Hunter Fitzhugh left St. Louis in 1897 dreaming of fortune and adventure. He was bound for the Yukon Territory, where it was rumored that nuggets of gold simply littered the ground, waiting to make a man rich. He soon discovered the reality of the land about which he had only read, one very different from what he had expected, and, blessed with keen intelligence and an eye for detail, he recreated that reality in his writing. Cut off from family and friends back home, he poured his thoughts and feelings into his letters, which form a riveting narrative of the adventurous life he led.