The Great White North
Gold, cold, dogs, and sleds: nothing says Alaska and the Yukon territory of Canada like those four things. This reading set features passages on the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 19th century, the iconic dog sled races of the area, and some special dogs.
Naturalist John Muir went to Alaska in 1879 to explore the area. He was joined by Rev. Young who had a small black dog named Stickeen. Stickeen was a quiet, independent, and intelligent dog. Early one morning Muir went to explore a nearby glacier. Stickeen followed him, and together they…
The Klondike Gold Rush began in 1896 with the discovery of gold in Alaska and Canada. Over 100,000 people hurried to the area in order to find their own fortune of gold. One of these people was May Kellogg Sullivan, who along with her brother and father, went to get…
The Yukon Quest is a 1,000-mile dog sled race that takes place every February. The race is run between the cities of Fairbanks, Alaska and Whitehorse in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Sled dogs and their mushers, or drivers, race through extreme weather conditions. They also race over mountains and frozen rivers.…
Sled dogs were an important part of the Klondike Gold Rush. This historical event took place during the late 1890s in the Yukon Territory of northwestern Canada and later in Alaska. It is often called the “Last Great Gold Rush.” Long before the Gold Rush though, both Native Americans and…
In the winter of 1925, the small city of Nome, Alaska faced a dangerous disease outbreak. The medicine they needed was located hundreds of miles away. Teams of sled dogs and their mushers saved the city by transporting the medicine 674 miles through snow and ice. Their heroic effort is…