Coirier, Lise; Francoise Foulon; Oliver King; Ezio Manzini; Johan Valke:Belgium is Design : Design for Mankind
- gesigneerd exemplaar 2011, ISBN: 9789058563569
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There is no word in our language which will grip the listener's attention quicker, than the word, gold. No story is more likely to arouse the spirit of adventure than an authentic repor… Meer...
There is no word in our language which will grip the listener's attention quicker, than the word, gold. No story is more likely to arouse the spirit of adventure than an authentic report of the discovery of new and exceptionally rich goldfields.A reminiscence of the early stages of the Nome Gold Rush (1899-1909) written by a mining engineer with fascinating and sometimes tragic details about his voyage to Alaska, wildlife, native Americans, traveling along the wild rivers, and the raw and curious world inhabited by miners hoping to strike it rich. TREVE M. GIBSON.Autograph Manuscript, c. 1915, on Hotel Cadillac (Los Angeles, CA) stationery, 59 pp. 6 x 9½ in. With six Phoenix Consolidated Mining Co. stock certificates issued to Gibson in October and November 1896 for a total of 24,000 shares. Four are signed by President and lumberman James E. Poupore; two are signed by Vice President and broker Charles D. Rand; and all six are signed by Secretary and physician Milton W. Bruner, all of British Columbia. Also with a later 57-page typescript that includes more detail of Gibson's mining career, c. 1956. A revised version of the story presented in the manuscript appears on pages 9 to 25 of the typescript.Historical BackgroundBetween 1897 and 1899, an estimated 100,000 prospectors traveled to the Klondike region of the Yukon territory in northwestern Canada, near the border with Alaska. Most prospectors traveled by water to Skagway, Alaska, moved over the Chilkoot or White Pass trails, and floated down the Yukon River. At the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers, the boom town of Dawson City grew from 500 to 30,000 people in two years to supply the prospectors.In the summer of 1899, prospectors discovered gold near Nome in western Alaska, and many of the miners in the Yukon moved to the new goldfields. During this later phase of the Alaska Gold Rush, from 1899 to 1909, prospectors initially found gold lying on the beach at Nome. Then they dug on the beaches and then at points farther from the shore, where prehistoric beaches had been covered by sand and gravel deposits. At the height of the gold rush, Nome had more than 20,000 residents, making it the largest city in Alaska. Even Wyatt Earp owned and operated a saloon there from 1899 to 1901.As the representative of a syndicate of American investors, Treve Gibson used his mining experience in Montana and British Columbia to explore goldfields far from the coast in Alaska.After an early voyage from Seattle to the Aleutian Islands, Gibson's ship was delayed by ice. After a week in port and nearly two weeks trapped in the Bering Sea, an ice-cutter made a path for the stranded ship, and Gibson arrived at Nome nearly in June, 1900, a month after he had planned. He was one of 18,000 people arriving that month.To examine another prospective goldfield, he departed from St. Michael on the west coast, travelling by steamer 400 miles up the Yukon River. After another 250 miles up the Koyukuk River, the steamer could go no further because of low water, and Gibson and his companion canoed the remaining 300 miles. Finding the field too poor for his syndicate to mine profitably, Gibson returned downriver by dugout canoe, and caught a passing steamer back to St. Michael. Along the way, he witnessed the devastation of the influenza and measles epidemic on the native population and buried an Athapaskan Indian chief.Gibson's memoir ends with his return to Nome, where he spent the next dozen years supervising the mining of millions of dollars of gold.Treve M. Gibson (1869-1958) was born in Hannibal, Missouri. In the 1880s, Gibson was involved in copper mining near Butte, Montana. Gibson then became involved with silver and lead mines in southeastern British Columbia. In 1889, he was living in the Washington Territory, when the governor of Kentucky deputized him to search for and arrest Johnse Hatfield for the murder of Alifair McCoy in January 1888, a brutal episode in the longstanding Hatfield-McCoy feud. Gibson married Elizabeth M. Roberts (1873-1930), on December 22, 1896, in Los Angeles, California. In 1897, their son Edward was born in British Columbia. In 1900, their son Frederick was born in California, while his father was away on the trip chronicled in this memoir. From 1901 to 1912, the family lived in Nome, Alaska, where Treve Gibson supervised gold mining. After losing several claims in lawsuits, Gibson moved his family in 1912 to Oakland, California, where he sold Chevrolet automobiles for a time and then became involved in paving materials in 1915. Later Gibson and his wife adopted a daughter, Helen, who was born in Alaska in 1917, but her mother died in giving birth. After more business pursuits including a service station and a gold mine in Arizona, Gibson suffered a serious fall that left him partly disabled. Treve Gibson died in Los Angeles, still dreaming of re-locating a uranium deposit he had seen in Idaho in 1899, to pass on a fortune to his heirs.Complete TranscriptThere is no word in our