JACK LONDON: "The Golden City"

200 pounds of bacon, 800 pounds of flour, 200 pounds of corn meal, 150 pounds of beans, 75 pounds of sugar, 75 pounds of coffee, clothes, a tool-bag and sometimes a mouth-organ – everything a gold prospector needed to get from Skagway, Alaska across the Chilkoot Trail to the Yukon River in 1897. This remote and desolate place became the birthplace of dreams that pushed hundreds and thousands of adventurers like Jack London into the immense gold-laden land of the Klondike.

When Jack London arrived in Dawson, Yukon Territory he was only 21 years old. There, he bought a small piece of land and dug gold for $ 4.50. He was not a very good gold prospector, but the adventures he experienced in just one year in Alaska and the Yukon Territory made him into one of the most famous writers of the twentieth century.

Jack London: Way North tells the journey and adventures of Jack London during the year 1897, when he went from Skagway, Alaska across the Chilkoot Trail and the Yukon River to Dawson in the Yukon Territory.

With a field pack of approximately 1600 pounds, Jack London is fighting for his life in late August of 1897 to pass “The Golden Stairs”, the highest point on the Chilkoot Trail. The Chilkoot Trail leads through the evergreen rain forest of Dyea across beaten trails before it swings upward to a point called “The Scales” – a place where old prospectors are weighing and storing their loads. But even if they make it to “The Scales” it sometimes signals the end of this adventure for many. Like a convoy of ants, determined men scale the steep ascent to reach “The Golden Stairs.” They fight against wind, rain, snowstorms and most of all--themselves. Some of the men who are crawling on all fours would gladly sell all their belongings just to go back home – beaten by nature, but still alive.

Not so Jack London. He is fascinated by the idea of how men are reduced to their primitive selves once they are removed from civilized culture. Alaska and the Yukon Territory are the perfect places to demonstrate London’s social-Darwinist philosophy of life-- a hostile environment where people cannot survive without strong determination and courage.

To make it to “The Golden Stairs” the adventurers have to climb back and forth between the pass and the village of Sheep Camp. A single hotel in Sheep Camp provides the gold prospectors the only warm bed during the bitter cold nights.

The journalist Tappan Adney once described the situation in Sheep Camp:

“The dirty, wet and uncombed horde of men coming from the Chilkoot Trail huddled in rows of three around a long table where they got beans, bacon and tea – they got this for 75 cents per person--paid in advance…After dinner they removed the furniture. Men who brought a quilt spread it out on the floor, hung their socks and shoes on the roof beam, put a coat under their head and closed their eyes to get some sleep.”

The adventurers bring lots of supplies because news of a famine in Dawson is spreading across the Yukon Territory. Canadian Mounties protect the locals from outsiders. In order to make it to the legendary Klondike, gold prospectors must bring enough provisions and supplies for an entire year. This made the Chilkoot Trail a dangerous route. Some lost their lives at river crossings; others are killed by avalanches or simply go insane. They constantly keep an eye on their belongings and many are killed defending their possessions.

The lucky ones who make it over “The Golden Stairs” to Canada are welcomed in “Happy Camp”. This camp got its name from people who arrive delirious and happy
to be alive after their improbable journey on the Chilkoot Trail. And the ones who make it as far as Bennett will pray in church for courage and strength for the next 500 miles down the Yukon River—and eventually to the Klondike.

Together with some other adventurers, Jack London built two boats to navigate the Yukon River. In only ten days they construct the “Yukon Belle” and the “Belle of the Yukon”. Though the two boats sound pretty--one of them fails to make it past the first day. When Jack London and his companions begin on September 21st 1897, winter has already arrived in south-western Yukon Territory. Stormy weather churns up the river and swallows one of the boats. All the men aboard drown, except Jack London. Years later London describes this ride along the Yukon River as “a dangerous crossing of lakes, rapids and narrow gorges, deeper and deeper into the abyss of the north.”

150 miles into their ride along the Yukon River and winter closing in, Jack London and his companions arrive at “Miles Canyon.” Later Jack London writes in one of his many books how the white water in the river “simmers, roaring through the canyon”

“Miles Canyon” is one of the most dangerous spots on the Yukon River. Most of the adventurers avoid “Miles Canyon” by carrying everything on foot and leading their empty boats with ropes through the canyon. But with Jack London at the helm and winter hard on their heels the men around London are willing to risk everything. They successfully make it through the canyon– which saves them three days in their
race against time (and winter).

Through wooden-fenced waterways Jack London and his companions cross Lake Laberge and go down the “The Thirty Mile Section” – one of the most beautiful passages along the dangerous journey on the Yukon River. But by this time Jack London has no eye for nature. More importantly for him is the journey. The combination of a strong will and unselfishness that is necessary for someone to reach the Klondike.

Along islands and shipwrecked side-wheelers, the gold prospectors reach “Five Finger Rapids” – a spot on the nearly 2 000 mile long Yukon River where the river splits into five channels with roaring floods and steeply rising stone towers. It is the very last challenge for the adventurers on their dangerous journey. Paddling across Stewart Island and up Henderson Creek is where Jack London buys his piece of land in an area that will fulfil him for his entire life.

Jack London spends the winter of 1897/1898 in a cabin on Henderson Creek and in the saloons of the nearby Dawson. This is where most of his stories of the north are set and where his protagonists fight against nature, become insane or even killed. London lives almost a year in the Yukon Territory and spends most of his time writing. Unsuspecting of his future, he creates stories for eternity.

Only weeks before he dies Jack London writes in a letter: “I lived openhearted and unconventional. I was never afraid of my life. I did not recede. I just took it as it was and never felt ashamed of this life.”

Jack London experienced immense joy in living out his stories. Stories and adventures carved out of a country he helped create: Jack London’s Alaska and the Yukon!