The Klondike Quest: A Photographic Essay 1897-1899

by Pierre Berton

"It is interesting to watch how the expressions change as you progress through the book, from optimistic in the beginning, to almost hopeless by the end... The pictures alone will offer hours of viewing."
-- CM Magazine "The story of the stampede is told well but shown even better."
-- HistoryNet.com This classic book is a truly great photographic essay of an historic event that made millionaires of an anonymous few but crushed thousands more in a hostile climate and unforgiving terrain anticipated by none. We are nearing the 125th anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush and no one has told the story as vividly as Yukon-born Pierre Berton. Canada's leading popular historian compiled over 200 rare period images from the more than 10,000 images in public archives and private collections. Depicting every aspect of what Berton called "one of the strangest mass movements in history," many of the compelling images were first published in this book. The Klondike Quest brings to life the panoramic drama of the great stampede for gold as seen by the ordinary gold-seeker. The photographs are beautifully reproduced and informatively and colorfully captioned. "One million people, it is said, laid plans to go to the Klondike. One hundred thousand actually set off. And so the Klondike saga is a chronicle of humanity in the mass... For the next eighteen months, the Yukon interior plateau became a human anthill." As a true story of real men looking for a golden phantom, it's a tale that can't be beat.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Photography

240 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

About the author

Pierre Francis de Marigny Berton, CC, O.Ont. (July 12, 1920 – November 30, 2004) was a Canadian historian, writer, journalist and broadcaster.


From narrative histories and popular culture, to picture and coffee table books to anthologies, to stories for children to readable, historical works for youth, many of his books are now Canadian classics.

Born in 1920 and raised in the Yukon, Pierre Berton worked in Klondike mining camps during his university years. He spent four years in the army, rising from private to captain/instructor at the Royal Military College in Kingston. He spent his early newspaper career in Vancouver, where at 21 he was the youngest city editor on any Canadian daily. He wrote columns for and was editor of Maclean's magazine, appeared on CBC's public affairs program "Close-Up" and was a permanent fixture on "Front Page Challenge" for 39 years. He was a columnist and editor for the Toronto Star, and a writer and host of a series of CBC programs.

Pierre Berton has received over 30 literary awards including the Governor-General's Award for Creative Non-Fiction (three times), the Stephen Leacock Medal of Humour, and the Gabrielle Leger National Heritage Award. He received two Nellies for his work in broadcasting, two National Newspaper awards, and the National History Society's first award for "distinguished achievement in popularizing Canadian history." For his immense contribution to Canadian literature and history, he has been awarded more than a dozen honourary degrees, is a member of the Newsman's Hall of Fame and a Companion of the Order of Canada.

Reviews

[Alex Colvin · Rating 5 out of 5]

What makes this book so fascinating is Breton’s examination of why men were so driven to go on a gruelling fool’s errand and how few of them actually prospered from the adventure.

The Klondike was a mania, like cryptocurrency or gamespot stocks, and the early arrives became sickeningly rich and the rest got little more than a chance to witness the madness first-hand.

An extraordinary read with excellent pictures.

[Mr. Wilson · Rating 5 out of 5]

A photographic essay/1897-1899. For this book, Berton has selected some two hundred photographs, most of them unfamiliar, many never published. Here, for the first time, is the panoramic drama of the great stampede seen from the point of view of the ordinary gold seeker.

[Peter Tillman · Rating 5 out of 5]

The perfect companion to Berton's great history of the Klondike gold rush.

[spike marlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book in the 80’s after it was given to me as a gift from my mother. I lost the book in an apartment fire in 2011 and reacquired it a few years later more for sentimental reasons then for content. Now having read it again after all these years there are still some redeeming qualities to the book. The photos are excellent if a little repetitive. The author, eminent Canadian Pierre Berton, who grew up in Dawson City, had intimate ties to the Klondike and the Yukon. The writing is melodramatic and hyperbolic but it does give a sense of the quest that the men and women of the gold rush went on and the conditions they had to endure getting to the Klondike and the disappointment many must have felt when they arrived. It is an easy read and the story, although simplified, is well worth the time to explore.

[Gulo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Horrifying.

These evidential photographs and first-hand accounts from 1897-1899 strike me with an uncanny horror tonight. In their equivalent of pre-trip selfies taken in cities on the west coast US, faces are lit with hope, confidence, and adventure; those traits are missing among the gaunt, sinewy figures amidst the Klondike. Dead pack animals. Frozen landscapes with 70ft (!!) of accumulated snow or 30ft (!!!) tides. Grime. So much grime. Mounties 🍁

Caught in the most extreme of zeitgeists, these folks from 125 years back still teach us. Shockingly little has changed.
Did they get what they deserved? Will some asshat on a couch say the same about us in 125 more years?

Stay tuned to find out.

[Dr. Gary H. Kramer · Rating 3 out of 5]

The content is fascinating.
The brief textual interludes are informative and my rating would have been higher if not for the presentation of the content.

Too many large pictures are spread across two pages, and the binding, so the central part of the picture is lost - unless the book’s back is broken so it lays flat. A single full page (the pages are large) production, with margins, would have avoided this problem.

Nonetheless, this book is an essential part of any library dealing with the Klondike Gold Rush.

[Rita Bradbury · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book. If you don’t know about Alaskas gold rush this is the book. Succinctly written in an easy fashion. Great photos almost placing you there. It’s half photos and half story A powerful one for both. Every chapter is a new story.