Lars J. “Louis” Langlow (1862 - 1929)
Louis Langlow came into the north well before the Klondike gold rush with five travelling companions: Charlie Anderson from Sweden, [Fred] Hutcheson from a fine family in London, Sather from eastern Norway, Heitmann from northern Norway, and Konrad Dahl from Trondheim, Norway. They arrived at Forty Mile and made their way to Glacier Creek where they all found good paying work in the placer mines. Louis saved enough money over two years to buy a share in a mine with Hutcheson, Anderson, and a Greek man [Constatine Komentaros]. In the fall of 1894, Langlow went outside to get mining supplies and equipment. Konrad Dahl travelled with him as he had the same task for another group. They went down the Yukon River and were lucky to connect with the Coast Guard vessel Bern [Bear?]. Louis found his younger brother Jens B. Langlo [sic] in San Francisco and they travelled over the Chilkoot Pass to the Sixtymile placer mines together with four others of Scandinavian heritage. Louis’s wife and daughter joined him on 24 July 1895 and he settled the family in Forty Mile where he freighted with his dog team for the winter.1)
In 1896, Louis was living at Forty Mile with his wife, who was not well, and a six-year-old daughter. They decided to leave the Yukon and waited with the last boat of the season for Jens who was bringing “the bank.” The boat left before Jens arrived with about $7,000 worth of gold. That afternoon they met a man willing to sell his Klondike claim for $1,000 and the brothers bought Claim No. 12 on Eldorado Creek. Pierre Berton and Tappen Adney have varying accounts of the sale from William Johns to the Langlows. Another brother, Knute Langlow, arrived in the Klondike in the late spring of 1897. The Eldorado claim was very rich, and one or more of the brothers became owners of Claim 17 on Bonanza Creek, and a fraction on Hunker Creek.2)
The Langlow brothers had real estate investments in Tacoma, formed Langlow Bros. Building Co., were investors in Union Packing Co., and built the Langlow Building at 12th and Pacific Avenue in Tacoma. Louis Langlow and his family moved to Concord, California in the early 1920s.3)