Dead Horse Soup Book Talk with Tom Haynes

Join us for the launch of this thrilling book chronicling the adventures of local explorer, Frank Barker! Written by former Historical Society of Cheshire County Director of Education, Tom Haynes, this book talk will share Barker's adventures and his life back home in Keene.

Frank Barker first learned about the rush to the Klondike gold fields through his local Keene, New Hampshire newspapers. For months, beginning on July 17, 1897, the almost daily references to the Klondike promoted a story that anyone with the right fortitude and determination could find gold. As a young working-class man seeking adventure and wealth after living through the depression of the mid 1890s, this was an opportunity he was not going to pass up.

For seven months Frank Barker planned his trip to the Klondike, which included finding the right people to accompany him, organizing what food, tools, and equipment to bring, transportation, and raising enough money to cover the expedition’s costs.

With his plans complete, Frank Barker leads his three partners on a once in a lifetime adventure to live out their dreams of becoming wealthy miners, while enduring the many hardships on their two-year quest for gold in the Klondike.

After reading about the gold rush to the Klondike through his local Keene, New Hampshire newspapers, Frank Barker begins to dream about becoming a wealthy gold miner. After much planning, Barker's dream turns real in February of 1898, when he leads three partners on a once in a lifetime adventure to the Klondike. Using Barker's own words from the letters he wrote home and the photographs he took of the journey, his story reveals the excitement and hardships they experience on their two-year quest for gold in the Klondike.

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Host or Publisher Historical Society of Cheshire County