Nordstrom Origins

Title: Norstrom Origins

General Information about Item:

Informant Data:

Ian Andrews is currently a graduate student at MIT. He grew up in Juneau, Alaska and hiked the Chilkoot Trail after finishing his undergraduate studies. Ian hikes recreationally, from trails in his hometown, to spending a week hiking in the Olympic Mountains in Washington State.
Sam is a 40-year-old man from Juneau, Alaska. Sam grew up in Southeast Alaska, and currently works for the state government. Sam hiked the Chilkoot trail in 2015.

Contextual Data:

Historical Context: First used by the Tlingit people of Alaska as a trade route, the Chilkoot became an important trail for miners and prospectors coming to Alaska during the Klondike gold rush at the end of the 1800s. The trail was mostly abandoned after the end of the gold rush in 1898, until the trail was restored for recreational hikers in the 1960s. (Source)
Social Context: Sam and Ian individually brought up the story of the Nordstroms when asked about famous figures from Chilkoot Trail.

Item:

The informant relayed a story about the origin of the Nordstrom clothing store. It is said that the founder of Nordstrom came to Alaska during the Klondike gold rush, and sold shoes to miners and prospectors, who were about to hike the Chilkoot Trail. With the money he made from selling shoes to the gold rushers, Nordstrom was able to start the chain of department stores that are now found all across the US.

Transcript:

Ian: “You think of the gold rushers as being the people making all the money, but there was a whole industry providing services to the gold rushers. Some of those people made as much or even more than the gold rushers. That includes people like the Nordstroms, who started by selling shoes to the gold rushers.”
Sam: “I’ve heard numerous people say that not very many people – a super small percentage – came out of the gold rush with money. One of the few families that did come out of it with a fortune was the Nordstrom family. They were supplying so much for the gold rushers.”

Collector’s Comments:

The informant suggested that this story should be fact-checked for accuracy. According to the Nordstrom Company History, John Nordstrom came to Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush in search of gold. He successfully found gold, and met a shoemaker named Carl Wallin while in Alaska. Nordstrom and Wallin partnered and opened their first store in Seattle. (Source)
While the legend of the founding of Nordstroms was not completely accurate, this is likely due to multiple variation and the warping of the story through time through many retellings.

Collector’s Name: Soren Thompson

Tags/Keywords:

Dartmouth Folklore Archive