People/writer

Jack London

Jack London, writer, from United States. Linked to gold.

The lucky break

Sailed for the Klondike at 21 on 25 July 1897, crossed the Chilkoot Pass by 31 August and wintered at the mouth of the Stewart River.1

The downfall

Ill with scurvy, he left in spring 1898 and stoked coal on a steamship to get home. He mined no gold.1

Legacy

His Yukon novels and short stories, including Smoke Bellew and A Daughter of the Snows, made him a fortune (NPS).1

Story cards

Timeline

  1. 1897 to 1900Klondike gold rush2
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Where next

People

Partner ofRobert ServiceTwo writers who gave the Klondike its literature.1

Mines

Worked atKlondike (Bonanza Creek)He found no gold but made a fortune writing about the Klondike.1

Events

Worked atKlondike gold rushHe sailed for the Klondike at 21 and crossed the Chilkoot Pass by 31 August 1897.1

Sources

  1. Gold Rush Writers US National Park Service, Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park
  2. Skagway: Gateway to the Klondike (Teaching with Historic Places) US National Park Service

From the Prospector Trails mining history dataset: each fact links to the source it was checked against. Figures are as the source gives them, in the money of their day. Not investment advice.

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Cover photos from Wikimedia Commons: Super Pit, Kalgoorlie by Kgbo, CC BY-SA 4.0; Underground mining equipment by Kaupo Kikkas, CC BY-SA 4.0. Pictures: Gold prospectors constructing a long box with a filter for panning gold. Process print after H.M. Paget, 1899., Henry Marriott Paget (Public Domain Mark 1.0); Kimberley, South Africa: miners and washing gear at the Bultfontein diamond mine. Woodburytype, 1888, after a photograph by Robert Harris., Harris, Robert, active 1881-1888. (Public Domain Mark 1.0).