Donald Trump’s Grandpa worked the gold rushers inJuly, 1897. German-born Friedrich Drumpf (later known as Fred Trump) was running a late-night “restaurant” in a sordid section of Seattle.  Word of a massive gold strike in the far north Klondike region suddenly spread through town like a yellow fever. (see, Klondike Gold Rush: Kings, Cons & Stairs To Heaven) Fred Trump smelled opportunity. He was not alone.  Nearly 100,000 other people, rushed the Klondike with him and his partner.

Donald Trump’s Grandpa Joined The Stampede
According to Dailymail.com.uk, in March 1898, after preparing steadily for their own grab for the gold, Trump and a business partner, Ernest Levin, headed for the Canadian border.
Together, they pitched a tent on a particularly treacherous path known as Dead Horse Trail where they sold hot meals to throngs of prospectors passing through. It was no surprise that horsemeat was one of their best sellers.


Famous author Jack London wrote about the trail that was littered with bodies of an estimated 3,000 animals. “The horses died like mosquitoes in the first frost and from Skagway to Bennett they rotted in heaps.”
In a matter of months, Trump and his partner ditched their tent and horsemeat specials and moved into more upscale digs in Bennett Town. They christened their two-story enterprise, the New Arctic Restaurant and Hotel.
According to the Dailymail.com.uk, one stampeder told the Yukon Sun Newspaper that Trump’s place was great for single men, but he “would not advise respectable women to go there to sleep as they are liable to hear that which would be repugnant to their feelings.”
And so the Trump dynasty was born.
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