True to the Trail

From the Journals of Arthur Dallimore

The next book scheduled for publication by Northern Light Media is True to the Trail: A Great-Granddaughter’s Alaskan Quest a Century On, a compilation of the journals and photographs of Englishman Arthur Dallimore, who joined the Klondike Gold Rush in 1898, then traveled down the Yukon River to try his hand at prospects in Alaska, staying in the North for a dozen years, finally building a roadhouse northwest of Fairbanks. Dallimore was an astute observer and an excellent journaler, detailing his travels in handwritten notes, postcards and letters which he sent to his father in England, who meticulously transcribed them into journals. These troves of history, carefully preserved in an old leather suitcase, were given to Dallimore’s great-granddaughter, Anne Verdonk of New Zealand, in 2005.

Anne, a farmer and a retired maths teacher with a degree in music, inherited her great-grandfather’s taste for adventure, and with his writings in hand, she journeyed to the far North multiple times, beginning in 2008, to retrace his steps. In his Foreword to the book, Professor Emeritus William (Bill) Schneider, of the University of Alaska Fairbanks, writes, “Pursuing Arthur's story became her passion. She studied the entries and planned trips to the Klondike and Alaska to retrace his travel, documented the location of places where he lived, and recorded the memories of those who could help reconstruct the story. She reviewed old mining records, maps and ledgers, and traveled part of the old trail by dog team to relive and re-locate the roadhouse he built.”

In 2023 Anne was diagnosed with a rare, progressive, terminal neurological disease, and she worked diligently to produce a book about her great-grandfather’s life in the North. She published the book in New Zealand in June, 2024, but felt it really belonged in Alaska, and there were changes to be made. And so Northern Light Media is re-publishing Anne’s book—Arthur’s story—in July, 2025.

True to the Trail details life in Dawson City at the height of the Klondike Gold Rush, then shares the daily life of an Alaskan prospector and woodcutter, as explained by Professor Schneider: “Arthur's story bridges the well-trod gold-rush accounts with the less well-known stories of those who stayed, the ‘settlers’ who made a living in the country. Arthur's letters and Anne's research are a significant contribution to our understanding of the connections between people and places that were important to Arthur during his time in the country. For most of his time in the North, he was on the lower Tanana River, where he had frequent contact with folks in Manley Hot Springs, his Native neighbors, the trail travelers, telegraph personnel, and steamboat personnel. From his wood camp on the Tanana River, Arthur often made 100-mile trips to socialize, acquire supplies, and make business contacts. His trips to the settlement at Fairbanks put him in touch with commercial interests and extended his possibilities for wood sales. In Arthur's accounts, we come to recognize the significance of literacy and the role of mail carriers whose work made mail delivery possible. Arthur's letters tell us a lot about his contacts and business dealings. The letters also contrast his business and social ties with settlers and his relationships with Native neighbors who visited, sold him meat, and shared their lives with him.”

Anne at Lake Bennett, British Columbia, staging area for the Klondike Gold Rush.

Anne’s detailed accounts of her own travels are no less interesting, and her photos give the reader a valuable perspective on the country, the history, and the people she encountered as she describes her great-grandfather’s legacy and her own adventures in retracing his life in the North.

True to the Trail: A Great-Granddaughter’s Alaskan Quest a Century On, by Anne Verdonk, with the journals of Arthur Dallimore, foreword by Professor Emeritus William (Bill) Schneider, University of Alaska Fairbanks. To be published in July, 2025, approximately 380 pages, 6″x9″ b/w format, with dozens of maps, charts, photographs and images. Prepublication copies can be ordered now, $29.95 postage paid from Northern Light Media; available everywhere in July, 2025.

Arthur Dallimore, intrepid adventurer in the Klondike and Alaska, 1898-1910.