It’s been called the last great adventure of the 19th Century. In 1896, prospectors in Yukon Territory fished a thumb sized nugget of gold out Rabbit Creek. The find triggered a human tsunami not seen since the days of the California Gold Rush. Across the US, tens of thousands abandoned their homes to take their chances in the northern wilderness. At a time when a city like Seattle might have a population of only forty thousand, one hundred thousand people converged on Klondike, hoping to strike it rich. Instead, what many of them found was death, disease, and destitution.
