Courtesy of the Alaska Gold Rush, we have two Alaskan terms in common usage – and in the dictionary. One is cheechako, generally translated as “tenderfoot.”  Except if you’re an Alaskan.  In Alaska, a cheechako is someone who has not spent a winter in the northland and doesn’t know ‘things are different in Alaska.’  It’s usually preceded by the word damn. The term is a combination of the Chinook words chee which means to “be late” and chako, “to come.”

The other term is cache, pronounced “cash.” Before the coming of the railroad, all food and supplies had to be moved by foot.  Or feet.  A stampeder would pack 60 pounds two or three miles and cache it in piles as illustrated by this photo.  Then the stampeder would walk back two or three miles, get another load of 60 pounds and walk it to the cache. Mile by mile the required 1,000 pounds per man would be moved forward. And people today think moving is a pain in the neck! [See my books at https://authormasterminds.com/master-of-the-impossible-crime.]