The Klondike Fever - by Pierre Berton (Paperback)

About the Book

In 1897 a grimy steamer docked in Seattle and set into epic motion the incredible succession of events that Pierre Berton s exhilarating The Klondike Fever chronicles in all its splendid and astonishing folly. For the steamer Portland bore two tons of pure Klondike gold. And immediately, the stampede north to Alaska began. Easily as many as 100,000 adventurers, dreamers, and would-be miners from all over the world struck out for the remote, isolated gold fields in the Klondike Valley, most of them in total ignorance of the long, harsh Alaskan winters and the territory s indomitable terrain. Less than a third of that number would complete the enormously arduous mountain journey to their destination. Some would strike gold. Berton s story belongs less to the few who would make their fortunes than to the many swept up in the gold mania, to often unfortunate effects and tragic ends. It is a story of cold skies and avalanches, of con men and gamblers and dance hall girls, of sunken ships, of suicides, of dead horses and desperate men, of grizzly old miners and millionaires, of the land its exploitation and revenge. It is a story of the human capacity to dream, and to endure."

Book Synopsis

"A lively saga" (New York Times) of the great Alaska gold rush--a story of cold skies and avalanches, con men and gamblers and dance hall girls, grizzly old miners and millionaires

In 1897 a grimy steamer bearing two tons of pure Klondike gold docked in Seattle, immediately triggering a stampede north to Alaska. In his exhilarating The Klondike Fever, Pierre Berton chronicles the incredible succession of events that followed in all their splendid and astonishing folly.

As many as 100,000 adventurers, dreamers, and would-be miners from all over the world struck out for the remote, isolated gold fields of the Klondike Valley, most of them in total ignorance of the long, harsh Alaskan winters and the territory's indomitable terrain. Less than a third of that number would complete the enormously arduous mountain journey to their destination, and fewer still would strike gold.

Berton's story belongs less to those who would make their fortunes than to the many swept up in the gold mania who met misfortune and tragic ends. The Klondike Fever is a stirring testament to the human capacity to dream, and to endure.

Review Quotes

"A lively saga of the great gold rush. It is the most complete and most authentic on the subject in English."--New York Times Book Review

"Absolutely first rate."--New Yorker

"The definitive account of an affair as wildly improbable as any in North American history." --Saturday Review

About the Author

Pierre Berton was the author of fifty books, including the New York Times bestseller The Arctic Grail, Niagara, The Invasion of Canada, and Flames Across the Border. He received three Governor General's awards for non-fiction, two National Newspaper Awards, the Stephen Leacock Medal for Humour, and the National History Society's inaugural Pierre Berton Award. He was a member of the Newsman's Hall of Fame and a Companion of the Order of Canada and lived in Ontario until his death in 2005