Fair 46° F

Home > Archive > Feb 14, 2008

2008 Klondike Derby
By Jeff Call
Nearly 500 Boy Scouts descended on Woods Ranch, west of Cedar City, with hopes of being able to stake their claim to gold.
In the Scouting tradition of the Klondike Derby, held annually by most Scout districts, the Fort Pearce District held its “2008 Race for the Gold” event Feb. 1-2.
“We were very pleased with the turnout this year,” said Mike Hamlin, Klondike chairman. “This is the largest group we have ever had with just one district.”
Most Scouts arrived early Friday and began the construction of their snow cave, in which they had to sleep that night.
“I’m just glad we had plenty of snow,” said Dan Cox, Scoutmaster of Troop 617.
Cox said that in some years, snow caves were not possible due to lack of snow.
This year the snow caves ranged in size from the economy cave that slept only two, to the party cave that slept up to nine. While most caves were dug into the side of a snow bank, some troops opted to build an open-field trench-style cave and cover it with wood planks, a tarp and a nice finishing layer of snow.
“I was so warm last night that I started sweating,” said Bailey Barker, a Scout from Troop 1793.
He said in general, some were cold, but few were frozen.
Scouts came to relive the winter portion of the Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. This rush to the Yukon Territory followed claims of limitless gold found by Skookum Jim Mason, Dawson Charlie and George Washington Carmack in August 1896. Five-hundred Boy Scouts are a far cry from the estimated 20,000 to 30,000 settlers that attempted the 35-mile trek across Chilkoot Trail into Canada.
On Friday night, each patrol raced the scaled-down version of the Chilkoot Trail in their sled design of choice. Braving the dark and the cold, the patrols pulled their sled by hand through waist-high snow along the half-mile trail. They even had to face off with “robbers” who attempted to steel their gold, as well as menacing “animals” -- which sounded oddly like people hidden in the trees making animal noises. Finishers of the event were rewarded with gold pieces. The shorter times were awarded with higher bounties. The record time was recorded at just under four minutes.
Saturday morning brought a fresh blanket of new snow as well as thick clouds overhead.
“Normally it’s always nice and sunny on day two,” said Richard Shelley, Scoutmaster and five-year veteran of the derby.
At mid-morning the camp was finally rewarded with a peek of that usual sunlight.
Despite Saturday morning’s overcast, the Scouts were up early and off to the shotgun start of the day’s events.
Each event took place along the simulated Chilkoot Trail at one of the small townships along the way. The lake waters of “Dyea” challenged the Scouts to auger through 18 inches of ice within four minutes. They then went fishing for mousetraps with a pole that had been lashed together, a string and a weight.
The Alaskan town of Dyea was the drop-off point for most of the gold-seekers of 1898. When these men arrived, they needed to ice fish for their food, as most of them could not afford to buy their meals, having spent everything they owned on the trip there.
The “White Pass Trail” presented a compass course that the Scout patrols needed to follow in order to help out a “fallen member” of their team who required first aid at each point along the trail.
The real White Pass Trail headed from a shack town known as Skagway and was said to be one of the most dangerous routes in the Yukon.
Earning gold for completing each simulation event, the Scouts lashed together a chariot to carry a wounded comrade, were blindfolded and followed a leader in the Snow Blind contest, and tied multiple ropes together to throw out to a fellow Scout that had fallen through the ice and was in need of rescue. 
Each event makes good use of standard Scouting skills as well as displaying actual occurrences that might have happened along the three-month trek by the original prospectors.
Trekkers of the 19th century could only advance about three miles a day along the forbidden trail due to the amount of equipment they needed to carry. It became necessary for them to carry only smaller amounts at a time and return for more gear, turning the 35-mile trail into a 100-mile journey.
At the end of the derby, each patrol turned in their gold to be weighed. The top three patrols with the most weight took home trophies including LED headlamps binoculars, carabineers, pocketknives, sleeping bags, and tents. More importantly, they took home the title of 2008 Klondike Derby Champions. 

---