When gold was discovered in Alaska, there was literally a parade of miners carrying heavy burdens of supplies up steep, treacherous terrain in brutal conditions. They were in a race to get to the gold fields, to find the ‘mother lode’ before someone else laid claim to it. Mining was brutal work in unbearable conditions. Stampeders dug in frozen rock and dirt, sifted silt in icy water and lived in unfit conditions. Not only did they battle the elements. The human factor was even more dangerous.