1898 prospector supply list

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
I came across a list of supplies required by the Canadian police for people wanting to stampede(prospect) in the yukon territory. It is pretty cool.

***http://www.arcticwebsite.com/goldrushsupplies1898.html

***
Every person traveling to the goldfields of the Yukon Territory were required to take along one years worth of supplies. Every dealer of goods was ready to tell them exactly what they needed, and would sell the products to them at a very high price. There were also many how-to books for th prospector. Many were written by people that were never in the wilderness, let alone the Yukon.
List of items needed by miners distributed by the Northern Pacific Railroad:

For each man:

FOOD:
200 pounds of bacon
400 pounds of flour
85 pounds assorted dried fruit
50 pounds cornmeal
35 pounds rice
24 pounds coffee
5 pounds tea
100 pounds sugar
25 pounds fish
15 pounds soup vegetables
50 pounds oatmeal
50 pounds dried potatoes
50 pounds dried onions
25 cans butter
100 pounds beans
4 dozen tins condensed milk
15 pounds salt
1 pound pepper
8 pounds baking powder
2 pounds baking soda
1/2 pound mustard
3/4 pound ginger
36 pounds yeast cakes
60 boxes of matches
5 bars of soap

CLOTHING:
1 suit oil clothing
3 pairs snag-proof rubber boots
3 pairs heavy shoes
1 dozen heavy socks
6 pairs wool mittens
3 suits heavy underwear
2 pairs Mackinaw trousers
2 pairs overalls
2 hats
4 heavy woolen overshirts
1 Mackinaw coat
1 heavy rubber-lined coat
suspenders, hankerchiefs, snow glasses
2 pairs of heavy woolen blankets
2 oil blankets
4 towels
buttons, thread, needles
5 yards mosquito netting

EQUIPMENT:
1 large bucket
1 set granite buckets
2 axes, plus extra handle
2 picks
handsaw
whipsaw
1 shovel
pack strap
6 files
drawing knife
brace and bits
jack plane
hammer
3 chisels
butcher knife
200 feet, 3/8- inch rope
10 pounds pitch
5 pounds oakum
2 caulking irons
15 pounds nails
tent
canvas
whet stone
compass
goggles
quartz glass
quicksilver
2 frying pans
coffee and tea pot
40 pounds of candles
eating utensils: plate, cup, knife fork, spoon
pots and pans
steel stove for 4 men
gold pan
gold scales

Also additional items were noted, such as: medicines, reading matter, guns, ammunition and personal items.


Source: Jones, Charlotte Foltz. Yukon Gold, The Story of the Klondike Gold Rush , New York: Holiday House, 1999, 33-34.

- - - Updated - - -

Anyone know what a set of granite buckets is?


Is it as simple as some buckets made from granite?
 

Cody

Random Quote Generator
Supporting Member
Location
Gastown
sooo, each person had to bring his own wagon full of goods? Seems like if everyone was going to try and find work/money, who had the money to pay for all of that?
 

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Stinkwater
I came across a list of supplies required by the Canadian police for people wanting to stampede(prospect) in the yukon territory. It is pretty cool.


***http://www.arcticwebsite.com/goldrushsupplies1898.html


***
Every person traveling to the goldfields of the Yukon Territory were required to take along one years worth of supplies. Every dealer of goods was ready to tell them exactly what they needed, and would sell the products to them at a very high price. There were also many how-to books for th prospector. Many were written by people that were never in the wilderness, let alone the Yukon.
List of items needed by miners distributed by the Northern Pacific Railroad:


For each man:


FOOD:
200 pounds of bacon
400 pounds of flour
85 pounds assorted dried fruit
50 pounds cornmeal
35 pounds rice
24 pounds coffee
5 pounds tea
100 pounds sugar
25 pounds fish
15 pounds soup vegetables
50 pounds oatmeal
50 pounds dried potatoes
50 pounds dried onions
25 cans butter
100 pounds beans
4 dozen tins condensed milk
15 pounds salt
1 pound pepper
8 pounds baking powder
2 pounds baking soda
1/2 pound mustard
3/4 pound ginger
36 pounds yeast cakes
60 boxes of matches
5 bars of soap


S'cuse me, I need to go work on my food storage.


carl's link said:
Stampeders who carried their own goods had the choice of carrying more weight or walking more miles. A light pack of 50 pounds meant more trips. A heavy pack of 80 pounds meant fewer trips, but extra weight and slower pace. Every mile walked with a load meant another mile back empty. Stampeder Everett Barton wrote home, "We have been working terribly hard packing 50# & 75# over mountains that we would not think of walking over at home." Some stampeders walked nearly 1,000 miles to carry their supplies the 33 miles from Dyea to Lake Bennett.


The guy that put a tram up Chilkoot Pass could have earned a million bucks a day.
 
Last edited:

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
sooo, each person had to bring his own wagon full of goods? Seems like if everyone was going to try and find work/money, who had the money to pay for all of that?

One of the guys they wrote about walked 1000 miles to get all his supplies to his camp. That is a lot of trips at 33 miles each time.
 

Greg

I run a tight ship... wreck
Admin
Did you know that in Canada, railroaders are looked on as the first real explorers of the Canadian mountains? They discovered many of the places that are now Provincial Parks...


Wish the States were more like that... :rofl:
 

mesha

By endurance we conquer
Location
A.F.
I bet most were using the minimalist version of this list. [emoji1]

Sent from my H1611 using Tapatalk

That is probably true. However, the police did check them at the border and not let them cross unless they could prove they could live unsupported for 1 year. The food list sure didn't change much. They required 3 lbs of food per day. The collected taxes on stuff and made a serious load of cash for all the taxes on stuff they required people to bring across the border with them.
 
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