“We found that music, more than anything, tended to ease the tension among us,” Edward Lung wrote in his book “Black Sand and Gold,” an account of his time in Alaska and the Klondike from 1897 to 1901. He continued, “A fellow by the name of Bates often brought his guitar over to our cabin and we’d blow off steam, singing old songs at the top of our lungs.” “Some Folks,” a Stephen Foster song was one they sang. The group had plenty of reason for tension. They were seven disappointed, hungry gold seekers who were marooned in a tiny cabin for the winter of 1897 at the town of Circle on the Yukon River. Lung’s story is one of many who talked about the music they enjoyed in their tent or cabin homes with wet socks hanging from the rafters and frost condensing on the walls. A person with a musical instrument had immediate friends. The 24 songs on the CD are from of a collection of 94 songs in the book, “Music of the Alaska/Klondike Gold Rush” by Jean Murray. It includes the written music, sheet music covers, and historical photos. All of the songs are annotated in the liner notes giving the historical gold rush context for each song as gleaned from diaries, books and newspapers of the time. The music selected for the CD provides a cross section of music they brought with them or music that was written about the rush. It was a world wide event. Song writers in New York or San Francisco or Kansas wrote and published songs about the rush. “The Klondike, March of the Gold Miners,” was composed by Theodore Metz. His “Hot Time in the Old Town Tonight,” was a favorite of miners from up on the Kobuk River in the Arctic to Cordova in southeast Alaska. Another piano solo, the “Chilkoot March” was published by Alfred Ronconvieri in 1997 before he became a part of the rush along with fellow San Francisco symphony member, Eugene Schmitz two years later. Schmitz was major of San Francisco at the time of the great earthquake in 1906 Singer, Cad Wilson, was a favorite entertainer in both Dawson and Nome. Her signature song was, “Such A Nice Girl, Too.” Six diaries mentioned Cad singing that song. After searches in collections and libraries it was finally found in the Library of Congress.