- What pioneers ate.

What the pioneers and settlers ate while they were conquering the frontier and before they put down roots is a persistent question.  The best answer doesn't come from the pioneers and settlers but from the gold rush miners.

The gold miners of the 1800's are often overlooked when we think about pioneers and settlers.

This is because they didn't often hang around long enough in one place to contribute to the fabric of the community and to take a named place in history.  They came and then they left.

But the gold miners of the Californian, then Australian, then New Zealand, then South African and then Yukon / Klondike gold rushes were incredible pioneers facing hardships on a scale that few other pioneers or settlers would face.

Why?  Because the places they settled weren't selected for habitability.  They weren't chosen for favoring crops, livestock or game.

Gold miners had to go where the gold was without regard for how marginal life was going to be when they got there.

They had to carry almost everything they needed in order to be fully self-sufficient on arrival.

The food the miners took with them to the most remote gold fields gives us a great snapshot of what was considered to be the minimum food requirements for a man or woman hacking out an existence on the frontiers of the 1800's.

Nowhere was that more true than on the Klondike.

The food and equipment lists for the Klondike gold rush are the most comprehensive because the Klondike was easily the most remote of the major gold fields and it promised the most treacherous of conditions.

And thanks to an unusual gold rush law that governed the miners we have a very good idea of the kind of foods and the amounts of food that supported them while they worked the gold fields.

The Klondike gold field was at least 500 miles into the Canadian wilderness, depending upon the route of travel.  For some it was much much longer.

So regular supplies were not going to be arriving in the Klondike and everybody had to fend for themselves.

A recommended year's supply of food from The Klondike Official Guide of 1898 consisted of:

450 pounds of flour
50 pounds of oatmeal
25 pounds of cornmeal
250 pounds of good fat bacon
50 pounds of hams
25 pounds of dried apples
25 pounds of dried peaches
25 pounds of tea
10 pounds of coffee
100 pounds of sugar
120 pounds of beans
10 pounds of barley
15 pounds of rice
6 pounds extract of beef
12 pounds of baking powder
30 pounds of salt
1 pound of pepper
1 pound of mustard
12 pounds of compressed vegetables
30 pounds of canned fruits
24 pounds of jam
10 pounds of baking soda
35 pounds of dried potato and onion

The Canadian Government had the foresight to require that every miner heading into the Klondike be equipped and provisioned to be self-sufficient for a full year.  If a miner wasn't traveling with at least one ton of equipment and food he would be turned around at a checkpoint.

It's attractive to think the miners supplemented this diet with hunting and trapping.  But the same book warns that game was so scarce in the Yukon that having fresh meat during the year was unlikely.

The extra nutritional requirements for living at sub-zero temperatures have been accounted for in this list and the volume of food was increased by 50% above what would be needed in a more temperate climate.

Getting this amount of food and equipment to the Klondike gold fields was a monumental task.

Two common routes were over White Horse Pass and the Chilkoot Pass of the Boundary Ranges and then another 500 miles by boat along lakes and rivers.

To get over these passes early miners had to split their one ton load and carry it in 50 to 60 pound packs.  They would cache each pack by the side of the track after covering five miles and return for another load. 

It's said that they covered 80 miles on foot for every mile that their food and equipment progressed down the trail. 

A common estimation is that 100,000 people set out for the Klondike, 40,000 made it there and only 4000 struck gold. 

The Klondike gold rush lasted little over a year and then it was over.

The Klondike became known for destitution, failed dreams and misery to such a degree that "Ah, go to the Klondike!" was a popular way to express disgust across the United States and Canada.

Further information about how the pioneers and settlers lived can be found at the Pioneer Handbooks library.

If you'd like to rescue this story of the Klondike gold rush from history, you can use the Facebook Like button below to give it a whole new life.

It's easy enough to do and a great way to keep these stories alive.