Happy Tuesday, Friends!
Please help me welcome award winning author, Paty Jager to my blog. Paty is here to tell us about her new book LAYING CLAIM and some of the research she did to write it.
Chilkoot
Trail
In my book Laying
Claim, the heroine, Clara Bixbee, arrives in Skagway, Alaska determined to
cross the Chilkoot Trail. The Seattle newspapers claimed it was the route that
would get the gold seekers to the Yukon the fastest.
What the newspapers didn’t tell about was the
rugged, steep terrain that ascends ten miles to the
Many of the men and women crowding the trail
were office workers and city dwellers. The arduous trail not only had to be
traversed once but, every person who crossed had to have with them at least
1,000 pounds of supplies. This decree was made by the Northwest Mounted Police (NWMP)
after the first wave of people entered the Yukon and then starved due to lack
of supplies. The NWMP had stations at the summit to check that everyone had
proper provisions. If a person didn’t have the required amount, they were sent
back down to Dyea and Skagway for supplies.
Most of the rushers used all their money to get
to Alaska and for supplies. They couldn’t afford a pack animal or dog sleds. One
person can’t carry one thousand pounds, which meant they had to stash their
supplies and take what they could carry up and have someone watch it for them
while they went back down and brought up another load. It usually took one
person 10 to 20 trips depending on how much they could carry, to get their
supplies to each stopover.
It could take two days to go two miles if the
trail was bad, because they had to haul a load, off-load, walk back and get
more and haul that. Every place they stopped to cache their loads a tent city
would sprout up. These cities had saloons and gambling. Hotels made of wood
frames and canvas with rows of three-high bunk beds. A tired, cold traveler
could get a bed and a warm meal for $1.
When they made it over the summit, the gold
seekers came to Tagish Lake. Here they
made boats and used the waterways to travel the rest of the way to the gold
fields.
In Laying
Claim, Clara is talked out of going over Chilkoot and traverses White Pass
with a dog sled. They were traveling in the dead of winter and used the frozen
waterways like roads.
This
post is part of a week-long blog tour. I love to give and you could be the
winner! I will be giving away an e-copy of my Christmas novella, Christmas Redemption, to one commenter
at each blog stop where there are at least ten commenters. You can find the
blog tour hosts at my blog: http://www.patyjager.blogspot.com or my website: http://www.patyjager.net
Blurb for Laying Claim:
Jeremy Duncan commits
to haul one last load of supplies across the great interior of the Yukon before
heading home. But, he has to trade his pack animals for sled dogs and leave
Skagway in the middle of a blizzard due to one strong-willed, business-minded
beauty.
Determined to find her
older brother, Clara Bixbee doesn’t care how she gets across the pass, as long
as she does, and soon. Hiring handsome pack guide Jeremy Duncan seems to be her
best choice. Especially after she saves a young girl being beaten by the local
gang leader and needs to escape Skagway fast.
Excerpt:
“Who’s there?” a female voice questioned through the wood barrier.
“I
have a trunk for a Clara Bixbee.”
The
door swung open. A girl stood in the opening.
He
blinked.
No.
A girl didn’t fill out the front of a dress like this one did. But she was
small. Tinier even than his sister, and she barely came to his shoulder.
“It’s
about time you brought my trunk. I’ve been waiting hours for it to arrive.” Her
green eyes snapped with anger.
“I
don’t know who you asked to pick this up, but I found two thieves rummaging
through it on the beach and saved it.”
She
gasped, then her small pink mouth set in a grim line. “I paid the clerk
downstairs to have someone bring it to me.”
No
wonder the man had a startled look on his face when Jeremy hauled the trunk up
the stairs. “Where would you like me to put it?”
The
woman stepped back, opening the door wider. “I cleared a spot over there. I’ve
yet to meet my roommate but will have a word with her about this mess when she
comes back.”
Jeremy
set the trunk on the floor and turned to the woman. Her blonde hair was pulled
up into a working woman’s bun, but her clothes, the ones she had on and the
ones he’d sifted through in the trunk, were not working-class clothes.
She
stood with her hands on her hips, her head tipped back, eyeing him. “How did
you know this was my trunk?”
“After
I chased the men off, I took it to my livery where I had some light and looked
through it until I found the Bible with your name in it. Then I left it in
safekeeping and started asking for you at the hotels.”
Her
smooth, creamy skin flushed a deep pink. “You went through my trunk?”
“Would
you rather I left it to the thieves who wouldn’t have brought it to you even
after they took all they wanted from it?” While the woman was soothing on the
eyes, he wasn’t keen on her attitude.
She
gasped and dropped to her knees in front of the trunk. Her tiny fingers clasped
the broken latch where a key had most likely locked the box. She unclasped the
other latches and dug down to the bottom of the trunk shoving the clothing,
causing them to spill over the sides.
Jeremy
watched in fascination as she burrowed into the contents. She pulled out an
oilcloth jacket and pushed her hand into a pocket. A smile crept across her
face. Her hand reappeared empty. He’d guess she had money stashed in that coat.
He
cleared his throat and she jumped. In her urgency to make sure she hadn’t been
robbed, she’d forgotten he was still in the room.
“Mr…?”
“Jeremy
Duncan. Miss…?” He hoped she didn’t say she was married. It would be a shame to
have rifled through a married woman’s unmentionables. It would make
fanaticizing about her not near as much fun.
“Bixbee.”
She frowned. “You know my name. Why are you asking?”
He
smiled. “Just figuring out if you’re married.”
“I
am not, and it isn’t proper for you to be in my room.” She pushed to her feet
and stood, again, with her hands on her narrow hips.
Jeremy
nodded to the open door. “The door isn’t closed so you haven’t been
compromised.”
Buy Links:
Bio: With sixteen published
books, three novellas, and an anthology, award-winning author, Paty Jager is never at a loss for story
ideas and characters in her head. Her rural life in central and eastern Oregon,
and interests in local history and the world around her, keeps the mystery and
romance ideas flowing. She not only writes the western lifestyle, she lives
it.
You can learn more about Paty
at her blog; www.patyjager.blogspot.com her website; http://www.patyjager.net or on
Facebook; https://www.facebook.com/#!/paty.jager and
twitter; @patyjag.
Life has been so merry-go-round lately! I'm posting I'm here today.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the new release, Paty! :)
ReplyDeleteNice job, Paty! My granddaughter lives in Fairbanks. Best wishes on your blog tour!
ReplyDeleteThanks Kat!
DeleteHey Carmen! Thanks for stopping in and commenting!