Steel, Robert

Steel, Robert

1898-1899

QCMDR, 1898, witness to E. F. Walker, p. 69; Locator, p. 70; Arrived with brother, Tom, on Valencia. Said: “The Pacific Steam Whaling company, which ran three passenger boats from San Francisco to Valdez, had put out circulars which aid the Copper River Valley was a rich gold-bearing region that would probably become another Klondike . . . The company even claimed the Valdez-Copper River route was the shortest way to the Klondike, forgetting to mention the three mountain divides that had to be crossed between the coast and the Yukon.” Fairbanks News-Miner Golden Days, 11/18/58; Found no gold in Copper River area, so winter 1898-99 went up Slana, reached Mentasta Lake Indian Village, went to Big Tok River, built boat, went down Tanana River to Mansfield Lake, crossed divide, built 3rd boat, went down FortyMile; missed rush to Jack Wade; went to Dawson, worked winter in roadhouse; joined rush to Eagle several years later; settled in Eagle, became public official, business man, U.S. commissioner, and postmaster. Fairbanks News-Miner Golden Days, 11/18/58, p.20c.