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I often drive by a billboard in Greensboro that puzzles me. The words emblazoned across it read: “Bill Gates started a business during a recession. Recession 101.”

Everybody knows about Bill Gates, the co-founder of Microsoft, who is the richest man in the world. Is the billboard designed to say, “You, too, can start a business during a recession and succeed”? Or is it: “Don’t be afraid to take risks”? Or is it simply intended to inspire hope in a depressed economy?  

North Carolina, after all, has been painfully hit by the recession. Here in Greensboro, the unemployment rate is about 11 percent, exceeding the national unemployment rate. But recessions don’t last forever, and Bill Gates and Microsoft are ample proof, as the billboard implies.

I spent Christmas holidays with family in Seattle, which is Gates’ hometown and near Microsoft’s corporate headquarters. Seattle is a city that has weathered hard times in its past, including economic depressions, earthquakes and a fire that burned down the town in the 1800s.

I was reminded of the Greensboro billboard one afternoon in Seattle when I visited the Klondike Gold Rush National Museum. It was like stepping into a chapter of American history that somewhat resonated with our own times.

In the late-1890s, Americans were enduring a long, severe nationwide depression. People were jobless, homeless and destitute. They desperately needed something to hope for. In this case, it turned out to be gold.

On Aug. 16, 1896, gold was discovered in the Klondike region of northwestern Canada. News traveled slowly in those days. Nearly a year later, in July 1897, the SS Portland docked in Seattle with 68 newly rich miners on board.

A Seattle reporter excitedly wrote that there was “more than a ton of solid gold on board.” He was wrong. There was more than two tons of gold aboard.   

The news flashed across America, and the Klondike gold rush was on. Suddenly people from “back East,’’ who’d lost all hope during the deepening economic depression, made their way across the continent.

The sleepy town of Seattle billed itself as the seaport from which the “stampeders” sailed to Alaska. From  there they traveled over treacherous terrain to the Klondike.

The stampeders needed supplies for their journey to the Klondike, and Seattle stores suddenly bulged from floor to ceiling with goods.

The average stampeder needed 350 pounds of flour, 150 pounds of bacon and 100 pounds of beans and sugar. Sales rose to a staggering $25 million during the gold rush, lifting Seattle’s economy.   

About 100,000 people set off for the Klondike, hoping to strike it rich. Among them was a young immigrant named John Nordstrom, who would become the founder of Nordstrom, the upscale department store chain. (Nordstrom has a store in Raleigh.)

Young Nordstrom had come to America from Sweden in the late-1800s at age 16. He had $5 in his pocket and spoke no English. He made his way from New York to Seattle and settled on a small farm.   

Then came news of gold in the Klondike. On the same day he heard the news, Nordstrom left the farm and boarded a ship that afternoon for Alaska and the Klondike.

Most stampeders reached the territory too late. Others got there first and staked their claim.

Of the thousands of stampeders, only 300 made more than $15,000 in gold (the equivalent of $330,000 in 2005, according to the Klondike museum).

Nordstrom, however, returned to Seattle better off than when he left it. He earned $13,000 in the Klondike and used it to buy property in Seattle and some farmland. He also used it to open a shoe store. From those humble beginnings would grow Nordstrom. The original store still bustles in downtown Seattle.   

Though few struck it rich in the Klondike, the gold rush helped jump-start the nation’s depressed economy and pumped millions into Seattle. Most important, it gave people hope. 

Which brings me back to that billboard beside East Wendover Avenue in Greensboro. It, too, generates hope for the future at a time when the city and nation are reeling from a severe economy.

(Note: But don’t bet on finding a gold mine!)

 Rosemary Roberts writes a column on alternate Fridays. E-mail: Rmroberts@triad.rr.com.