Henry Daum (1872-1945)
Brothers Henry and Frederick (Fritz) Daum were born in Germany in a village on the Neckar River, fifty miles south of Heidelberg. There were six brothers and one sister and five of the brothers immigrated to America in the 1890s. Fritz Daum trained as a baker. Henry Daum learned his florist trade in Germany and was an expert in greenhouse operation. He worked as a florist in New Jersey in the 1890s until he left for the Klondike. Henry travelled into the Yukon over the Chilkoot Pass and staked claims on the Klondike and Bonanza creeks. Fritz joined him later and they had some success on the claims. Henry said that miners were getting scurvy and so he started to grow produce for the restaurants in Dawson. He shipped in glass and had wood frames milled. He bought an eleven-acre island at the confluence of the Klondike and Yukon rivers for $23.50 (from records in Whitehorse). He had great success augmented by manure from the streets of Dawson, which the town was glad to be rid of. Twenty-nine-pound heads of cabbage and a variety of other greens and vegetables sold well to the sourdoughs. They started seeds early in flats in the greenhouse and put them in bench bins and pots and then into cold frames outside when the sun came out in the spring and then out in the fields when they had twenty hours of sunlight.1)
In 1901, Klondike Island had two farms. John Fax had two acres under cultivation and Henry Daum had one acre. That year Daum grew 750 head of cauliflower, 4,000 cabbage, 500 bunches of celery, a ton and a half of potatoes, two tons of turnips, 500 pounds of rutabagas and 1,500 dozen cucumbers. The frost nipped seventy-five tomato plants before the fruit had a chance to ripen.2) Daum did have some tomatoes ripen for his own use and had fresh ones as late as December.3) In April 1902 Henry Daum and Max Groltach had a fine start on an early truck garden. They had about 500 sq. ft. under glass and about 1,200 feet of outside beds ready for plants.4)
In 1903, one of the Daums was knocked through the rail and off the bridge near the firehall in Dawson. Daum’s cutter and the Orr & Tukey stage, with Al Roberts driving, arrived at the bridge about the same time with Daum a little in the lead. Robert’s four-horse team was spooked by a dog team in front of him and his horses started to run. They swerved to the side and the rear of the stage struck Daum’s cutter and sent him over the bridge. Roberts could not stop his horses to check and see the extent of the damage done. Robert was charged with driving at a greater speed than a walk over the bridge and the court case was dismissed with costs.5)
Henry and Fritz Daum worked at their farm for several years until the syndicates bought up claims and brought in the dredges. Henry moved to Iditarod where there was a new gold strike. He set up greenhouses and grew vegetables there for three years before returning to New Jersey. Henry and Fritz made a few trips outside during the fourteen years they lived in the north.6)