About the Book
True to the Trail
Over 100 years after her great-grandfather headed to the Klondike and Interior Alaska, New Zealand farmer and teacher, Anne Waight, was given his journals. True to the Trail is a window into two lives: Arthur Dallimore’s journals, reproduced in their entirety, detail his life from 1898 to 1910, as he attempts to make a dollar in Alaska by gold prospecting, selling wood, running a roadhouse and even singing.
Intertwined, is Anne’s story, as she searches for traces of his life; unearthing precious nuggets and striking her own gold by tramping to his old haunts, talking to locals and studying historic maps and records.
“Arthur’s story bridges the well-trod gold-rush accounts with the less well-known stories of those who stayed, the “settlers” who made a living in the country.”
Meet the Author
Anne Waight
In December 2023, an unexpected diagnosis prompted me to urgently embark on my retirement project: telling the story of my great-grandfather, Arthur Henry Dallimore, and his adventures during the Klondike and Alaskan gold rushes. After my grandmother's death in 2005, my mother gave me Arthur's letters and diaries, preserved in a leather suitcase. These journals, filled with tales of courage and perseverance, captivated me, and I spent months poring over them and sharing the stories with my young grandson.
Determined to retrace Arthur’s steps, I traveled to Alaska three times between 2008 and 2010. Armed with his journals and an Alaska Atlas, I embarked on adventures that included a 200 km dog-mushing expedition and following the old mail trail from Ester to Manley Hot Springs. These journeys, alongside my friends and family, brought Arthur's stories to life and allowed me to uncover the challenges he faced over a century ago.
Photos
Throughout the book are a collection of photos of Arthur's time in Alaska, dating back to the early 1900s. Here's just a few of them.