language which will grip the listener's attention quicker, than the word, gold. No story is more likely to arouse the spirit of adventure than an authentic report of the discovery of new and exceptionally rich goldfields.As the nineteenth century came to a close, reports brought down from Alaska indicated that immensely rich placer gold fields had been discovered on the frozen shores of the Bering sea, and in the streams draining the hinterland. These stories had received official confirmation by the publication of a brief report by the U.S. Geological Survey. There quickly followed a stampede of thousands upon thousands of people, to the scene of the reported strike. Most of these people embarked upon their long journey from the port of Seattle. Every available ship, on the Pacific coast, was drawn into this service and yet many were unable to get passage on the first sailing.It was well known that the greater part of Bering Sea was covered with ice in winter, but with the beginning of summer, this ice softens, breaks up, and flows through Bering straits into the Arctic. No news from up there being possible the fleet was held at Seattle until its masters felt it was reasonably safe to enter Bering Sea. They fixed the sailing date, at, about, the 1st of June.My part, in this great stampede came about in the following manner, and if you follow to the end of the story you will learn that I had many strange experiences, that could not have happened elsewhere, nor ever, again anywhere.A Syndicate backed with ample capital to carry on, in a large way, in the new mining field, had decided to send an expedition up there, under the capable management of a well know Engineer. This Engineer, who I shall call Mr. Matson, for the purposes of this story, selected ten men from among his acquaintances, to go with him. I was among the ten, and since I had had rather wide experience in the work we were to do, Mr Matson made me first Assistant in the field, with extensive powers and responsibilities, so far as concerned buying, leasing or locating mining claims, and otherwise conducting the business of the Syndicate. The Matson party arrived in Seattle, about the middle of April, and at once set about to buy such merchandise and equipment, as we concieved would best meet our needs in a cold and desolate country. It was believed that for a concern having our objectives it would be greatly to our advantage to reach the new field ahead of the big crowd. Accordingly, we secured transportation on the best ship, at some extra cost, although we knew that the ace in Bering sea, was to a large extend the controlling factor. Keeping a close tab on waterfront news we learned that while none of the big ships would sail before the 1st of June, a small vessel called the Dora, which had formerly been a U.S. Revenue Cutter, but now belonged to the Alaska Commercial Co. would sail from Seattle on May 1st calling at several Company Trading Posts with supplies and mail, but with Nome, the new goldfield town, as her destination. The Dora had accommodations for thirty first class passengers. We were unable to obtain but one ticket.The Dora was a wooden boat, with fifteen feet of solid ironwood built into her bow. She could be driven fullsteam ahead, into an icefield without damage to the ship. We expected her to reach Nome many days ahead of the main fleet. Mr Matson decided that I should use the Dora ticket, and do everything possible to further our interests, upon my arrival at Nome.The time having arrived I said goodby to our party the little Dora steamed out through the straits of Fuca into the rough Pacific. Our first stop was at Kodiak, in the extreme north end of the Pacific, which we reached on the eleventh day out of Seattle. The village of Kodiak is built on an Island having the same name, and has a beautiful land locked harbor. The natives are called Aluets [sic] and are largely a mixture of Russian and Indian blood. They are not so brown as the full blood indian nor yet so fair as the white Russians from whom they have descended. At the time of our visit there were about six hundred residents on the island, only a few of whom were white. They are friendly and hospitable and fond of music and dancing. Learning that the Dora party would stay over till the following day, the Villagers arranged for a dance to be held that evening, to which every one was invited. Their school house was crowded with revellers.Kodiak Island is about one hundred miles long and twenty five miles wide. It consists of rolling hills covered with evergreen timber and is beautiful to look upon. Its streams are teeming with fish and its forests abound in wild game.It was upon this Island that the explorer Vitus Behring built his rock monument and set up the Russian Flag, claiming the whole of the territory of Alaska for Peter the Great, Czar of Russia. About one hundred years later our government bought the title for $7,000,000 cash. Having delivered our mail and supplies and after about a 24 hour stay, we said goodby to this beautiful Island and set our course for the Unimak Pass, which lies about three hundred miles south and west of Kodiak. This Pass is the entrance to Bering Sea from the Pacific, and is a wide channel through the Alaska Archipelago, which extends from the main land near Kodiak about six hundred miles down toward Japan.This Archipelago is a chain of volcanic mountains many of which are still