Alaska Gold Rush Diary

Zhou Xin carefully opened the yellowed diary and began to read.

The diary's owner was named Robert, and the first page of the diary begins on May 13, 1902.

The first half of the diary entries describes Robert's journey here with a gold rush team.

That happened more than a hundred years ago; the gold rush team consisted of 21 people.

The members of the gold mining team were mostly people from ordinary families or who had failed in their investments. They were in dire need of money but did not have the capital to purchase gold mining equipment, so they could only mine gold manually.

Harboring dreams of striking it rich overnight, and riding the still-lingering Klondike Gold Rush, this small gold-mining team embarked on their ill-fated gold-mining journey.

They pooled their money to rent mining rights in an area near Livinggood, and then, carrying the necessary supplies, set off from Ketchikan, a city that had only recently been established, and finally arrived here after more than a month.

Survival conditions in the wild were far worse back then than they are now, and three people died along the way due to the harsh environment of the Alaskan wilderness.

Fortunately, they successfully discovered a gold deposit here, and there was also this natural cave shelter nearby.

They set up camp in a cave and began panning for gold as they built their camp.

This gold mine has a very high gold content, and in just over a month, they harvested more than 800 ounces of gold.

The dream of gold was finally about to come true, and everyone was incredibly excited, throwing themselves into the gold panning work even more diligently.

By the end of August, when the gold rush season was about to end, their harvest had reached more than two thousand ounces.

Just as everyone was immersed in the joy of the harvest, disaster struck.

Robert's last diary entry recorded the beginning of this disaster.

……

December 1902, 8

Damn it, Williams is a traitor! I shouldn't have agreed to let him join in Kechikan!

But who would have thought that such a kind-looking young man would actually be a member of the infamous Brotherhood of Gold Hunters?

We should have guessed his identity from that disgusting and strange tattoo on his arm long ago. He disguised himself so well that everyone liked him and naturally wouldn't think the worst.

Now that things have come to this, even if the Gold Hunter Brotherhood is powerful, I will fight to the end for my gold. The North Pacific Railroad stock has already cost me everything; I cannot afford to lose this gold as well.

They should be here tomorrow, but we are not lambs to the slaughter. If they dare to covet my gold, my Winchester rifle will make them pay a heavy price!

If I fail, I would rather die here, because I have nothing left.

Damn it, I should have gone to Creek Street when I was in Ketchikan. The women there were amazing. If I could have brought the gold back alive, I would have stayed there for a week.

……

This is the last entry in the diary of Robert, the owner of the diary. It can be inferred that he did not survive the attack by the Brotherhood of Gold Hunters the following day.

Among the skeletons here, there should be one that belongs to him.

What surprised Zhou Xin again was a strange drawing Robert made at the end of this diary entry.

According to the note below the design, this is the tattoo on Williams' body mentioned in the diary, which is also the symbol of the Brotherhood of Gold Hunters.

The design is a logo resembling the One Piece skull flag, with a knife and a gun crossed below.

The skull above is replaced by a glowing gold ingot.

That's right, it's the gold ingot, a symbol of gold in China.

Zhou Xin was greatly surprised, after all, Americans should be relatively unfamiliar with gold ingots, at least they would not regard them as a symbol of gold.

Could it be that these members of the Gold Rush Brotherhood are actually Chinese?

Or perhaps the founders or core members of the fraternity were Chinese?

That's not impossible.

At that time, China was still in the dark and backward late Qing Dynasty. Many Americans lured Chinese people to America under the pretext that America was full of gold, and they were forced to work as cheap labor.

These poor Chinese laborers were called "piglets" and suffered endless humiliation in a foreign land.

Perhaps one of these Chinese laborers was bold enough to think: Since you lied to me that there is gold everywhere here, then I will just rob your gold!

Then they organized other oppressed Chinese laborers to form the Gold Rush Brotherhood.

As Zhou Xin imagined such a hero in a chaotic era, a smile appeared on his lips.

Unfortunately, all of this happened more than a century ago, and the Brotherhood of Gold Hunters should have long since disappeared into the flow of time.

What interesting things happened back then is probably no longer known to anyone.

They searched the cave again but found nothing else unusual.

But just as he was about to leave the cooking area on the far right, he made a new discovery.

He was first drawn by a faint smell of gold, and then he saw a skeleton next to the fire in the cooking area.

Then he saw a few lines of writing crookedly written in charcoal on the cave wall next to him:

"32 O'Villa Street, Los Angeles. If you see these words, please take my pocket watch to Ms. Dorothy Hyatt there and tell her that Jackson will always love her."

In return, I'd like to give you the six ounces of gold I've hidden in the fire.

Zhou Xin guessed that this man named Jackson must have been seriously injured and unconscious during the battle with the Brotherhood of Gold Hunters, and thus escaped death.

Knowing he was nearing the end, he wrote his regrets on the cave wall, hoping someone would discover them one day.

But fate played a cruel trick on them. The place was too remote, and it wasn't until more than a hundred years later that Zhou Xin finally discovered it.

And Ms. Dorothy, whom he cared about until his death, is surely no longer alive.

He mustered his courage and searched among the bones on the ground, and soon found the pocket watch he had mentioned.

This was an old-fashioned copper pocket watch. The clasp was stuck together due to oxidation and corrosion, and it took him a long time to pry it open.

Inside the watch case is a black and white photograph of a woman, which should be Ms. Dorothy.

After putting the pocket watch away, he began to dig at the fire in front of him.

The fire still contained many half-burnt pieces of firewood, as if telling the story of this gold-mining team more than a hundred years ago.

After removing the thick layer of charcoal ash, a layer of flat stones was revealed underneath, and an even stronger smell of gold emanated from beneath the stones.

Digging away the rocks, a small bronze bottle was revealed.

Clearly, this contains the 6 ounces of gold that Jackson had kept hidden away.

Perhaps he was thinking of taking more gold back so that Dorothy could live a life of luxury.

Unfortunately, in the end, not only did he fail to take the gold, but he also lost his life in this desolate land.

Zhou Xin picked up the bottle, blew off the dust, and pulled out the stopper. A strong golden smell wafted out.

It was indeed placer gold inside, and even after more than a hundred years, the gold still shone brightly.

Looking at the unexpected windfall in his hand, Zhou Xin was overjoyed.

"If I have the chance to go to Los Angeles in the future, I'll visit 32 O'Villa Street. Maybe I'll run into a descendant of Ms. Dorothy?"

After confirming that there was nothing else of value there, Zhou Xin left the cave.