klondike

[starmac]

Anyone watch the new show klondike? I watched the first one last night, it just might be promising, at least I watched the whole show.

[AkMike]

Since I hiked the Chilkoot back in 67 or 68, the floatewd down the Yukon to Dawson from Whiethorse. I liked it!

Possible semi reality once it's glitzed up by Hollyweird.

[Love Life]

Dang!! I missed it!

I also missed Gold Rush as well.

[jcwit]

Does it really rain that much up there?

[starmac]

I have never been there so couldn't say. I would imagine close to the coast they probably get quite a bit. Maybe Mike will chime back in.

[AkMike]

The coastal areas get a fair amount. Mostly a drizzle and that is the reason to the SE Ak,. Rain Festival Jan 1 thru Dec 31.
Dawson is much more like FBX and most of the interior. Sunny summers and cold winters. Rain just happens when ever it gets around to it! I did see w old wooden wheeled freight wagon at an abandoned trading post that had rose bushes growing between the spokes and the steel tires were still shiny w/o much rust. Not much humidity there!

[starmac]

A hard rain here in the interior, compares to a mild drizzle in someplace like houston, except the way the ground here is, it is dry again in 30 minutes.

[waksupi]

A hard rain here in the interior, compares to a mild drizzle in someplace like houston, except the way the ground here is, it is dry again in 30 minutes.

It's a dry rain in the north. Same thing here. Pouring rain at one moment, and blowing dust in a half hour.

[AkMike]

The interior of the Yukon just doesn't get that much generally. The coastal range keeps it on the other side of the hills.

edit to add: There's still lot'sa old miners cabins scattered all along the Yukon River all the way from the head at Lake Bennet to the other end. Most of them are from this era. Not many are in good shape but there are still log walls standing

[Lloyd Smale]

i thought it was pretty good.

[10x]

Like all reality shows it is scripted. Conflict, problems, and situations are added to make it interesting to the viewer. These guys will earn more from the show than they will from mining.

[M-Tecs]

Like all reality shows it is scripted. Conflict, problems, and situations are added to make it interesting to the viewer. These guys will earn more from the show than they will from mining.

Not a reality show. Klondike is a minie series that follows the lives of two childhood best friends, Bill and Epstein, in the late 1890s as they flock to the gold rush capital in the untamed Yukon Territory.

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[10x]

Not a reality show. Klondike follows the lives of two childhood best friends, Bill and Epstein, in the late 1890s as they flock to the gold rush capital in the untamed Yukon Territory.

.

Thank you for the correction. I strongly suspect that it still has a script that has challenges, disasters, and conflicts. In my youth I had met old prospectors that had hiked into the Klondike in 1898.
There were the remains of dugouts left into the 1970s where I grew up from some of the prospectors who were going overland to the Klondike. There were at least 5 of these at Dunvegan. They were filled in by the parks people who destroyed them in the name of landscaping in the early 1970s.

I grew up listening to and reading stories about the gold rush of 1898. There was very little romance in those stories, nor was there much crime or violence. There was incredible hardship and a great deal of hard work for many with little return. Few struck it rich.

An underground tunnel would follow a pre glacial stream bed - the sand and much frozen in perma frost. The roof of the tunnels would slumpin if the permafrost melted. These guys would work on hands and knees or on their bellies, following the sand and stream gravel, chipping it out and taking it to the surface where it could be panned or sluiced to get the gold dust.

There are several folks from our community who were mining in that area in the late 1980s and early 1990s. They started by sluicing the tailings from earlier mining ventures. They do it as a slightly profitable hobby. They use high pressure water to move hill sides into their sluice boxes and from time to time hit portions of mining tunnels that have not collapsed.

[snowwolfe]

Wife and I managed to sit through the first two episodes and thought it was somewhat boring. Show had very little to do with gold mining and more to do about a weak plot about a guy holding onto his claim, crooks, and a possible love story.
Sorry guys, on a scale of 1-10 this was at best a 5 IMO.

