Table of Contents

Preface to the Revised Edition
Cast of Major Characters
The Golden Highway

ONE
1. The Pilgrims
2. "Gold — all same like this!"
3. The hermits of Fortymile
4. The land of the Golden Rule

TWO
1. The prospector and the squaw man
2. The exculpation of Lying George
3. Moose pastures
4. The kings of Eldorado
5. Henderson's luck

THREE
1. Clarence Berry strikes it rich
2. The death of Circle City
3. The birth of Dawson
4. A friend in need
5. Big Alex and Swiftwater Bill
6. City of gold

FOUR
1. The treasure ships
2. Rich man, poor man
3. A ton of gold
4. Klondicitis
5. Warnings all unheeded
6. Balloons, boatsleds, and bicycles
7. Fearful passage

FIVE
1. Captain Billy's last stand
2. The swarming sands of Skagway
3. The dead horse trail
4. Hell on earth
5. The human serpent

SIX
1. Starvation winter
2. Revolt on the Yukon
3. A dollar a waltz
4. Only a coal miner's daughter…
5. Greenhorns triumphant
6. The Saint of Dawson

SEVEN
1. The trails of Ninety-Eight
2. Rich man's route
3. Frozen highways
4. "Bury me here, where I failed"
5. Overland from Edmonton
6. The road to Destruction City

EIGHT
1. The Chilkoot
2. Up the Golden Stairs
3. One of everybody
4. Death beneath the snows

NINE
1. Rage in the sawpits
2. The Lion of the Yukon
3. The outlandish armada
4. Split-Up city

TEN
1. "Cheechako!"
2. Carnival summer
3. Champagne for breakfast
4. Remember the Sabbath
5. Graft and the Nugget

ELEVEN
1. Soapy Smith takes over
2. Alias Robin Hood
3. The Committee of 101
4. Dictator of Skagway
5. Shoot-out at the Juneau dock
6. No escape

TWELVE
1. Gold, restless gold
2. The San Francisco of the North
3. The false fronts of Front Street
4. Queens of dance-hall row
5. Fortune's wheels
6. The last stampede
7. Tales of conspicuous wealth
8. Money to burn

THIRTEEN
1. Finale
2. The legacy of the gold rush
3. River of ghosts

Chronology
A Note on the Revised Edition
Notes
Bibliography
Acknowledgements
Index

About the Author

Born in 1920 and raised in the Yukon, PIERRE BERTON worked in Klondike mining camps during his university years. He spent four years in the army, rising from private to captain/instructor at the Royal Military College in Kingston. He spent his early newspaper career in Vancouver, where at 21 he was the youngest city editor on any Canadian daily. He wrote columns for and was editor of Maclean's magazine, appeared on CBC's public affairs program "Close-Up" and was a permanent fixture on "Front Page Challenge" for 39 years. He was a columnist and editor for the Toronto Star and was a writer and host of a series of CBC programs. For his immense contribution to Canadian literature and history Berton has received a dozen honourary degrees, was a member of the Newsman's Hall of Fame, and was a Companion of the Order of Canada. Pierre Berton passed away in Toronto on November 30, 2004.

Reviews

"A fascinating book of permanent value." —The Globe and Mail

"A comprehensive and absolutely first-rate history." —The New Yorker

"An epic account … fascinating and exciting." —The Observer, London

"Pierre Berton writes 24-carat gold." —The Edmonton Journal