Here is a paragraph I found extremely interesting, and almost chilling, by one of Canada's most famous journalists, Pierre Berton: "Here is the most puzzling spectacle of the Klondike Stampede: thousands of gold seekers milling about, squatting on piles of fresh lumber, shuffling up and down Dawson City's Front Street in an aimless parade. For nine months these men have been struggling against terrible odds to reach the goldfields, but now thousands have not even bothered to look for gold. Why? Is it because the early birds have staked the richest ground? Or is it that their real goal was not the treasure beneath the Klondike valleys, but the Klondike itself? These are the survivors, the men who have made it over the passes and down the lakes. For them it seems to have been enough."