California Gold Rush Essay Example
Gold Rushes were normal in North America as people started to find gold everywhere in Canada and in some places in The United States. One of many famous gold rushes was the Klondike Gold Rush. This gold rush took place in Yukon, Canada in which more than 100,000 people participated in. (Wikipedia) There are many people who contributed to the gold rush that made it famous to this day. Some people are Keish, George Carmack, and Soapy Smith. (Wikipedia) They did many significant things which led to the success of the Klondike Gold Rush. However, there is one person in particular that told many people across the world about this gold rush. The Klondike Gold Rush wouldn’t be as famous as it is today without Jack London
Jack London was an American novelist who was born on January 12, 1876, and lived until November 22, 1916. (Wikipedia) He wrote a lot of novels on activities in Northern Canada. Among those activities, he wrote about the Klondike Gold Rush the most. In 1896, people in North America started hearing rumours about the Klondike Region in Yukon. Many of them started to migrate in the hopes of mining gold in that area. But, it wasn’t until 1897 that a huge amount of people started to board on boats and travelled to Canada. (Literary Traveller) Among those many people, was Jack London, a 20-year-old man, who was desperate like everyone else. At that time, London didn’t know that the gold rush would help him become a famous novelist one day.
After he arrived in the Klondike Region by boat, he began to write about different events happening there for the magazines and newspapers. By doing this, he inspired many people to come to Yukon and be a part of the gold rush themselves. London knew that he was famous for his stories, and he used this to his advantage. He started writing individual novels on the Klondike Gold Rush and different activities happening in Northern Canada. The short story, The Son of the Wolf, which was published in 1900(Book Series In Order) and the novel, The Call of the Wild, which was published in 1903(Book Series In Order) are two stories that Jack London wrote at the beginning of his novelist career that gave him attention by a lot of readers (Peter Lourie’s Jack London and the Klondike Gold Rush). In particular, The Call of the Wild gave him recognition because the story line in the book is based upon the activities that happen in Northern Canada.
Jack London opened up the Klondike Gold Rush to everyone in the world. Jack London continued to write novels since his first one was a huge success. He wrote the novel, White Fang, in 1905, 6 years after the gold rush. (Order Of Books)This novel, like Call of the Wild, was based upon the Klondike Gold Rush and the series of events near the region. Although this novel wasn’t as popular as Call of the Wild, a lot of people read it because of the various stories about the Northern Region of North America. He continued to write more novels and short stories that were similar to the ones before. (Jack London Park)
Unfortunately, on November 22, 1916, Jack London passed away in California because of Uremia (New York Times) and drug overdose (History). In spite of the fact that he passed away more than 100 years ago, people still remember him as the person that introduced everyone to the Klondike Gold Rush.
