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1912 "Phantom of the Klondike"


[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.

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