There is an old saying that making money is easy.
What’s hard is saving it.
That is only half of the story. In the days when money meant an object you held in your hand – paper money, silver coins and (before 1933) gold – you were a hostage of the banking system. You could be rich but if the bank where your money was deposited went belly-up, your wealth went right along with it.
And banks were hostage of the transportation system. The value of a bank’s paper money was based on the gold in its vault. If that gold was gone, the bank’s paper money was worthless.
During the Alaska Gold Rush, gold in large amounts was transported by steamship – during the 120 days a year when the Bering Sea was not covered with a sheet of ice ten feet thick from Alaska to Siberia. The rest of the year, gold was moved by horsepower, day by day from roadhouse to roadhouse (about 15 miles a day) to Juneau which was ice-free 365 days a year.
This “armored car” was probably in Nome and about to start the long trip to Juneau – 1,000 miles away by air!
Next time you sweep your credit card, thank the internet for not having to carry around a pound of gold when you go shopping!
THE HUMAN FACE OF THE ALASKA GOLD RUSH