active. When viewed from a ship at sea, it is a grand and impressive sight to see great columns of fire rising one hundred to three hundred feet above the peaks. One large area is called, "The land of a thousand smokes" because of the great number of fumeroles through which gas and smoke hisses continuously. Earthquakes are of frequent occurrence and islands have disappeared beneath the sea following a cataclysmic readjustment after a great outpouring of lava. Shortly after the Dora made her trip down along that Coast, and explosive outburst from the Katmai Volcano, caused two islands to sink, leaving only a floating mass of brush and other vegetation to mark where they had been. Had this happened while the Dora was in these waters, nothing could have saved us from Davy Jone's Locker.When we reached Unalaska, we were told, that the winter had been exceptionally cold and the soft, spring weather late in coming. In all probability the greater part of Bering sea was still covered with ice, though none could be seen from high points of observation on Unimak Island. Captain Thomas was reluctant to proceed until weather conditions became more favorable, though strongly urged by his passengers to do so. To ease the tension, he proposed a fishing party on the codfish banks about sixty miles north of Unimak. Everybody who wanted to fish was given a line and hook and bait, the latter being one inch cubes of fat pork. We reached the banks without encountering any ice, but we could see it to the north of us, stretching endlessly in great, rough, snowy hummocks (?). The fishing party was very successful. We would lower our weighted lines over the side of the ship holding the line in our hands. When the hook and bait had sunk about one hundred feet the exciting moment had arrived. At once a great tug would be felt on the line and the fight was on. It took about five minutes to gentle him down, so he could be hauled to the surface. He would weigh from fifteen to twenty five pounds, and his meat was snow white, firm and rich. I know of no saltwater fish that is better eating. There must have been millions of them on the banks. The bait was no sooner down to their zone, than one of them snapped it up. In less than an hour we had all the fish aboard the ship that we felt we could beneficially use.Feeling quite happy over the outcome of the fishing expedition we steamed back to Unalaska. The Dora's head chef was an expert in the preparation of fish for the table. We had broiled fish, baked fish, fried fish, tongues and sounds, and other preparations, all of which drew praise from the passengers.After four days of restless waiting, Captain Thomas proposed another outing. This time we went clam digging. The Captain ran the Dora around to the north side of Unimak Island a trip of about fifteen miles, and here along the shore we gathered about three bushels of big, fat, juicy clams. I think it is safe to say, that these cold water clams will rank in richness and flavor with the best found in the world. Again our chef outdid himself in the many different ways he served these clams.I am fond of clams but my clam eating is history. I know I shall never again experience a two day clam eating period, when they will taste as good as they did that time on the Dora.After more than a week of continuously mild weather, Captain Thomas decided to head for the Prybolof [Pribilof] Islands, which lie about one hundred miles north of Unimak. These Islands are the breeding grounds for the Alaska fur seal and belong to the United States. The Alaska Commercial Co. at that time had a lease from the government covering these islands, and had the exclusive right to take and market fur seal skins. The Company had a working plant and maintained a sufficient force of men on the islands to take one hundred thousand skins per season. The Dora carried mail and supplies for this station.We reached the Islands without encountering ice, which was evidence that the icefields had moved northward since we had seen it from the Codfish banks.Our stay at the islands was brief and the passengers were not allowed to go ashore. From the ships deck, however, we got a good view of the land surface and thousands of seals could be seen flopping themselv, 1915, 5, Stichting Kunstboek (Acc). New. 2011. HARDCOVER. 9058563561 .*** FREE UPGRADE to Courier/Priority Shipping Upon Request *** - *** IN STOCK AND IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE FOR SHIPMENT - Flawless copy, brand new, pristine, never opened -- HARDCOVER. Text in English, Dutch and French. 264 pages; 250 color illustrations. Description: "During autumn 2010, Design Vlaanderen (Flanders Design) will organise the 6th Design Triennial. This book focuses on the social importance of design in Belgium and investigates how design, via its impact on the basic needs of human beings, influences our way of life. 100 designs by various Belgian designers and design studios have been selected, based on 10 essential values that refer to our basic needs: emotion, environmental awareness, efficiency, simplicity/ease of use, intimacy, game, mobility, security, tradition and living together. The book 'Belgium is Design: Design for Mankind', published on the occasion of this 6th Triennial, brings a selection of essays on the central theme as well as beautiful reproductions of the 100 selected designs." -- with a bonus offer-- ., Stichting Kunstboek (Acc), 2011, 6<
