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  • Call of the Klondike: A True Gold Rush Adventure by David Meissner
  • Elizabeth Bush
Meissner, David. Call of the Klondike: A True Gold Rush Adventure; by David Meissner and Kim Richardson. Calkins Creek, 2013. 167p. illus. with photographs ISBN 978-1-59078-823-3 $16.95 R Gr. 5-9.

The Yukon Gold Rush of 1897 is revisited here through the experiences of two young men who were among the first stampeders to make their way to the Klondike after news of gold strikes reached Seattle and San Francisco. Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond, financed largely and speedily by Pearce’s well-to-do father, outfitted themselves in what would have been considered high style—from collapsible boats to fur robes—and caught one of the first vessels north from Seattle, hoping to reach Dawson City before the region became frozen in for the winter. Just one step ahead, it seemed, of the elements and fellow stampeders, the men cleared the White Pass (nicknamed Dead Horse) Trail and Lake Bennett before the freeze and settled into a cabin in Dawson City in time to investigate possible claims to stake. They did everything right, were better equipped than most, had a fair share of luck, and yet came away a year later with only life experience to show for their efforts, and most of their good humor thankfully intact. Meissner pieces together the account mainly from letters, journal entries, and newspaper dispatches the men sent back to the States throughout their adventure, and the emotional highs and lows of hope and disappointment come vividly through their accessible writings. Plenty of period photos, many of notable detail and clarity, augment the text, and a bibliography and list of further resources are included. U.S. History teachers will appreciate the deft integration of primary sources, but kids who love adventure stories will simply appreciate an exciting personal account—topped off perhaps with a Netflix viewing of Chaplin’s The Gold Rush.

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