Part I: Early days on the Yukon. Opening the land ; Early trading ; Mining ; Forty mile ; Circle, 1893-96 -- Part II: the Klondike era. Seattle gets the news ; Skagway and Soapy Smith ; Chilkoot and White Passes ; Army help and Arctic fraud ; Yukon voyage ; Glacier madness ; Overland and river routes ; Dawson City ; Soldiers, sailors, and settlers on the Yukon -- Part III: Nome, Fairbanks, and other Alaskan camps. Nome, the American Klondike, 1899 ; The turbulent scene, 1900 ; Lawless camp: Nome in 1900-1901 ; Judge Wickersham in Eagle and Nome ; The founding of Fairbanks ; Tanana Valley style ; Founder-swindler Barnette of Fairbanks ; Restless camps and busy trails ; Soldier on the Yukon ; High rollers and their recreations ; Settling down: George Pilcher, Will Ballou, and the Lomens ; The Guggenheims come to Alaska ; Other camps -- Part IV: The different frontier?. Law and order ; The U.S. government's role in Alaska ; Natives and the mining frontier ; Northern journalism ; Labor strife ; James Wickersham and gold land politics ; The literary frontier.