[M-Tecs]

I agree. I was hoping for a Lonesome Dove type mini-series. For me it has too much of the contemporary perceptive. It's Ok but I was hoping for better.

[bobthenailer]

What P***** Me off on wed back to back series 1-2 & 1-3 was while watching 1-2 they had a too large display in the lower right hand side of the screen with a count down timer saying the 1/3 of KLONDIKE starts in so many hours ,min, seconds, for just about the whole 2 hr program

[CastingFool]

I watched bits and pieces of it. While the historical value is interesting, the way it was presented did not appeal to me. JMO. Swamp people is the show I'm waiting for.

[TheGrimReaper]

I've watched the first 2 episodes....so far I like it.

[Freightman]

I watched it as entertainment not history so wasn't disappointed, only watched one have the rest recorded.

[starmac]

I found it better than most things on tv these days. There was some interesting facts at the end. (supposed facts)

[AK Caster]

I found it better than most things on tv these days. There was some interesting facts at the end. (supposed facts)

That's what I thought until I googled the lady who owned the hotel.

[M-Tecs]

By the end of the show I had zero empathy for Bill Haskell (the lead). He was presented with a very contemporary perceptive that leads me to believe a ten year old girl could kick his butt.

"All of the characters and events are fictional, but the directors say that the script was heavily researched and based on real events. Filming was done in the Canadian province of Alberta, south of Klondike but still full of the icy and rugged conditions that Klondike miners would have faced."
http://news.yahoo.com/klondike-real-story-behind-gold-rush-miniseries-180253430.html

"Klondike is Discovery’s bid to tap into the surprise ratings success of miniseries like The Bible and Hatfields & McCoys on the rival History channel. Klondike is Discovery’s first attempt at a dramatized miniseries. If it strikes a nerve with the audience, other miniseries will follow.

Klondike premières Monday on Discovery Canada and will air over three consecutive nights. The story is adapted from the historical account by Carleton University history professor Charlotte Gray, Gold Diggers: Striking It Rich in the Klondike. The plot revolves around the friendship and rivalry of two adventurers, Bill Haskell (played by Madden) and Byron Epstein (Augustus Prew) as they struggle to make their fortune in the Yukon, circa 1896-99. Along the way they confront the elements, battle hunger and illness, and match wits against assorted varmints, of both the four-legged and two-legged variety. They encounter actual historical figures such as mill owner Belinda Mulrooney, reputedly “the richest woman in the Klondike,” as played by Cornish, and an aspiring writer named Jack London (Johnny Simmons)."
http://www.canada.com/entertainment/Klondike+miniseries+opts+accuracy+Gold+Rush+portra yal/9401165/story.html

Facts at the end of the show seem to be "loose" on Belinda Mulrooney.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belinda_Mulrooney

[GOPHER SLAYER]

I watched the farce for a few minutes and that was enough. First thing I hate about it, like most new films, theater or TV, they are filmed in the dark, or so it looks like to me. The real turnoff came when one of the characters was shooting at some men who had taken his dog sled. He fired three shots and the pistol was empty and naturally,[as they always do in films] he threw the pistol away, might as well since they can never be reloaded and an empty pistol in the Klondike at that time would have been worthless. CLICK

[starmac]

Well being as how they wound up dragging him back to town behind a horse, I doubt it would have made much difference if he still had his pistol or not. lol

It sure beat the devil out of watching Dr Phil, two and a half boys and most other junk I see on tv these days. Shows about pawn shops, storage buildings and such,I guess are just not my thing. lol

[troyboy]

I rather enjoyed the series. Vikings is another winner.I hope they keep em coming.

[10x]

I rather enjoyed the series. Vikings is another winner.I hope they keep em coming.

Ah Vikings, the original tourists, traveling to France, Nothern Europe, and the United Kingdom, bringing home souveniers, guests, and culture. And freeing up Christians from the burden of wealth....

[Lloyd Smale]

another fan of vikings. Some of you guys have to let go and just be entertained. Everything doenst have to be real life and factual. Tv would be a pretty boring source of entertainment if it was.