Alice B. reviewed Mystery at Chilkoot Pass (American Girl History Mysteries, Bk 17) on + 3563 more book reviews
In 1897, when Hetty and her friend Alma are 12 years old, prospectors come down from Alaska Territory to San Francisco shouting, "Gold!" The prospectors tell everyone the nuggets are so big they're the size of potatoes. After that, it seems like half the country heads north to the Yukon to find some of those golden potatoes for themselves. Hetty, her father, Alma, her mother, and Hetty's Uncle Donall join the crowd heading north to the gold fields.
The trip north is gruesome. When their steamer first arrives at Dyea, the sailors dump people's belongings into a scow headed for the shore about a mile away. Some of their possessions land in the water instead of in the boat, but the sailors don't seem to care. Some of the passengers have to turn around and head home again because all their possessions are lost at sea. Horses, goats, dogs, and other animals have to swim for their lives in the icy waters.
To reach gold country, which stretched ahead of them for 500 miles, everybody has to move part of their things forward, leave somebody there to guard them, and then go back for more. Trip after trip after trip. It's only September, but up by the Arctic Circle winter comes early and it's bitter cold. Some people discover that they packed too much and have to leave trunks and other belongings alongside the trail. Other people decide to pay haulers to cart their things for them, only to have the haulers take the money and run.
Then Hetty discovers her locket missing. It has her only picture of her dead mother in it. Hetty laid it beside her bed in the tent at night, and the next morning it's gone. Someone else misses a knife. Alma's mother loses half her money. Who is the thief? Is there more than one? Can Hetty find him? Or is it a woman?
But thieves aren't the only problem everybody faces. They also have to fight diseases like typhoid and avalanches in the mountains. People have to be strong to survive in the Yukon territory. Will Hetty's family and friends make it? What will Hetty learn on her trip to the top of the world?
The trip north is gruesome. When their steamer first arrives at Dyea, the sailors dump people's belongings into a scow headed for the shore about a mile away. Some of their possessions land in the water instead of in the boat, but the sailors don't seem to care. Some of the passengers have to turn around and head home again because all their possessions are lost at sea. Horses, goats, dogs, and other animals have to swim for their lives in the icy waters.
To reach gold country, which stretched ahead of them for 500 miles, everybody has to move part of their things forward, leave somebody there to guard them, and then go back for more. Trip after trip after trip. It's only September, but up by the Arctic Circle winter comes early and it's bitter cold. Some people discover that they packed too much and have to leave trunks and other belongings alongside the trail. Other people decide to pay haulers to cart their things for them, only to have the haulers take the money and run.
Then Hetty discovers her locket missing. It has her only picture of her dead mother in it. Hetty laid it beside her bed in the tent at night, and the next morning it's gone. Someone else misses a knife. Alma's mother loses half her money. Who is the thief? Is there more than one? Can Hetty find him? Or is it a woman?
But thieves aren't the only problem everybody faces. They also have to fight diseases like typhoid and avalanches in the mountains. People have to be strong to survive in the Yukon territory. Will Hetty's family and friends make it? What will Hetty learn on her trip to the top of the world?
