Hello again agents
thanks for stopping by to attend today's briefing. Today's literary analysis is
going to concern the high adventure of a very interesting time and place in a
North American history. And that will be the Yukon and Alaska Gold Rush in, what
some still considered to be the last frontier, that of course again being
Alaska and the Yukon territory of Canada. Now agents, you may be asking
yourself "why on earth would I be interested in a story about the gold
rush in the last frontier. What could I possibly learn?" Well, agents,
that is a very good question. This story will allow you to view humanity and
human nature in a unique and interesting way while turning pages in this
wonderful adventure story. You will come in contact with, very interesting
characters. It will provide interesting and intriguing insight into such human
traits as greed, humanity, love, empathy, compassion, strength of character,
and much more. You will see the world of a lawless frontier through the eyes of
a con man in cowboy detective, a billionaire gold miner, and plenty of other
interesting characters, which will provide you with interesting insights into a
cross-section of humanity that still apply today, there are many lessons in
this book about honor and integrity and loyalty as well is hard work and never
judging anyone or anything. On first appearances that sometimes this can have
disastrous consequences. Hopefully by the end of this briefing agents, your
minds will be open to wonder is possibility. An interesting new perspectives
and directions that humanity and the world are able to take....
Some went to escape. Some went to start over. Some went for
adventure. All were drawn by gold.
The Floor of Heaven is the amazing story of the Yukon Gold Rush, told through the lives of three men who despite their diverse backgrounds, found themselves in a showdown with a quarter million dollars worth of gold hanging in the balance.
Author Howard Blum does a magnificent job tracing the lives of Jeff “Soapy” Smith (con-man one minute, benefactor the next), Charlie Siringo (a cow puncher from Texas who became a Pinkerton detective) and George Carmack (the prospector-turned-indian-turned-millionaire) and their impact on the gold rush that would draw thousands of people to the punishing Yukon.
It’s hard to read this and not catch a bit of the excitement that everyday people caught as they read about people literally becoming millionaire’s simply through hard work and a bit of luck. The power of gold fever was such that people of all walks of life quit their jobs and traveled to an unknow land in search of gold. People like the Mayor of Seattle who quit his job and was in such a hurry to leave for Alaska that he wired his resignation from the ship.
In the first winter after gold was struck in the Yukon “at least 100,000 people pushed across the world toward the Yukon and another 1 million people made arrangements to go.” The fever was so great that the US Secretary of the interior and the Canadian minister of the interior released advisories, urging travelers to wait until spring.
As a work of non-fiction this book has all the qualities of a good fiction page-turner - adventure, incomprehensible corruption and complex characters that you will root for at points and then find yourself rooting against.
I picked this up at the King County Public Library (through the use of the overdrive app) and would highly recommend it to anyone with a love of character driven, non-fiction. If you enjoy the works of David
The Floor of Heaven is the amazing story of the Yukon Gold Rush, told through the lives of three men who despite their diverse backgrounds, found themselves in a showdown with a quarter million dollars worth of gold hanging in the balance.
Author Howard Blum does a magnificent job tracing the lives of Jeff “Soapy” Smith (con-man one minute, benefactor the next), Charlie Siringo (a cow puncher from Texas who became a Pinkerton detective) and George Carmack (the prospector-turned-indian-turned-millionaire) and their impact on the gold rush that would draw thousands of people to the punishing Yukon.
It’s hard to read this and not catch a bit of the excitement that everyday people caught as they read about people literally becoming millionaire’s simply through hard work and a bit of luck. The power of gold fever was such that people of all walks of life quit their jobs and traveled to an unknow land in search of gold. People like the Mayor of Seattle who quit his job and was in such a hurry to leave for Alaska that he wired his resignation from the ship.
In the first winter after gold was struck in the Yukon “at least 100,000 people pushed across the world toward the Yukon and another 1 million people made arrangements to go.” The fever was so great that the US Secretary of the interior and the Canadian minister of the interior released advisories, urging travelers to wait until spring.
As a work of non-fiction this book has all the qualities of a good fiction page-turner - adventure, incomprehensible corruption and complex characters that you will root for at points and then find yourself rooting against.
I picked this up at the King County Public Library (through the use of the overdrive app) and would highly recommend it to anyone with a love of character driven, non-fiction. If you enjoy the works of David
McCullough or Erik Larson I think you’ll feel right at home
with The Floor of Heaven.
Book title: The Floor of Heaven: A True Tale of the Last Frontier and the Yukon Gold Rush
Author: Howard Blum
·
Hardcover: 432 pages
·
Publisher: Crown; 1st Printing edition (April 26, 2011)
·
Language: English
·
ISBN-10: 0307461726
You are spot on about this book. I read it after my visit to Alaska. I took a walking tour in Juneau, and the guide was full of stories about Soapy Smith. Smith was definitely a con man, albeit a loveable one. He did his fellow townsmen a lot of good, while making quite a killing for himself, not always in a legal manner. After hearing these stories from our guide, I had to read "The Floor of Heaven." Non-fiction isn't my favorite genre, but this book is unquestionably worth reading.
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