The Lucky Swede
“Did you know that Charles Anderson, the old man who’s pushing a wheelbarrow for $3.25 a day at the sawmill once was a successful gold digger?
They say that he woke up one morning in Klondike in 1894 only to discover that he had bought a worthless claim for $800. He had been drunk and couldn’t remember anything about it! But that’s where he found his gold. A million dollars’ worth!”
He invested the whole fortune in real estate in San Francisco. Then came 1906, and it all crumbled into nothing.
The Lucky Swede they call him! Lucky? Poor guy!”
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleCongratulations on a wonderful story, Christer! I love the line that says his fortune “crumbled into nothing”. This sounds like it could be a true story, but it’s also an allegory – great writing! By the way, I think you were the one who first introduced the idea of a 100-word contest, right? Many thanks to The Voice Club and the entire group who came up with this fabulous idea: Carrie OLeary… Read more »
Thank you, Juma. Yes, my story is based on facts. I read about Charles Anderson when I was working in Alaska 15 years ago, driving a tourist bus and guiding tourists. I found his life story fascinating, partly because Charles Anderson was Swedish as I am, so it stuck in my memory. It was Linda who mentioned in a comment to me that she was participating in another forum, writing stories with… Read more »
Great story Christer. Sounds very much like the O’Leary breed of luck 🙂
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThank you, Carrie. One of the things I couldn’t fit into the story was that Charles Anderson still was optimistic at the end of his life. He was sure that his luck one day would return and that he would get rich once more. I hope that the O’Learys also have that optimism!
My gut feeling told me this was a true story Christer. I find a rags to riches story fascinating and absolutely loved this one. Well done on capturing his life in 100 words. The earthquake itself was devastating but to lose all his investments would have brought another man to his knees. I love how you say in your earlier comment that he kept his optimism. I like this man! Great story.
Thank you so much for you kind words, Linda. Yes, it’s a fascinating story. The odds that either of the two incidents in Charles’ life would happen are so small. Yet, he experienced both extremes. It’s hard to imagine what impact such thing could have on a person.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleHi! Christer, reading the comments below lets you see how diverse we all are, in just 100 words we see the many different aspects to this story Christer, all of which are down to your arrangement and choice of words – We tend to think poor man, but then it depends on whose eyes you are looking through. I had a chuckle when I read that he had been drunk and didn’t… Read more »
Thank you for your kind words, Eric. Yes, it’s the kind of story and fate that people like to relate and to react to emotionally. My aim was to try to make it into some kind of contemporary gossip situation, with a dialog between two persons. But the space did not allow for it, so I made it into a monologue: one person who knew about Charles’ adventures passing the gossip on… Read more »
Just looked it up to realise why it crumbled! This site can be a real history lesson at times, Christer.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleIf you Googled “San Francisco 1906”, you found the story and some incredible photos. Charles was far from the only one whose life, house and saved up money crumbled.
To be able to take a life story and condense it into 100 words is truly amazing. I really enjoyed the personable tone of the narrator as well.
Thank you so much, Danielle! As you might have seen in my answer to Eric’s comment, it was meant to be some kind of sensational gossip talk, from one person to another. I’m glad you appreciated the way it came out.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleChrister, I have learned something new today. I did not know of Charles Anderson or his life story. I can picture two people looking on as he pushes his wheelbarrow and one tells the other what he knows or has heard of Charles Anderson. You have done a lot with only 100 words. Stories like these make me think I need to read up on history more! This is a great story.
Thank you very much for you kind comment, Marianna. It’s not surprising that the fate of an individual, like Charles Anderson, isn’t generally known. What is more strange is that the earthquake of San Francisco seems to be forgotten by a lot of Americans.
I sometimes wonder if the way people seem to easily forget horrendous things that had taken place, isn’t perhaps some sort of survival mechanism, if that makes sense? Instead of reminding themselves of it, they rather focus on something else, something more positive, in order to overcome it? I might be completely wrong, of course!
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleI believe and am convinced that this was based on a real story because many people are fortunate but in the end, they crumbled into nothing.
You are right, Lotchie, that’s what happened to this “Lucky Swede”, and it also happens to some big lottery winners. Thanks for reading and commenting.
Absolutely. You’re welcome. Hope to read more from you here. I love and enjoy reading and commenting here.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleLuck is a funny thing: It stumbles upon our lives at unsuspected times and makes fate shine upon us, but it also leaves us when we least expect it. Your story, Christer, is a good reminder of that! Well done!
I do have a question, though, after reading the comments. Is this story based on particular events of someone’s life?
Thanks for your comments and question, Katy. Yes, when I was working as a tour guide in Alaska, I read about this man, Charles Anderson, who experienced these two extremes in his life. Since he came from Sweden, as I do, the story stuck in my mind. Finally, the time came when I could write about it.
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleThat is really interesting, I will have to search about this man and found out more about the background and inspirations of this story.
If you search for Charles Anderson, “The Lucky Swede”, you’ll get several hits. Good luck!
Τhank you, I’ll be sure to check it out!
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To Leave Comments - Please SignIn with GoogleHello Christer, interesting story, fellow’s luck goes up and down several times in the course of 100 words. Quite a trick. I was puzzled by your use of the term gold digger. In American slang a gold digger is someone who befriends someone with the intent of extorting money from them – usually a woman marrying a rich guy for his money. Did you have that connotation in mind when you used… Read more »
Hello Alan. I didn’t think of the connotation you are referring to when I wrote the story, since I only translated the Swedish equivalent word to English in my mind and in Swedish we don’t have the second meaning of it. I see in my etymology dictionary that “gold digger”, meaning somebody looking for gold in the ground or in a stream was established in 1816. The connotation you are referring to… Read more »