"Gold! Gold strike in the Klondike!"

These headlines startled newspaper readers across the nation one summer morning in 1897. It was a year of great depression, and for many Americans the news gave promise of great riches and adventure. Some of the people who read their papers that morning did not even know where Alaska was, nor did they have any idea what the country was like. But they were eager to leave immediately for the land that promised a pot of gold.

In The Alaska Gold Rush May McNeer gives a dazzling picture of the invasion of the Klondike by adventurous fortune-hunters from all over the world. To many men and women, the long and arduous trip to the gold fields proved a disappointment, for prospecting was largely a matter of luck. But the stories of the lucky ones, as well as the unlucky ones, make absorbing reading. Moreover, across the pages of this book flit figures whose names became famous: the Mizner brothers; the writers Jack London and Rex Beach; Tex Rickard, best known as the manager of Jack Dempsey, the boxing champion; and the notorious "Soapy" Smith and his gang, whose swindling activities kept the Canadian Mounties constantly on the alert.

The manuscript of this book was read by Ernest Gruening, Senator from and former Governor of Alaska, who reported: "The author and Random House are to be congratulated on this fine book."

From the dust jacket