In the notes below, the numbers refer to page and line of the print volume (the line count includes chapter headings). No note is made for material included in a standard desk-reference book. Please use the link provided or use the search function on your e-reading device to search for the relevant passages documented or discussed.
5.3–6 “Old . . . strain.”] The first stanza of John M. O’Hara’s poem “Atavism,” Bookman, 16 (Nov. 1902), 229.
7.2 Chinese lottery] Lotteries were illegal in California but were frequently run surreptitiously by various groups—in this instance, by the Chinese.
8.28–29 before . . . freight,”] Before you depart.
24.20 Lake Le Barge] So spelled by London here and elsewhere; today more commonly spelled Lake La Berge.
28.15 Hootalinqua] Now known as the Teslin River.
32.8 Barracks] The headquarters of the Northwest Mounted Police.
33.12 the Tahkeena] Apparently one of London’s few errors in Klondike geography. The Tahkeena flows into the Yukon between Lake La Berge and the White Horse Rapids. But Buck’s dog sled next reaches Rink Rapids, far downstream from this point, even though they are traveling upstream toward White Pass.
55.33 White River] This river flows into the Yukon upriver from Dawson City.
64.26 snub the boat] To snub a boat is to check or stop its progress by taking a turn with its bowline around a post or tree.
66.30 the virgin East] The Mackenzie Mountains area.
67.26 Mastodon King] Someone who has struck it rich on Mastodon Creek, in the Forty Mile mining area.
69.4 Skookum Benches] An area of the Klondike gold fields named after Skookum Jim, one of the Indians accompanying George Carmack when he discovered gold near the Klondike River.
71.23 Mayo . . . McQuestion] The Mayo and McQuesten (London invariably spells it McQuestion) are creeks flowing into the Stewart; Thornton is reaching the headwaters of the Stewart in the Mackenzie Mountains.
74.21 niggerheads] Elsewhere black boulders, but in the Arctic dark-colored clumps of vegetation.