The Yukon Gold Rush and the Making of an American Classic

John Griffith Chaney in 1903, in the same year his story "Call of the Wild" was published. Public Domain

By the time John Griffith Chaney was born in San Francisco in 1876, the California Gold Rush had been over for two decades. When gold was discovered at Sutter’s Mill in 1848—merely days before the signing of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, which ceded 55 percent of Mexico’s lands to America—Americans rushed west for the opportunity to strike it rich. Those who showed up in 1849 were called “forty-niners”(hence the football team’s name), and there were a lot of them.

In 1848, there were about 1,000 people living in the small town of San Francisco. By the following year, there were approximately 25,000. By the time of Chaney’s birth, it was the country’s 10th largest city with more than 150,000 inhabitants. San Francisco had been built on a golden possibility.

‘Prince of the Oyster Pirates’

For Chaney, however, that possibility had been long sifted away. He was the illegitimate son of a wandering astrologer William Henry Chaney and a local music teacher and spiritualist, Flora Wellman. The young Chaney grew up in poverty and little formal education. He did, however, develop a love of reading, especially after moving to Oakland and discovering the Oakland Free Library. As a youth, he worked long hours in a cannery for 10 cents an hour. In a city built upon immediate and nearly unfathomable wealth, Chaney quickly noticed, as a teenager, the canyon-sized disparity between the rich and poor. He chose a less than legal method to make his money.

At 14, he borrowed money to purchase a sloop from French Frank, a local oyster pirate. In his small boat, accompanied by a man named Spider Healy, Chaney sailed at night along the shallow waters of San Francisco Bay to fish out mollusks in oyster beds. The work came with numerous risks. There was the risk of arrest, as the tidewaters were owned by the Southern Pacific Railway and were leased to oyster growers. There was also the risk of running into other ships in the dark of night, falling overboard and drowning, as well as competing with the unscrupulous oyster pirates. Chaney, nonetheless, experienced such great success that he was called “Prince of the Oyster Pirates.”

Chaney was never opposed risks and adventure. But after considering his weatherworn boat and whether he was risking too much, he decided to flip over to the side of the law and join the California Fish Patrol. Instead of making money selling oysters, he made money off the fines given to those who were stealing them.

‘A Passionless Pursuit’

In 1893, at the age of 17, Chaney boarded the Sophia Sutherland, a three-masted ship sailing to the Bonin Islands of Japan. Chaney quickly learned the rudiments and demands of sailing on a major vessel. After more than 50 days at sea, the ship made port in the islands. His experience increased his love of sailing and his sense of adventure, especially after the Sophia Sutherland endured one of the South Pacific’s most dangerous weather phenomenons—the typhoon.

Upon returning to Oakland later that year, Chaney wrote a story about his sailing experience, entered it into a contest, and won. He continued to read, write, and take on demanding jobs. After deciding to hobo across the country by hopping trains, he felt he had reached the bottom of his existence. Something needed to change. Returning to California, he enrolled in high school, graduated, and then entered the University of California Berkeley. He remained in the college for one semester but was disappointed in the intellectual stagnation of the professors and students. Chaney decided to educate himself via books and adventure rather than continue the “passionless pursuit of passionless intelligence.” His greatest classroom was just ahead and was reminiscent of the California Gold Rush.

Gold Found … Again!

In 1885, George Carmack arrived in Juneau, Alaska, in search of gold. Perhaps this former U.S. Marine didn’t even consider it, but he was about to create the Klondike Gold Rush. After discovering gold in the Yukon along the Klondike River in August 1896, Carmack, accompanied by three others—his wife Shaaw Tlaa (Kate Carmack), his brother-in-law, Keish (Skookum Jim), and Kaa Goox (Dawson Charlie)—staked his claim. The rush was on.

George Washington Carmack. Public Domain

Approximately 100,000 people, primarily Americans and Canadians, flooded the Alaskan and Yukon territories. These people, hoping for their chance to strike it rich like the forty-niners in California, were called “stampeders.” Among those 100,000 “stampeders” only about 30,000 made it through to the Yukon Territory, the others either turned back home or they remained in Alaska to try their luck there. Among those 30,000 who persevered and survived to cross over the extremely harsh terrain was Chaney.

Chaney’s Chance

In July 1897, just less than a year after Carmack’s discovery was heralded, the SS Excelsior made port in San Francisco. After the miners disembarked with their riches, Chaney quit his job and looked for ways to make it to the Yukon: Gold and adventure awaited.

The SS Excelsior leaves San Francisco on July 28, 1897, for the Klondike. Public Domain

Thanks to James Shepard, Chaney’s much older brother-in-law, he found a way to reach the Yukon. It was during this week in history, on July 25, 1897, that the two sailed for Juneau, and, while aboard, connected with three others: James Goodman, a miner and hunter; Ira Sloper, a carpenter; and Fred Thompson, a court reporter. The men trekked toward Dawson City, near Carmack’s staked claim. During the arduous journey, the 60-year-old Shepard, struggling with rheumatism, turned back.

Months of hiking and canoeing, along with short stints of sleep, finally culminated in the group staking a claim about 80 miles south of Dawson City. The group decided it was a promising location after Thompson discovered shiny sediments in his pan. Chaney worked to discover gold, but he also spent time in Dawson City.

He traveled north and remained in the relatively booming town for about six weeks. During this time, he befriended miners, hunters, and adventurers. He listened to their tales, and was intrigued by their stories of survival and discovery. Among the people were, as expected, their loyal companions: sled dogs. Chaney befriended two brothers from California. He also befriended their large Saint Bernard-Scotch collie mix.

“He always spoke and acted toward the dog as if he recognized his noble qualities, but took them as a matter of course. He had an appreciative and instant eye for fine traits and honored them in a dog as he would in a man,” one of the brothers wrote of Chaney in his memoir.

Something Better Than Gold

Chaney never found any gold, but what he found was far more precious. He discovered stories and characters, and, most of all, experienced life-changing adventures. After about two years away from home, he returned. He began writing constantly, though most of what he submitted was rejected. Nonetheless, some were accepted, and he began to experience a somewhat middle-class lifestyle.

He soon gathered his thoughts and experiences from the Yukon and put them to paper. Instead of narrating the story from a human perspective, he chose something altogether uncommon. Using the Saint Bernard-Scotch collie mix he had met in Dawson City as his protagonist, Chaney penned the instant classic “The Call of the Wild” under the name Jack London. The book was published in 1903, followed the next year by “The Sea Wolf,” placing London on the road to becoming one of the most successful writers of the early 20th century, and one the most important fiction writers in American history.

Buck proves himself as leader of the pack when he fights Spitz "to the death." Illustration from Jack London's "Call of the Wild."PD-US

Chaney had actually had his last name changed early in his childhood when he was adopted by his stepfather, John London. His first name was a nickname his friends gave him while growing up. And it is the name that the world remembers.

Book cover for "The Cruise of the Dazzler" by Jack London (1902 edition) is about a young man who gets involved in oyster piracy. Public Domain

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