Stampede

Gold Fever and Disaster in the Klondike

By: Brian Castner

Narrated by: Brian Castner

A gripping and wholly original account of the epic human tragedy that was the great Klondike Gold Rush of 1897-98. One hundred thousand men and women rushed heedlessly north to make their fortunes; very few did, but many thousands of them died in the attempt.

In 1897, the United States was mired in the worst economic depression that the country had yet endured. So when all the newspapers announced gold was to be found in wildly enriching quantities at the Klondike River region of the Yukon, a mob of economically desperate Americans swarmed north. Within weeks tens of thousands of them were embarking from western ports to throw themselves at some of the harshest terrain on the planet--in winter yet--woefully unprepared, with no experience at all in mining or mountaineering. It was a mass delusion that quickly proved deadly: avalanches, shipwrecks, starvation, murder.

Upon this stage, author Brian Castner tells a relentlessly driving story of the gold rush through the individual experiences of the iconic characters who endured it. A young Jack London, who would make his fortune but not in gold. Colonel Samuel Steele, who tried to save the stampeders from themselves. The notorious gangster Soapy Smith, goodtime girls and desperate miners, Skookum Jim, and the hotel entrepreneur Belinda Mulrooney. The unvarnished tale of this mass migration is always striking, revealing the amazing truth of what people will do for a chance to be rich.

Entertaining history

The history of the gold rush along with being just good historical reading includes tales of courage, greed, malice and the entire spectrum of human conduct. You have to ask if you would have joined into the rush during an age were becoming prosperous was much more difficult than today and the citizens were more adventurous and hardy. I think I probably would have tied, and probably died trying.

great historical information made very interesting

This is about the characters (along with other interesting information) about the people that made up the gold rush to Alaska. interesting from cover to cover

Great story, really enjoyed this book

I read about the book in the WSJ review & really enjoyed it & highly recommend. Wasn't aware of the magnitude of this gold rush & fun to learn about the characters & history involved. Will look into other books written by this author.

The most American story ever told.

Well written story about the tragic pursuit of gold where there was none. The hope, the desperation and desperation to incomplete information, the “What could go wrong” attitude.
Ironical:)
Great book, a pleasure to read more than once.

Outstanding

The truth about a gold rush and maybe any get rich scheme or concept. I particularly like authors comparison of gold rush to great migration of people in today’s world