Jason's Gold

A map of the Yukon River from Lake Bennett to Dawson City leads this part of the novel.

After three days, Jason clears wind-blown Lake Bennett and heads to Lake Tagish. Hundreds of caribou clog the waterway, and Indigenous people take several down by rifle. Jason shoots a caribou for meat, and a man, Higgins, helps him dress it. Higgins confirms that the Mounties at Fort Sifton just downriver will require that each stampeder have at least 700 pounds of food. Jason thinks that he has only 500. Consequently, he paddles silently at night past Fort Clifton, bypassing the checkpoint. Jason and King proceed along Marsh Lake and come to the start of the Yukon River on September 28. The weather is calm and warm, and Jason sees the Northern Lights. He is confident that he will be in Dawson City in two to three weeks.

Jason comes to two box canyons with dangerous whirlpools followed by two sets of whitewater passages in Miles Canyon, Squaw Rapids and White Horse Rapids. Observing fellow stampeders, Jason sees that he can leash the canoe through both sets of rapids, towing it by rope as he and King walk safely along the shore. The box canyons must be “portaged,” however: Stampeders pull their loaded skiffs along a rough path over logs placed across the path to help roll the skiffs along.