here, Berna!
We've won!"
102
"Don't unload your boats!
Turn around and go
back!"
103
"There ain't one in a
thousand's found gold....
and there's a hundred
men here for every job."
104
"Good God, man! We've
been through hell to get
here!"
105
"You think you've been
through hell! Wait till
you've spent six months
in the Klondike!"
106
Six months in the Klondike!
Six months of bitterness and
failure!
107
"My brother Joe will be
back from Bonanza any
minute! Can't you trust
me for a drink till he
comes?"
108
"We swore.... halves
in everything - !"
109
"How's business?"
110
"This ain't a business....
it's a headache! I sell
two eggs for five dollars
.... then pay six for two
more!"
111
"I've been out on my
claims all summer....
and I've brought in
enough gold to buy
anything I want."
112
"Do you know what I've
come here to buy?"
113
"Beans!"
114
"Bring me all the beans
you've got in the place."
115
"And a big, thick, juicy
steak.... with French
fried potatoes."
116
"I'll stake you two for
your passage back."
117
"It's no use. Berna
wouldn't leave until
Larry makes a gold
strike."
118
"Leave Berna here.
I'll see that she
doesn't starve."
119
"It's not our funeral if
Berna wants to stay
here!"
120
"See here, beans! For nineteen
weeks I haven't had anything
to eat.... but you!"
121
"Now sit there, beans....
and watch me eat real
food!"
122
Winter closing in -
The last chance to "get out" -
Many took it.
123
"You've got your hunting
face on, Jack.... found a
new girl?"
124
"Almost."
125
"Well.... here's luck!"
126
"We failed again, Berna!
We're broke!"
127
"Never mind, Larry....
we have each other."
128
"Oh, God! If I could
only strike gold!"
129
"Let's give it all up and
go back!"
130
"I'm afraid to stay
here any longer."
131
"Please take me home,
dear! There's a boat
leaving tonight! Please
- before it's too late!"
132
"You're right, Berna!
We'll get out of this
damned country! I'll
get the money for
the tickets somehow!"
133
"I'm leaving on tonight's
boat.... and I need
passage money for two!"
134
"Sit down! Wait till
you hear the big news,
kid! We're goin' to be
millionaires!"
135
"There's been a new strike!
Everybody's stampedin'
tonight!"
136
"No, Jim! It sounds
wonderful.... but I'm
through! I've promised
Berna!"
137
"Berna.... sweetheart....
a wonderful thing has
happened - -"
138
"Don't leave me here
alone, Larry! I'm
afraid!"
139
"But, Berna.... we came
here to get gold! That
comes first!"
140
"Look! They're stampeding!
It's a sure thing this time,
Berna!"
141
"It means my chance....
our future, Berna! For
God's sake, let me go!"
142
"I've been watching
you gather firewood
for days... I just had
to come in."
143
"You poor kid. Your
beau left you to starve,
didn't he?"
144
"Oh, no! He'll strike
it this time! He'll be
back soon!"
145
"I know what it means
to be left alone in the
Klondike."
146
"You're coming home with
me. I've got enough for
both us."
147
"God will bless you for
being so kind to me."
148
"Berna! Berna!"
149
"It's the fever.... he'll be
all right in a few days."
150
"You stick with Larry.
We'll stake the claims
and mush back to
Dawson."
151
"Better hot-foot back to
Dawson and get our
claims recorded... pronto!"
152
Fifty miles a day the
stampeders raced back
to the gold office in
Dawson.
153
"You're too late. One
below and one above
were recorded yesterday."
154
"It's Locasto and his
gang! They jump
every good claim!
The thievin' lice!"
155
"I think I bane goin' to
yump on somebody!"
156
Overtaken by a sudden
blizzard of the Klondike.
157
"We're lost, Larry!"
158
"I'm too weak to go any
farther. We'll have to
make camp..... in that
pine shelter."
159
"We've only grub enough
for two people for two
days - and if those dogs
ain't fed they'll attack us!"
160
"Eight matches.... eight fires.
We can fight hunger.... but
we can't fight the cold."
161
"Don't worry, pardner.
We've been through
worse than this!"
162
"One of the girls wants
to see you."
163
"Berna, I've been searching
everywhere for you!"
164
"Berna, darling.... Berna!
We're rich! We're rich!"
165
"I've struck the richest
claim in the Klondike!"
166
"So, you've found
gold?"
167
"There's not enough
gold in the world
to make things right
again!"
168
"Berna! Berna darling....
won't you speak to me?"
169
"No matter how much you
hate me.... I'll be at your
feet all the rest of my life!"
170
"What right has this
man here?"
171
"Tell him.... and tell him
so he'll understand!"
172
"I don't care what has
happened, dear! I love
you, Berna.... and I'll be
proud of you."
173
"Too late! Too late!
Everything's too late!"
174
"Locasto, it's going to
be to a finish.... you
or me!"
175
"Berna, our past is burning
down there. Won't you
say that we can begin
again?"
176
On the ashes they built
again.
They built on industry
and work.
177
"There's been a new
gold-strike up Nome
way. I'm goin'."
178
"But, Jim.... you've got
more money now than
you can ever spend."
179
"It ain't the gold that
counts.... it's the fun
of finding it."
180
"FUN?"
181
"Holy Yumpin' Yimminy!"
The End
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