Alaska

RFG-42. Alaska Gold Rush. Yukon Miner’s Union Banner Polychrome Cloth.  c 1893

This wonderful parade and union hall banner is the original, dating from 1894 at Forty Mile, a miners camp on the Yukon River. It is the first miners Union in Alaska/Yukon. The Yukon Order of Pioneers was organized December 1, 1894 at Forty Mile in Yukon Territory, just over the Alaska border, near Dawson City. The two current lodges of the Union and Yukon Order of Pioneers are in Dawson and Whitehorse. These two groups are closely linked in an historical write-up by L. Cyr. Today, the Alaska Pioneers group includes men of the Yukon, since mining was the common thread, and not the artificial political boundary between the United States and Canada.

Forty Mile served as a central point for prospectors and miners. The Union was established to promote law and order in the mining camps, which was not always an easy thing. (Please see the Cripple Creek Sheriff’s badge in this catalog for a story of western miners union.) Violent crime ran rampant at times in Alaska and the Yukon Territory. Perhaps the most notable outlaw was Soapy Smith, who finally died at the hands of one of the men who he “wronged.”

While gold was mined in Alaska as early as the 1870’s, it was not until mining along the Yukon River and tributaries produced large amounts of gold that the rush began. Centered around Forty mile and Dawson City, the gold rush soon spread to other areas of the Klondike and Alaska, perhaps climaxing during the 1897-8 period. Nome discoveries added more fuel to the mining fires.

This wonderful miner’s union banner is four feet wide by five and a quarter feet tall. It is well known to western mining collectors, since it hung in the Mark Twain Museum in Virginia City from about 1960 to 1994 when the museum closed and was converted to the Mark Twain Book Store. It is one of the showiest mining pieces extant, and arguably one of the most important mining artifacts remaining from the Alaska-Yukon gold rush of c 1895-1900. This beautiful velvet banner was a prominent part of the Graham and Paula Hardy Collection, and is the only one known. Circular painted overlay has begun to crack along 1-2 strips. Some wear to red embroidering.

Extremely rare, possibly Unique. $25,000.

RFG-43. Gold Fields Cigar Label

Extremely Rare, R7, only four or five known, salesman sample. Gold Fields was located in the Klondike and a pictorial scene of Dawson City is pictured on the label. $5,800.

RFG-44. Klondike Gold Cigar Label, AK

This piece is reportedly the only one known. It is beautiful with gold and black coloring. Unique, Extremely Fine. $975.

Please see the Mining section of this catalog for other rare cigar labels.

RFG-45. Nome Daily Newspaper AK 27-Aug 1900

Rare Alaska newspaper, four pages dating from the Nome gold rush. When this paper was printed Wyatt Earp had a saloon called the Dexter in Nome near his friend Tex Richard's Northern Saloon. There is an ad for the Northern Saloon on page three. Earp was a greenhorn to the saloon business having just come from mining placer gold east of Nome, so he may not have understood the full value of advertising. Ads for things such as Jesse Moore Whiskey and more than 15 saloons cover the pages of this original edition. Features: The Biggest Mining Deal-Fabulously Rich - C.D. Lane pays $150,000 For Mattie Claim. News of the Mines-Bonanza District showing up Fairly Well. Vol.1 No.53. Good Condition. $250.