Call of the Klondike: A True Gold Rush Adventure

by David Meissner, Kim Richardson

Overview

The remarkable tale of two young men during the Klondike Gold Rush, told through first-hand diaries, letters, and more—“excellent reading” for middle grade fans of The Call of the Wild and adventure stories (School Library Journal)
 
As thousands head north in search of gold, Marshall Bond and Stanley Pearce join them, booking passage on a steamship bound for the Klondike goldfields. The journey is life threatening, but the two friends make it to Dawson City, in Canada, build a cabin, and meet Jack London—all the while searching for the ultimate reward: gold!
 
A riveting, true, action-packed adventure, with their telegrams, diaries, and letters, as well as newspaper articles and photographs. An author’s note, timeline, bibliography, and further resources encourage readers to dig deeper into the Gold Rush era.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781684376162
Publisher:	Astra Publishing House
Publication date:	08/13/2019
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	787,395
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.60(d)
Lexile:	1050L (what's this?)
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

David Meissner has travelled to more than thirty countries and is obviously no stranger to adventure. While researching this book, he hiked the Chilkoot Trail from Alaska into Canada. David is a teacher who has written more than twenty children's books.

Kim Richardson is the great-great nephew of Stanley Pearce, whose Klondike adventures inspired this book. He has travelled to five continents and otherregions of the earth. Kim is a haiku poet and works in children's publishing. He lives with his family just outside London, England.

Read an Excerpt

SKAGAWAY, ALASKA. 6TH AUG. 1897

Dear Mrs. Pearce:—

...The trail from here to the summit—about 18 miles—is sickening, and it is nothing to have half a dozen horses down at once. From the summit on its an open & easy country. A series of small lakes, connected, will enable us to make rapid progress with our things in canoe, and then a six mile pack lands us at a lake which forms the head of the Yukon. While it looked very bleak for us for awhile I think now, we shall get our outfit thro by Sept. 1st, wh[ich] allows ample time for getting down the river before it freezes. We have undertaken a big task, but I now think we can safely count ourselves through. Hundreds of men & horses arrive on every steamer, and the trail is lined with men staggering under every pound they can pack. Lots of men have lost their nerve, sold out for a song, and started back for Seattle. Our boats (taken apart) are daily moved forward with our camps. No one who has't experienced this trip can understand the obstacles to be overcome: its like an army campaign as one has to take clothing and a years provisions with one. While we have to work very hard there is no cause or worryment on your past as you might realize if you could see the amount of food we stow away at each meal. Mail is very uncertain, and while we will write you at every opportunity, you had better not write Stanley until we can give you some positive address...

With kind regards to Mr. Pearce, I am,
Sincerely Yours

Marshall Bond


SKAGAWAY BAY, AUG 9. 1897 

Dearest Mother, 

Many happy returns of the day. Bond tells me he wrote you the other day.
We are going through slowly but surely and working like fiends. I think nothing of making my 16 miles a day and am feeling fine. I have come down today to find a horse we had left behind and drive him up to camp, 12 miles from here.
This is an exciting life and I seem to be living a new life. Last night while looking up at the stars rolled snugly up in my sleeping bag I saw the grand Northern lights shooting up from a semicircle above the mountain and looking exactly like huge search lights shifting and cutting into space. It made me feel that now we were nearer the presence of our Maker than I had ever been before and I felt how small & trivial our small troubles & pleasures had been.
I am happy and ambitious, am confident of making a name for myself, and should I not find fortune it will make a man of me, and should I get through this trip I shall be able to understand anything in the world. 
Dearest love to you and all, dont worry about me if you dont hear.
I am the toughest looking customer you ever saw absolutely filthy & glad of it.
Your devoted son—

S.H. Pearce

Editorial Reviews

". . . An eye-opening work, which is a natural companion for Jack London's Call of the Wild and other historical-fiction works about the Klondike gold rush." —Booklist

★ "A remarkable collection of documents paints a picture of the Klondike gold rush in vivid detail. . . Adding only transitional paragraphs, the authors skillfully arrange these letters plus diary entries, telegrams and Pearce's articles for the Denver Republican to convey the men's story in compelling, first-person voices. The attractive design incorporates intriguing pull-out quotes, maps, posters, documents and many well-chosen, captioned photographs, including one of Jack London, who camped near Pearce and Bond's cabin . . . an excellent companion to The Call of the Wild. A memorable adventure, told with great immediacy."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

"This is excellent reading... "—School Library Journal

From the Publisher

Gr 8 Up—Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond were adventurous young men in the summer of 1897 when they watched prospectors coming into Seattle from Canada's Northwest Territories. Loaded down with gold dust, the prospectors told of the incredible riches to be found in the Klondike. Pearce and Bond both came from mining families and felt certain that their fortunes would be made if they could convince their parents to advance them money to venture north. With the funding forthcoming, the two mounted a well-planned, swiftly mobilized expedition that would see them working at superhuman levels for nearly a year-and returning with little to show for their efforts. Coauthor Richardson is a descendant of Pearce. Using the men's letters, along with newpaper accounts, excerpts from Bond's diary, and period photographs and reproductions, the book brings immediacy to the experience of young men in extreme conditions. The writing style is engaging, the inclusion of primary-source documents seamless, and the story thoroughly engrossing. Despite the high-interest nature of the text, the syntax and spelling could prove challenging for many students because much of it was written by late-Victorians. However, with some guidance, the book will find a readership. More focused on the experience of a few specific individuals than Charlotte Foltz Jones's Yukon Gold (Holiday House, 1999), this is excellent reading not only for interest, but also for support of the Common Core Standards as it is an excellent example of text complexity. The bibliography rounds out this volume nicely. Solid fare.—Ann Welton, Grant Elementary School, Tacoma, WA

School Library Journal

★ 2013-09-01
A remarkable collection of documents paints a picture of the Klondike gold rush in vivid detail. In 1897, two 20-something Yale grads, Stanley Pearce and Marshall Bond, were among the first to hear about the gold found in the Klondike. They quickly booked tickets on a ship, gathered food and equipment, and headed north, hoping to strike it rich. Their mining backgrounds and monetary help from their families gave them an edge over their fellow fortune seekers, but the obstacles were still enormous, as their letters make clear, including two months of grueling travel over mountain passes and down the Yukon River. Adding only transitional paragraphs, the authors skillfully arrange these letters plus diary entries, telegrams and Pearce's articles for the Denver Republican to convey the men's story in compelling, first-person voices. The attractive design incorporates intriguing pull-out quotes, maps, posters, documents and many well-chosen, captioned photographs, including one of Jack London, who camped near Pearce and Bond's cabin. London, also mentioned in a diary entry, later kept in touch with Bond and based the fictional dog Buck on one of Bond's dogs, making this an excellent companion to The Call of the Wild. A memorable adventure, told with great immediacy. (timeline, author's notes, bibliography, resources) (Nonfiction. 11 & up)

Kirkus Reviews