Summary: | On verso of image: Waiting for mail in Dawson Filed in Canada--Yukon At the height of the gold rush boom, most of Dawson's population was American-born. For those now living so far from home, getting to the gold fields may have seemed easy compared to getting their mail. Both the Canadian and the U.S. government were caught off guard by the speed and volume of the stampede. During the summer, mail could be carried by boat along the Yukon from St. Michael's, Alaska, but winter mail was brought up from Skagway, across the pass and into Dawson by dog sled. First class mail had the best chance of getting through, especially during winter months. Everything else was left for summer steamships. [Source: National Postal Museum web site, http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/almostamericans.htm]
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