How Gold Rushers Survived the Deadliest Trail in History

Four men leave Seattle for the Klondike in 1897, seen through Thomas Reed, a 32-year-old carpenter short of work since the bank failures of 1893. Reed and his partners Harris, Frank and Billy are made up for the script. They carry 1,000 pounds each over the pass in a dozen trips under a Mountie's numbered tags, watch boats run the White Horse rapids, and winter in Dawson City, where Reed frames walls for $15 a day in gold dust and the Monte Carlo saloon burns.