Dan Campbell seeks gold in the Klondike

Dan Campbell came to California from Ireland. He went off to the

Klondike and struck gold. He met Joe Brand -- brother of L.C. Brand

-- and later came to Glendale to visit. He stayed, built a house near

Brand and raised a family.

That’s the short story. If you’d like to learn more about the

Campbell family, hang on for the next few weeks. Here are the

details:

Daniel Campbell was born Dec. 3, 1872, in Ireland on his family’s

farm in County Antrim, about three miles from Ballycastle. He was the

second of several sons and one daughter. In those days, Irish custom

dictated that property went to the oldest boy. Knowing he wouldn’t

inherit, he decided he would emigrate to the United States when he

was 18. However, his mother was ill, and with several other young

children to care for, his father asked him to delay his plans.

It wasn’t until several years later he made his way to America,

ending up in Sacramento with $50 in gold in his pocket. It was there,

according to family history, that he met Joe Brand and headed for the

Klondike.

In those days, no one spoke of going to Alaska. Instead, they said

they were going to the Klondike. Although the land had been purchased

from the Russians in 1867, it was largely ignored until significant

gold discoveries in the 1880s and 1890s stimulated American

settlement.

To get to the Klondike, prospectors sailed to Seattle, then on to

Dyea, north of Skagway. From there, they walked over the Chilkoot

Pass and then on to Forty Mile Post, at that time the center of the

gold diggings on the Klondike River. James Michener, in his dramatic

book, “Alaska,” describes the infamous Chilkoot Pass as a great

barrier to the gold fields. First, prospectors had to carry their

gear for eight miles over a rocky trail that led continuously uphill.

Then they faced a series of steps, carved out of ice, leading to the

summit. At the top, Northwest Mounted Police inspected their gear,

insisting each person bring in food and supplies for one year.

Nonetheless, so many people headed for the gold fields that

prospectors often had to wait in line to get onto the steps.

Michener wrote, “They strove diligently, up that icy stairway,

taking not a single step in an upright position, always bent parallel

to the earth from the waist up, legs failing, lungs collapsing,

sodden eyes fixed to the ground but always vaguely aware of the man

ahead, whose back was also parallel to the ground, for he too carried

50 pounds up those stairs of ice.” Campbell later told the Liverpool

Daily Post he made nine crossings of the pass.

Then, prospectors had to fell timber, saw it into logs and

construct a boat in which to make the remaining journey. Campbell was

at Forty Mile Post for a year, with indifferent luck, he said. Then,

in 1896, gold was found in Bonanza Creek and his fortune changed.

* KATHERINE YAMADA’s columns run Saturdays. To contact her, leave

a message at 637-3241. For more information on Glendale’s history,

contact the reference desk at the Central Library at 548-2027 or

visit the Special Collections Room at Central. It is open Saturdays

from 1:30 to 5:30 or by appointment.