The Hard Road to Klondike: Rotha Mor an tSaol

2014 | Biography

Micheal MacGowan was born in 1865 in the Donegal Gaeltacht. The eldest of twelve in a poverty-stricken family, in a three-room cottage and speaking no English, he ended his days in a large house in the same place. First published in Irish as Rotha Mor an tSaol, this is his account of the fate dealt to him by 'the Wheel of Life'. From age nine he was hired out for six consecutive summers at a fee of 30 shillings. After emigration to Scotland and farm work, he left for America and worked his way across the USA in steel mills and mines to Montana. He took part in the Klondike gold rush and vividly recounts his adventures and hardships in the primitive icy wastes of the Yukon. Home on holiday in 1901 he fell in love and stayed, using money from the gold to buy land and a house. This is a fascinating record of his life and wanderings in Ireland, Scotland and America in the late 19th century. Told with the authority of someone who has 'lived it', it reflects his indomitable spirit and loyalty to his native place and culture. He died in 1948.

Micheal MacGowan (Author)