ILHS Speaker Series: Klondike Mike

A talk by Claudia O’Callaghan titled “Klondike Mike, an Alaskan Oddyssey”.

This year marks the 220th Anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush, which consisted of 3 movements: The Klondike Rush (Yukon Territory) 1896 -1899, the Nome Rush (1899 – 1909) and the Fairbanks Rush (1903-1911). Claudia O’Callaghan, a long-time ILHS member, will recount the history of a family member who participated in all three. Michael Ambrose Mahoney, (aka Klondike Mike) the son of Irish immigrants, was a Paul Bunyan-type figure: a boxer and “high kicker”, an itinerant lumberjack, a master dogsled musher, and a gold prospector who eventually struck it rich in the gold fields and in later life became a well-known public speaker. Come and hear about two of his most famous exploits: carrying a piano on his back up the 33 mile Chilcoot Pass, and bringing the body of the deceased mayor of Seattle through 400 miles of unexplored Alaskan territory by dog sled during the dead of winter while trailed by wolves.

ILHS members free |Visitors $5