Isaac quieted his class of children as a young woman took to the stage. A man followed closely behind and raised his hands to further signal the crowd to quiet.
“Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, today we have a special speaker to share with you about her adventures to the Yukon during the big gold rush north. I won’t further delay, but introduce to you, Miss Adeline Byrant.”
Just hearing her name gave Isaac the sensation of a clamp being placed around his chest. He could scarcely breathe. He had seen the woman step onto the edge of the stage but had paid no attention. Now his gaze went to her, starting at her shoes and rising ever so slowly to her face.
Addie. It was truly Addie.
The woman smiling down upon them was more mature —even more beautiful if possible—but nevertheless she was the same girl he’d fallen in love with all those years ago.
“I’m so glad to be with you here today,” she began. “As Mr. Rigsby mentioned, I came here to share stories of my time in the Yukon. I went north with my father and brothers,and we lived there for four years during the height of the gold rush.”
Isaac was mesmerized as he watched her. She was dressed quite simply in a black skirt and white blouse. On her head, she had a straw hat trimmed sedately with nothing more than a black ribbon. Her dark brown hair was plaited in a single braid, hanging over her shoulder.
“It wasn’t easy to get from Seattle to Dawson City, nor was it without expense. A person wanting to go north to the gold rush needed to have a lot of money. I know that sounds funny because most were headed north to make their fortune, but there were costs associated with the trip that most never consider.”
She walked to the side of the stage where supplies had been gathered. “You were required by the Canadian government to bring all of this with you to Dawson City. It’s a year’s worth of supplies.
“Just a few of the requisite goods included one hundred fifty pounds of bacon, four hundred pounds of flour, and one hundred twenty-five pounds of beans. You also had to have all sorts of building materials because once you climbed the Chilkoot Trail—that ice staircase so many speak of—you had to build a boat. But I’m getting ahead of myself.” She gave the audience a sweet smile.
Isaac kept his straw hat low so as not to distract her. He knew once she saw him, Addie would be hard-pressed to finish her presentation.
“You registered with the authorities and let them know how many were in your particular party. You proved you had the required goods, even though the Mounties would recheck your supplies once you reached the top. It was verydifficult. Probably harder than anything I ever did. I was only fifteen years old at the time. Thankfully, I was allowed to sit with our stock of goods once I made the first climb up the mountain.”
It was as if Isaac had gone back in time. He remembered every detail of that climb. How everything suddenly got much steeper after you were about a third of the way up. How those last fifty feet seemed impossible to navigate. Then there was the madness at the top. Once a person reached the top, they were inclined to stop and park their gear, making it even more difficult for those coming behind.
Addie continued with her speech, even giving commentary as native men came onto the stage and demonstrated the packs they had made and carried for hundreds of climbs up and down the Chilkoot. Finally, Addie concluded and asked for questions. A dozen hands went up.
“If you had to buy all these things, hire people to help you, and make a boat, how could anyone afford to go?” a young man asked.
“It wasn’t without its sacrifice, to be sure,” Addie replied. “My father and brothers were gamblers and played cards for the money needed.”
Isaac knew they’d also stolen a fair amount of money and goods to get north, but Addie was probably not going to tell the crowd that. She always bore the shame of her family in silence.
“Sometimes you could earn the money you needed once you got to Skagway. There were some jobs available, and if you were willing to pack goods for other people, you could make a fair amount of money. But in all seriousness, you needed to have plenty of money to spend just to get toDawson City. You needed strength and health too. It was a brutal trip, and folks died on the route. Some were killed in avalanches, some froze to death, some were lost in the river rapids. Money wasn’t the only price you paid.”
Addie took another question. This one from a young lady. “How did you climb wearing a dress?” She giggled, and several other girls beside her laughed as well.
“I didn’t wear a dress or skirt. I posed as a boy for the trip. No one knew that I was a girl. I was small for my age, and it wasn’t all that hard to do. My father decided with all the dangers at hand, it would be better for me to pretend to be a boy. So I cut my hair and dressed in trousers and a heavy coat. There were women who wore dresses, but most had trousers underneath them for modesty’s sake.”
Several other questions were asked, and Addie handled them all very well. Finally, she announced she could take one more, then she needed to let everyone go so the next groups could come in.
“Did you love your adventure to the Yukon?” a teenage girl asked in a rather dreamy voice.
Isaac couldn’t help but look up at this. He knew Addie had suffered unspeakably from her life in the Yukon.
“There were parts of the adventure that were wonderful,” Addie said, smiling. “I made good friends and learned so much. But there were also very bad things that happened. I saw men killed, and I saw them die from the cold or injury. I saw women and children sorely used and die from lack of food and exposure.”
The crowd went silent even though the other sounds of the expo continued.
“Everything I endured made me tougher.”
“Would you do it again?” the girl asked. This time her tone had changed to one of concern.
Addie considered the question for a moment. “There is nothing in the Yukon that could ever compel me to return. As for going back in time to do it again ... well, we know that’s impossible to do, so an answer to that question would be a moot point.” She smiled. “Now don’t forget there’s a class photo to be taken, so meet to the left of the stage in your groups, and we’ll take your photos.”
The students clapped. Isaac’s pupils gathered close. “Did you see people die too, Mr. Hanson?” one of the boys asked.
Isaac had told his group on the trip over to the expo how he had gone to the Yukon with his father to set up a store.
