The Klondike Stampede

This classic in Yukon gold rush literature was originally published in 1900 and has long been out of print. Tappan Adney, a New York journalist, was dispatched to the Yukon in 1897, at the height of the gold fever, to 'furnish news and pictures of the new gold fields.' The pages contain excellent descriptions of the people, places, events, and experiences of the Klondike stampede. Adney was not only a good writer, he was also an accomplished photographer, and there are over 150 photographs and drawings in the text, adding an important visual dimension to the book.

A gripping and wholly original account of the epic human tragedy that was the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. One hundred thousand men and women rushed heedlessly north to make their fortunes; very few did, but many thousands of them (and their pack animals) died in the attempt. The electrifying announcement in 1897 that gold was to be found in wildly enriching quantities in the Klondike River region in remote Alaska was demonically well-timed to attract an exodus of economically desperate Americans. Within weeks, tens of thousands of them were embarking from western ports to throw themselves at some of the harshest terrain on the planet--in winter, yet--woefully unprepared, with no experience at all in mining or mountaineering. It was a mass delusion that quickly proved deadly. Brian Castner tells the unvarnished yet always striking and often amazing truth of this greed-fuelled migration.

With the building of the railroad and the settlement of the plains, the North West was opening up. The Klondike stampede was a wild interlude in the epic story of western development, and here are its dramatic tales of hardship, heroism, and villainy. We meet Soapy Smith, dictator of Skagway; Swiftwater Bill Gates, who bathed in champagne; Silent Sam Bonnifield, who lost and won back a hotel in a poker game; and Roddy Connors, who danced away a fortune at a dollar a dance. We meet dance-hall queens, paupers turned millionaires, missionaries and entrepreneurs, and legendary Mounties such as Sam Steele, the Lion of the Yukon. Pierre Berton's riveting account reveals to us the spectacle of the Chilkoot Pass, and the terrors of lesser-known trails through the swamps of British Columbia, across the glaciers of souther Alaska, and up the icy streams of the Mackenzie Mountains. It contrasts the lawless frontier life on the American side of the border to the relative safety of Dawson City. Winner of the Governor General's award for non-fiction, Klondike is authentic history and grand entertainment, and a must-read for anyone interested in the Canadian frontier.

This classic in Yukon gold rush literature was originally published in 1900 and has long been out of print. Tappan Adney, a New York journalist, was dispatched to the Yukon in 1897, at the height of the gold fever, to "furnish news and pictures of the new gold fields," Adney joined the northward migration, chronicling the day-to-day experiences of the stampeders. He moved comfortably among the would-be miners, recounting their stories, the sights along the route, and the hopes and feards of the many men - and handful of women - who shared his journey to the gold fields. The book contains excellent descriptions of the people, places, events, and experiences of the Klondike stampede. The account ot the Klondike gold fields, which includes pragmatic discussions of such things as ming techniques, cabin-building, and the operation of dog teams, is solid, reliable, and facinating. Adney was not only a good writer, he was also an accomplished photographer, and there are over 150 photographs and drawings in the text, adding an important visual dimension to the book. After it came out, The Klondike Stampede rarely received the attention it deserved, although northern specialists have long found much of value in its pages. Its re-publication will ensure that this valuable book will be read again by those seeking an insightful and accurate account of the world's greatest gold rush.

Story of the Klondike gold rush of 1896-1899. Suitable for pre-teen and young teenage readers.

Between 1896 and 1899, thousands of people lured by gold braved a grueling journey into the remote wilderness of North America. Within two years, Dawson City, in the Canadian Yukon, grew from a mining camp of four hundred to a raucous town of over thirty thousand people. The stampede to the Klondike was the last great gold rush in history. Scurvy, dysentery, frostbite, and starvation stalked all who dared to be in Dawson. And yet the possibilities attracted people from all walks of life—not only prospectors but also newspapermen, bankers, prostitutes, priests, and lawmen. Gold Diggers follows six stampeders—Bill Haskell, a farm boy who hungered for striking gold; Father Judge, a Jesuit priest who aimed to save souls and lives; Belinda Mulrooney, a twenty–four–year–old who became the richest businesswoman in town; Flora Shaw, a journalist who transformed the town's governance; Sam Steele, the officer who finally established order in the lawless town; and most famously Jack London, who left without gold, but with the stories that would make him a legend. Drawing on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and stories, Charlotte Gray delivers an enthralling tale of the gold madness that swept through a continent and changed a landscape and its people forever.

2010 Reprint of 1958 edition. This thrilling story of the Klondike Gold Rush is at once first-rate history and first-rate entertainment. Some of the anecdotes of the last great gold rush have been told by others, but Pierre Berton is the first to distill the Klondike experience into a single, complete, coherent and immensely dramatic narrative. He spent 12 years in Dawson City researching the work. The entire tale has an epic ring, as much because of its splendid folly as because of its color and motion. The full story has never been told before, nor has it been told in this dramatic way.

Winner of the Golden Kite Award for Nonfiction The remarkable tale of two young men during the Klondike Gold Rush, told through first-hand diaries, letters, and more—“excellent reading” for middle grade fans of The Call of the Wild and adventure stories (School Library Journal) As thousands head north in search of gold, Marshall Bond and Stanley Pearce join them, booking passage on a steamship bound for the Klondike goldfields. The journey is life threatening, but the two friends make it to Dawson City, in Canada, build a cabin, and meet Jack London—all the while searching for the ultimate reward: gold! A riveting, true, action-packed adventure, with their telegrams, diaries, and letters, as well as newspaper articles and photographs. An author’s note, timeline, bibliography, and further resources encourage readers to dig deeper into the Gold Rush era.