The Mystery of the Black Raven by Gertrude Chandler Warner Page A

sourdoughs came and called the place Skagway, after the Skagway River.”
    “Sourdoughs?” asked Jessie. “Isn’t that a bread?”
    The waiter nodded. “Yes. The early prospectors made that bread in the mining camps. Life was hard for those tough old gold hunters. That’s why people called them sourdoughs.”
    “Gold hunters?” Benny said with awe. “I want to hunt gold!”
    “Let’s eat first,” Grandfather said after ordering burgers for all.
    “And wait for our ferry to dock in Skagway,” Violet said. “You won’t find much gold until we get to Alaska!”
    So far it had been a whirlwind trip. First they flew from their home in Greenfield, Connecticut, to Seattle, Washington. That was all the way across the country! Then they took a bus to Bellingham. Big boats, little boats, and ferries were anchored at the pier in the port city.
    “I like this ferry,” Benny remarked when their food arrived. He bit into the juicy burger. “It’s like our boxcar. Only with a boat on the bottom.”
    “That’s a good observation, Benny,” Henry said. “The ferry is like a floating boxcar.”
    The Alden children never forgot their first home. Their parents had died and they were alone. They had heard about a grandfather, but were afraid he was mean. So they found an empty boxcar in the woods and lived in it.
    Then Grandfather found them. He wasn’t mean at all, but kind and very glad to have four grandchildren. He brought the boxcar to his big house in Greenfield. Since then, the children had had many adventures.
    And now they were starting a new one.
    “Tell us again why we’re going to Alaska,” Violet said excitedly. She loved Grandfather’s stories.
    “Many years ago my great-uncle Edward Alden came here to be a prospector,” began Grandfather. “When gold was discovered, thousands of people caught ‘gold fever.’”
    “Were they sick?” Benny wanted to know.
    Henry shook his head. “That’s just an expression.”
    “People were in a fever to find gold,” Grandfather added. “Edward worked as a clerk in the family business. He was a young man who craved excitement. So he took a train to Seattle and then boarded a boat to Skagway.”
    “Just like we’re doing,” Jessie commented.
    “Only Edward’s boat was loaded with hundreds of passengers who wanted to find gold, too,” Grandfather continued. “On the boat, Edward met two other men. They became friends. When they landed in Skagway, the little town was jammed with people! Edward and his new friends met another man. The four decided to stick together.”
    “Did they find gold?” asked Violet.
    “Yes, they did,” replied Grandfather. “But they had to walk a long way to the goldfields. Then they had to find enough gold in one place to stake a claim. When they found gold, they marked their claim with four rocks, so no one else could dig at their spot. My great-uncle carried a camera with him. He also kept a diary. When the men finished working their claim, they headed back to Skagway.”
    “I wouldn’t have left,” Benny put in. “I would have dug and dug till I found all the gold in the world!”
    “You would have been pretty tired of the cold,” said Grandfather. “And the hard work.”
    “What happened when the men got to Skagway?” Jessie asked.
    “They turned in their gold for cash,” Grandfather replied. “Then the Four Rock Miners, as they called themselves, went home.”
    “Were they rich?” Henry wanted to know.
    “I doubt it,” Grandfather answered. “The men had excitement and adventure. After being a sourdough, Uncle Edward came back to his old job as a clerk in Connecticut.”
    “That doesn’t sound very exciting,” said Benny, dipping a french fry in ketchup.
    Grandfather smiled. “Even though the men had to go back to their ordinary lives, they stayed in touch. Every year the Four Rock Miners met in Skagway.”
    “Like a family reunion,” said Jessie.
    “Exactly,” said Grandfather. “The men talked