This might be chaff, not sure. They didn’t call it “backpacking” back then. And it sure wasn’t light.
As I came across a recently digitized rare book from our library’s collection, I realized that our BPL discussions about what gear to take are not much different now than they were in 1896, although to be sure the exact items of choice and amounts are vastly different. Then as now, purveyors of advice were widespread and not always reliable. In “Helpful hints for Klondike gold hunters,” a pamphlet produced by a grocer outfitting the miners, for the purpose of advising those heading to the gold rush on what to bring, there is this sage advice:
“Wherever you buy your supplies and whatever you buy, do not look to cheapness alone. You cannot afford to take inferior goods, whether in clothing or provisions, to the far and frigid Klondike. It costs as much to transport chaff as grain. Let your aim be to the get most service and usefulness within the least possible weight or bulk. Get what is not merely cheap, but what is reliable and a generous money’s worth.”Â
Keep in mind though, that like gear companies giving you packing advice today, there’s a vested interest in you following that advice. Most of the money made off the gold rushes were those provisioning the miners in one way or another.
