[Depicted in Indiana Jones Jr et le Fantôme du Klondike (Phantom of the Klondike); a novel written by French author Jérôme Jacobs and published by Hachette Livre in 1997]
Directly after the depiction of events in the opening scene of Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade, Indiana travels to the Far North in search of more lost treasure.
Along the way he meets gold diggers, manitous, grizzly bears, and celebrated writer Jack London - who more than 15 years prior had immersed himself in the Klondike Gold Rush, and subsequently wrote his famous novels The Call of the Wild & White Fang based on those experiences.
Jack London was an American novelist, journalist, and social activist, who is remembered as a pioneer for commercial magazine fiction, which in the early 1900’s was booming in high demand.
London is also remembered for his objective journalism on the infamous Jack Johnson vs Jim Jeffries, taking a position that at the time took a lot of courage considering racial guidelines.
London was also a proud atheist and socialist, who emphasized with people at the bottom of the social pit, based on his own laborious upbringing which he chronicled in his essay How I Became A Socialist.
The Klondike Gold Rush was a migration of approximately 100,000 prospectors to the Klondike region of the Yukon territory (Northwestern Canada) between 1896 and 1899.
Out of the 100,000 people who tried to make it to the goldfields, only about 30,000 to 40,000 actually did, and only a handful of them actually got rich.
Due to the massive influx of prospectors to the region, ‘boomtowns’ were hastily created to facilitate a semblance of civilization, most notably Dawson City which by 1898 housed over 30,000 people.
Dawson City became famous for its dance halls, brothels, and gambling saloons, where a lifestyle that resembled the Wild West became one of it’s most notable trademarks.
Due to the fact that it was completely built by wood, Dawson City was susceptible to fire and most of it’s landmarks were burned to the ground in 1899.
By 1912 only 2,000 inhabitants remained in Dawson City, and in the 1970’s there was reported to only be 500; making the city a ghost town as well as a historical landmark.