Customer Reviews

Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush

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This is the best-written, most entertaining history book I've read in ages. What an amazing story! In January 1897, a message went out from Dawson City in the isolated Yukon Territory of Canada: gold had been discovered! It took until July for anyone to notice, but then it seemed like the whole world stampeded toward the Klondike. Most did not make it over the mountains before winter, but were stuck in lawless Skagway, Alaska, enduring frostbite, graft, and privation, until arriving in Dawson in June of 1898. Suddenly, Dawson went from a few tents to as many as 10,000 people; then, in August of 1899, a rumor of gold in Nome, Alaska emptied the town as quickly as a fire: 8,000 people left in the course of a week.

Berton spins a mighty good yarn: careless prospectors paying for drinks with gold dust; dance-hall girls; wiley villains like the infamous Soapy Smith, boss of Skagway's underworld; heroic Mounties keeping order over treacherous mountain passes. All of this is the result of an enormous amount of primary research: in the 1950's Berton personally interviewed a large number of the last survivors of the stampede, and appears to have memorized every printed word, published and unpublished, ever written on the subject.

Berton caps off his expert handling of the narrative with a wonderful chapter reflecting on the meaning of the Klondike rush for the American and Canadian national characters. I was charmed to discover, at the very end, that Berton's parents were prospectors and that he himself grew up in Dawson, almost a ghost town, playing among the abandoned gold dredges and cast-off dance slippers.

This 2001 version of "Klondike" is significantly updated from the 1958 original; it's considerably longer and reflects many new primary sources. "Klondike Fever" still available via Amazon (ISBN 0786713178), is the older and less up-to-date book. This 2001 edition is the one you want!

For those of us whose knowledge of the Klondike Gold Rush comes mostly from the 1950s radio drama, "Sergeant Preston of the Yukon" this is a fine book to read. (Trivia question: What was the name of Sergeant Preston's preternaturally intelligent huskie?) This is a revised and updated version of the book "Klondike Fever" published in 1958. Read "Klondike" if possible, although the earlier "Klondike Fever" is still perfectly readable. The maps are much better in this edition.

This Gold Rush, named after the Klondike River in the Yukon territory of Canada, was the last great scramble for gold in the old West. One hundred thousand persons, mostly from the U.S., set out for the Klondike in 1897, 30,000 or 40,000 got there, after an arduous journey through killing winter snows, and a few hundred found gold. The stories of the long, hard journey into this Arctic wilderness are often horrific. In one party of 19 men, 15 died or were killed along the route and the other four had eyes damaged by snow blindness. The gold seekers included author Jack London, Wyatt Earp, and poet Joaquin Miller. By late-summer 1899, "one of the weirdest and most useless mass movements in history" was over. Most of the gold seekers went home to live normal lives, although a few moved on to the beaches of Nome, Alaska where gold could be picked up among the grains of sand.

The author tells a compelling tale of the men and women who participated in the Klondike Gold Rush. It was indeed a fever. The characters in this book include crusty old miners who suddenly became rich beyond their wildest dreams, stalwart, incorruptible Canadian Mounties, conmen like Soapy Smith -- who in the dramatic tradition of the West receives his just deserts -- prostitutes, madams, gamblers, angels of mercy, last-chance losers, rich adventurers, Indians, and missionaries. It's a fascinating read, based on research that included interviews with many of the oldtimers who lived to talk to the author in the 1950s. The author's standard of truth telling is high; he identifies a tall tale or an unlikely exaggeration when he finds them.

The text would be enhanced if there were photographs, but I doubt you'll find a better book about the Klondike Gold Rush. Oh, yes, Sergeant Preston's dog was named "Yukon King."

Smallchief

As a Canadian living away from home, I never miss an opportunity to read a book by Pierre Berton. Berton had a talent for making History come alive in a way that is rare not only among Canadian authors, but indeed is rarely equaled and certainly not surpassed by any other author I have encountered abroad.

Klondike is one of those books that is so well constructed and written that you forget you are reading History and instead are absorbed into the story-line as if you were reading a first-rate novel. Burton develops the story-line and characters so that you are drawn into the history and come to appreciate the facts of the era and location. The people become real. You leave having experienced history instead of just having been served warmed over facts with a few theories as to how they tie together.

Despite the difference in genre, reading Burton's account of the Gold Rush in the North is every bit as entertaining as reading Farley Mowat or Jack London.

I recommend this book highly. It is a good introduction to Berton, to the Canadian North, the history of the Yukon, and a good primer before you launch into the other great books of Berton if you have never read him before!

THE book on the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896-99. Berton tells the story in chronological order, beginning with the pre-Gold Rush period when individual prospectors roamed the Yukon River territory looking for El Dorado. A million dollars worth of gold was hauled out of Circle City, an early camp, in 1896; a year later they would do the same in a matter of weeks in Dawson City, a few hundred miles up the Yukon from Circle City. Of course, after the big strike was made on Rabbit Creek in August 1896, Circle City was emptied of its population by the spring. Gold camp communities that had lived and thrived under a well-understood frontier code lost their cohesiveness; the thousands of outsiders rushing into the Klondike could never abide by such a code.

Berton relates the human interest stories, too. The infamous Soapy Smith, the dictator of Skagway, is here, as are the thousands of crazies who came north to the Arctic Circle underclothed, unprepared, unprovisioned, full of the gold fever. Things got so bad by the winter of '97 that the government had to appropriate $200,000 for those in the Yukon to prevent mass starvation. And still they came, heading up the Chilkoot Pass like ants. It was called a stampede, but progress was so slow it seemed anything but. Only the outbreak of the Spanish-American War put an end to it, along with the discovery of gold in Nome.

It's an exciting story, the last gold rush anyone will ever see. Factual, without unnecessary hype, Berton's book is an excellent account of this period in history. Highly recommended.

I consider this the definitive book on the Klondike Gold Rush. Interesting, informative, highly entertaining and hugely enjoyable, the book covers all the drama from the first discovery to the last days of the Klondike Kings. You don't have to be a Klondike enthusiast to enjoy this book, because Berton is first and foremost a storyteller, and the historical facts come alive in his writing.

I've read this book at least 9 times, and it inspired me to backpack the Chilkoot Trail. It's not just one of the best history books I've ever read - it's one of the best books, period, that I've ever read. Enjoy!

Berton is a master at organizining material from diverse sources and weaving a fascinating tale. He left no stone unturned. With the passing of Klondike participants, this book could not be written today. I highly recommend it.

This forgotten piece of Canadian and American history is brought back to life. Berton vividly describes the characters and treats each one with care. His enthusiasm is easy to catch and the stories of hardship, greed, friendship and fun describe the atmosphere well. Crooks, lawmen and fortune seekers come together to weave incredible tales that fiction could never touch. Although I was not particularly interested in this era of history, I must admit this is one of the best histories I have read. I would have preferred some pictures to link with the stories and perhaps some better maps. Otherwise, a strong recommendation.

An invaluable resource for all students. As a writer of a fictional account involving the Klondike Gold Rush, it was invaluable to me, as are all of Pierre Berton's works. Only one thing missing, or perhaps not very clear, is timeline - a month or even year when certain episodes happened. A lot of stories go back and forth. But those true stories involving such colorful characters are priceless, and Pierre Berton sure knows how to tell them!

Berton is by far the best historical author of our times. The characters that make up our history come alive with every page that is read. For anyone that has felt the lure of gold, this is a book is a must have.

This is probably the most comprehensive coverage of that era I've ever read. The research was exhaustive and the writing was well done and very descriptive. I'd highly recommend it for anyone who has an interest in the Klondike God Rush. It is a must read.