Gold Diggers

Within two years, Dawson City, in the Canadian Yukon, grew from a mining camp of 400 to a raucous town of over 30,000 people. The stampede to the Klondike was the last great gold rush in history. Scurvy, dysentery, frostbite, and starvation stalked all who dared to be in Dawson. And yet the possibilities attracted people from all walks of life—not only prospectors but also newspapermen, bankers, prostitutes, priests, and lawmen. Gold Diggers follows 6 stampeders: • Jack London, who left without gold, but with the stories that would make him a legend • Bill Haskell, a farm boy who hungered for striking gold • Father Judge, a Jesuit priest who aimed to save souls and lives • Belinda Mulrooney, a 24–year–old who became the richest businesswoman in town • Flora Shaw, a journalist who transformed the town’s governance • Sam Steele, the officer who finally established order in the lawless town Drawing on letters, memoirs, newspaper articles, and stories, Charlotte Gray delivers an enthralling tale of the gold madness that swept through a continent and changed a landscape and its people forever.