Though his time
in the Yukon was
brutal, London
(in 1896) was
grateful: “It was
in the Klondike
that I found
myself. There
you get your
perspective.”much of the story takes place, the sun doesn’t reach
the horizon and temperatures plunge to 50, 60, or
even 70 degrees below zero Fahrenheit. In that kind
of weather, as Jack London discovered, even the
strongest whiskey freezes solid, and a man’s spit
turns to ice before it hits the snow.
The best story that Jack London never wrote, at
least not in full, was a factual account of his time
in the Far North. But it can be pieced together from
letters and diary entries, a handful of nonfi ction ar-
ticles that he sold to magazines, the remembranc-
es of other people, and guesswork from his fi ction.
Dawson CityIndian(^) River
Yu
ko
n^
Ri
ve
r
Klondike River
5 MILES
SITE OF FIRST
DISCOVERY
Made by
George Carmack
in August 1896
Bo
na
nz
a (^) C
ree
k
Gold-discovery claim sites
AREA OF Dawson City
DETAIL
YUKON TERRITORY
Juneau
Skagway
Dyea
Bennett Lake
Yukon River
Whitehorse
Rapids
U.S. CANADA
CHILKOOT TRAIL
JACK LONDON’S CLAIM
Ship from
San Francisco
P. 29: LOC; PP. 30-31: UNIV. OF WASHINGTON LIBRARIES, SPECIAL COLLECTIONS / HEGG 97; JACK LONDON COLLECTION / THE HUNTINGTON LIBRARY, SAN MARINO, CA.; MAPS: GUILBERT GATES
This map is
based on the
1898 charting
of prospectors’
Yukon claims by
Tappan Adney,
on assignment
for Harper’s
Weekly during
the gold rush.
Deadly perils
awaited prospec-
tors who fl ocked
to the Yukon. In
April 1898, on
a single day,
65 men on the
Chilkoot Trail died
in an avalanche.
Typhoid also took
its toll.
A Rush to Riches