Donald Trump’s name is synonymous with many things, but few know that the foundation of his family’s fortune was not built in New York but in Northern British Columbia, Canada, during the Klondike Gold Rush. Long before Trump Tower and luxury hotels, the Trump dynasty began with Friedrich Trump, Donald Trump’s grandfather, who ran a brothel disguised as a restaurant and hotel in Bennett, British Columbia.
The Arctic Restaurant & Hotel was more than just a place for weary prospectors to rest—it was a hub of vice and commerce, offering food, alcohol, gambling, and private rooms for “entertainment.” Gold prospectors, flush with newfound wealth, spent their fortunes inside Friedrich Trump’s establishment, unknowingly financing what would later become a real estate empire spanning generations.
Adding another layer to this irony, sourdough bread was a staple of the gold rush, which was served at the Arctic Restaurant & Hotel. The very industry that helped feed Friedrich Trump’s business in Canada—the gold rush economy—helped launch the Trump family into wealth, only for Donald Trump to later turn against Canada with tariffs, trade wars, and even annexation rhetoric.
This is the forgotten origin story of the Trump fortune, one of sourdough, gold dust, and a brothel at the edge of the frontier.
Friedrich Trump’s Journey to Canada
Friedrich Trump was born in 1869 in Kallstadt, Germany, the son of a winemaker. As a teenager, he left his homeland in 1885, arriving in New York City at age 16 to work as a barber’s apprentice. But Friedrich had no interest in a quiet life of cutting hair. Like many ambitious immigrants, he wanted more—wealth, success, and a way to get rich quickly.
By the late 1890s, he had moved to Seattle, opening a modest restaurant, but when news broke of gold strikes in the Yukon, Trump saw an opportunity far greater than cutting hair or serving meals. The Klondike Gold Rush had thousands of prospectors flooding north, desperate for supplies, shelter, and, more often than not, entertainment. Friedrich didn’t want to dig for gold—he wanted to mine the pockets of those who did.
The Arctic Restaurant & Hotel Brothel in Bennett British Columbia
In 1897, Friedrich Trump traveled to Bennett, British Columbia, a temporary boomtown that sprang up on the route to the Klondike goldfields. Located along the Chilkoot Trail, Bennett was a critical stop for miners making their way to the Yukon. They needed food, shelter, and distraction from the brutal conditions of the trail.
Seizing this opportunity, Trump partnered with Ernest Levin to establish The Arctic Restaurant & Hotel, a false-fronted wooden building typical of the frontier towns of the time. It was officially a restaurant and hotel, but historical records suggest it was much more than that.
The Arctic Restaurant & Hotel offered:
- Sourdough bread and hot meals to hungry miners
- Alcohol and gambling to those looking to celebrate
- “Private suites for ladies”, a widely known euphemism for prostitution
Newspaper advertisements at the time openly promoted the “private rooms” and gold-weighing scales, allowing prospectors to pay for services directly with gold dust. A Yukon Sun writer even remarked:
“For single men, the Arctic has the best restaurant, but I would not advise respectable women to go there.”
In other words, it was a high-end brothel that catered to prospectors who had just struck it rich.
Sourdough Bread and the Gold Rush Economy
The Arctic Restaurant & Hotel wasn’t just a place of vice—it also served food, including sourdough bread, which was the lifeblood of Klondike prospectors.
During the gold rush era, commercial yeast was hard to come by, and miners traveling through Northern British Columbia and the Yukon relied on fermented sourdough starters to make bread. So important was sourdough to survival in the north that old-time prospectors were even called “sourdoughs.”
Given that Friedrich Trump’s brothel-restaurant served food, and that sourdough was the primary form of bread available, it is almost certain that the same sourdough that kept miners alive also helped build the Trump fortune.
Selling Out and Leaving Canada With a Fortune
By 1901, the gold rush was beginning to decline. The quick riches were drying up, and with them, the influx of easy-spending prospectors. At the same time, the North-West Mounted Police (precursor to the RCMP) and Canadian authorities were cracking down on gambling, prostitution, and liquor sales in the frontier towns.
Sensing that the best days of the business were behind him, Friedrich Trump sold the Arctic Restaurant & Hotel and left Canada with a small fortune in gold.
Rather than sticking around to face the economic downturn, Trump took his gold rush profits and reinvested them in real estate in New York City. This money allowed him to begin purchasing properties, setting the stage for his son, Fred Trump, to expand the family’s real estate empire, eventually leading to Donald Trump inheriting the business and turning it into a global brand.
The Ultimate Irony: Trump’s War on Canada
A century after Friedrich Trump built his fortune in a Canadian boomtown, his grandson, Donald Trump, spends much of his presidency targeting Canada with economic hostility.
- Imposing tariffs on Canadian steel and aluminum, citing national security concerns
- Forcing Canada into a new trade deal after threatening to scrap NAFTA
- Attacking Canada’s dairy industry, claiming it was unfair to American farmers
- Flirting with the idea of annexing Canada, reviving old imperialist rhetoric
For Pat Ellis, a 90-year-old historian from Whitehorse, Yukon, the irony is impossible to ignore. As she put it:
“His family’s wealth began in Canada. Now he has a fantasy of taking over Canada. That’s gratitude, eh?”
What Remains of the Arctic Restaurant & Hotel Today?
The original Arctic Restaurant & Hotel was destroyed by a fire in 1905, erasing the physical remnants of Trump’s Canadian fortune. However, Parks Canada built a replica facade in 2017 at the Chilkoot Trail National Historic Site, a quiet reminder of this overlooked chapter in history.
While Trump’s name is now stamped on skyscrapers, golf resorts, and luxury hotels, the real origin of the Trump fortune can be traced back to a brothel in Bennett, British Columbia, where gold prospectors ate sourdough bread, spent their riches, and unknowingly helped fund one of the most powerful business dynasties in the world.
Exclusive to The Sourdough People – where history, commerce, and sourdough culture collide.
Article Citations
Lethbridge News
National Post
Le Clairer Progrès
CBC Radio Canada
The Star News
Global News
CTV News
