Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush (Hardcover)

by Lael Morgan (Author) "The Far North has two histories, a secret one in which-just like life-anything goes, and a conventional "on the record" version where propriety is prerequisite..." (more)
Key Phrases: restricted district, gold stampede, good time girls, Georgia Lee, Far North, San Francisco (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal
Klondike Kate Rockwell, a good-time girl with a heart of gold, came to the Yukon in 1900 to find wealth and fame in the same mad scramble for gold that had lured many an adventurous young man. Her story of money made and lost, of multiple marriages and scandal, is one of the many similar tales chronicled in this well-researched and deftly written work by journalist Morgan. Women who followed the gold fever trail from Dawson to Nome to Fairbanks may have shared their male counterparts' ambition and courage, but their means of achieving success were severely limited. Legally unable to stake a claim or own a saloon, most chose to make their fortunes by "mining the miners." Some became showgirls and prostitutes, others became rich through marriage or multiple liaisons, while still others led lives of desperation culminating in murder or suicide. Although there is a sadly repetitive quality to the accounts, this work's unique perspective and splendid period photos make it a recommended purchase for academic and public libraries.?Rose M. Cichy, Osterhout Free Lib., Wilkes-Barre, PA
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review
At the turn of the century, tens of thousands of American men migrated to Alaska to seek their share of millions of dollars in gold that was being mined in remote, subarctic camps. The eyes of the world turned to these voyagers who made fortunes overnight and sometimes lost them just as quickly, but it's taken nearly 100 years later to tell another side of the story-that of the "good time girls" who kept company with these men. We're talking about the women of the gold rush demimonde, "that half world of prostitutes, dance hall girls and entertainers who lived on the outskirts of respectable society," as author Lael Morgan describes them. Overall, they were a fiercely independent lot, defying post-Victorian society to travel north and endure incredible hardship, and sometimes heartbreak, as they, too, sought their fortunes. Among the many fascinating women whose stories are meticulously told by Morgan are "Dutch Kate" Wilson, the first good time girl to blaze a trail across the Yukon; femme fatales like Rose Blumkin, Cad Wilson and "French Marie" Larose, who auctioned herself off for marriage to the highest bidder; Georgia Lee, who became one of the wealthiest women in Alaska; "Klondike" Kate Rockwell, a violet-eyed chanteuse who wowed audiences with her legendary "Flame Dance;" and the outrageous Edith Neile, a.k.a. the "Oregon Mare." It was a time and place where anything was possible, and many of these women became prominent citizens, wealthy property and business owners, and society wives, such as one former prostitute who married the mayor of Fairbanks and hosted President Warren G. Harding when he came through town. Morgan tells these stories with humor and empathy, and fully documents details of the era, especially with a wonderful collection of rare photographs. An associate professor of journalism at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks, she has researched the history of the Far North for more than 30 years, and the depth of her work is reflected in this well-crafted and enormously entertaining saga of a little-known till now, but important piece of the gold rush story. -- From Independent Publisher

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 351 pages
• Publisher: Epicenter Pr; First Edition edition (April 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0945397631
• ISBN-13: 978-0945397632
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,041,837 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Time Girls brought to life, December 30, 1999

By	Lynne (Seattle) - See all my reviews

Lael Morgan does a great job of piecing together old newspaper articles and photos to recreate the lives of these adventurous pioneers. The stories from Dawson are especially detailed (due to the resources) and give you the feeling that you know what it was like to live and work in Dawson during the gold rush. Knowing that the characters in the book were real make the stories that much more compelling.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fun history of the world's (c)oldest profession in AK, October 10, 2001

By	Martin Lewison (Monticello, AR United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush: Secret History of the Far North (Paperback)

I bought this book at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks bookstore. My dad, Class of '51 at UAF (we were there for his 50th reunion), had told me some stories about "The Line" and he had had his first job with the gold mining operations, so I was curious. There's not a lot of gory detail here. It's about people and places, but it's quite a colorful history. Though never officially legal, prostitution was tolerated and it flourished in Alaska for more than 50 years. And some very famous characters pop up, like Wyatt Earp and the "Birdman of Alcatraz". Definitely worth the time.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Of The West!, June 15, 2006

By	Michael Valdivielso (Alexandria, VA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

This review is from: Good Time Girls of the Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush: Secret History of the Far North (Paperback)

The Alaska-Yukon Gold Rush, a time at the turn of the century, when the gold camps were booming and the dust flowed like wine. Leaving behind law and many of the constraints of the Post-Victorian era, men and women went north to find adventure and wealth. Most found death among the cold frozen mountains and rivers but a few survived to find money, power and, sometimes, even love.
The women found it easier to mine the miners then to mine the mines. Women couldn't work claims in most cases and most of the normal jobs didn't pay well.
If a woman wanted the wealth and adventure she was searching for she ended up becoming a Good Time Girl. Men outnumbered women ten to one and were always willing to pay for the company. Dance hall girls and prostitutes were among the pioneers who opened the new regions, became rich entrepreneurs and powerful women who, in some cases, changed the towns for the better.
But their history cannot be written in a vacuum. As many of them left behind no written records we have to use police logs, old photos and stories left behind by the more respectable women and men of the cities. The book deals with the conditions and events that made the Far North so much different from the lower forty-eight states where many of the women came from. Why did the cities, in many cases, allow a red light district? Why did they give them police protection? How did the women influence the towns and change the very future of the frontier? Why did so many women turn to be Good Time Girls?
With tons of humor, happy endings and sad ones, the chapters within this book give a detailed look at the history of the independent women who faced hardships, lost fortunes and the dangers of a wild land to find a future.