"You will freeze," said others, "or will die with scurvy, or be eaten by those terrible white polar bears and wolves."
"No matter what you say to us we are going," was the reply, and every ship that could be found was loaded with eager men, and some venturesome women bent upon wresting the gold from the frozen north. Many of them had never seen an iceberg or a glacier, and had no idea what misery awaited them.
"Write us as soon as you can," said the wives and mothers tearfully, as they stood on the wharf in some seaport of the Pacific saying good by to some loved one, going to seek a fortune.
"It will be six months before this ship can return," said the captain of one of the first ships that carried gold seekers to Alaska in answer to an anxious inquiry as to how long it will be before the promised letters could arrive.
"Why will you be so long?" asks some little boy or girl whose heart is sad at parting with their beloved father.
"Because the great ice-floes will close in on our vessel and we will not be able to move until the weather moderates."
"Then will you bring my father back to me?" asks the simple child.
"I hope so, my dear," and then the kindly face of the captain looks serious and he mutters to himself, "God forbid that it should be a grave instead of a fortune that awaits this child's father."
The first season many a brave man sailed away, full of hope and expectancy, but the next year returned haggard, worn and in some instances a hopeless invalid.
"What do you think of the gold fields of Alaska?" asks his old friends as they shake his hand.