Klondike And The Gold Rush

Hunter Kovacev

Peters

The Adventures of the Klondike Essay

Life was dangerous and depressing for gold-seekers during the Klondike Gold Rush. The Yukon was a remote, cold, and mountainous area of Northern Canada and parts of Alaska. This meant getting there was difficult and time consuming. Many of the people searching for gold died or gave up on the trip there. The Gold Rush caused by Robert Henderson, and George Carmack was a result of Robert’s lust for gold, George’s discovery, and George’s bragging. The gold of the Klondike was discovered by four men in August of 1896. Robert Henderson was born in 1857 in Nova Scotia, and was known as an unfriendly man that had been searching for gold all of his life. He had worked as a sailor to provide

The industrial revolution changed the way people worked and lived their lives in Canada. The discoverers of this gold had been working all of their lives and wanted a solution to end this problem. There are many examples of this obsession. The only solution Robert Henderson could come up with was to look for gold. The thought of striking it rich consumed him. When he heard talks of gold in the Yukon, he moved all the way from Colorado to Northern Alaska quite quickly. When Robert told George Carmack a fellow American prospector of his small findings, George quickly began searching. George, Skookum, and Dawson Charlie betrayed their friend and kept their findings for themselves. George told other people about his discovery and the news spread throughout the world. Most of the gold had been found by 1899 and Robert had not gotten any. Robert should never had trusted George with his discovery and should've kept it a secret. If he hadn't told anyone, some 30-70 thousand people would have never died on their trip to the Yukon.

John Thornton, the fictional character in the novel, is quite different from the gold rush people but their troubles are the same. John is a kind soul, looking for a quick way to a plentiful life. Many fictional characters in the story respected John and animals loved him. This was quite different from the real group of men involved in the gold rush, whom were mostly rude, mean, and selfish. These men did not have many friends and most people disliked them. The problems each group faced were quite similar. Both groups faced the bitter cold and trek down to the rivers, and John and his group were prepared and did not run out of supplies, unlike Robert. John also found gold like George, Skookum, and Dawson, but he never returned to civilization to use it. John was well-prepared for the trek and shared his findings with his accomplices. John Thornton was a loveable character until the end and always will