THE COMPLETE LIFE AND TIMES OF SCROOGE McDUCK
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THE KING OF THE KLONDIKE
The Making of
“The King of the Klondike” by Don Rosa
M
y original title for this episode was “The Phoenix of White Agony Creek,” but I later changed that to “The Argonaut of White Agony Creek,” which is the title by which it was distributed to the European editors. “The King of the Klondike” is the nicely alliterated title I wanted for the American printings. This is the “climax” of the Life and Times of $crooge McDuck series in Shakespearean terms (if I remember my college English literature course correctly). As the climax, this tale is not the end but the turning point in $crooge’s life. In this literary nomenclature, Chapters 1–7 were the “rising action” and 8–12 will represent the “falling action” as $crooge begins to realize that the having is not as grand as the getting of his fortune. Barks buffs know instantly where the core of this chapter originates. Glittering Goldie comes from that all-time classic “Back to the Klondike” in Uncle $crooge Four Color 456 (1953). And Soapy Slick is pulled from Barks’ “North of the Yukon” in Uncle $crooge 59 (1965), which told of how Soapy tried to collect
on that old loan — compounded at 100% per month since 1896! — until $crooge managed to produce the receipt for the loan payoff. The rest of the details in this story are, as I hope you have come to expect by now, taken from the actual facts of history. The setting and events are rendered as authentic as possible. Yes, Wyatt Earp did buy and operate the “Dexter Saloon” in Nome during the Gold Rush. I also tried to tell a bit more than some readers may know (or care to know?) about Klondike gold prospecting. However, I hope history buffs will forgive me for two intentional inaccuracies. The route to the Klondike was from the town of Skagway over the White Pass, or from the town of Dyea over the Chilkoot Pass. But who’s ever heard of Dyea or the White Pass? Therefore, I mixed and matched. I had to include Skagway in this tale, as famous as it is in the Yukon legends. Dawson City, 1897, with the Eldorado Restaurant and Miner’s Home boarding house in view. You can almost envision Scrooge jumping out of the window! Image © and courtesy Egmont Serieforlaget AS.
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HEARTS OF THE YUKON
D.U.C.K. SPOTTER’S GUIDE
Cover art first published on Walt Disney Giant 1, September 1995. Color by Paolo Maddaleni and Jano Rohleder. See page 178 for an earlier variant of the same concept — and page 426 for a much earlier one. In 1997 an alternate coloring of this cover was printed as a lithograph. Open the foldout to see that version.
The dedication is in the spruce needles to the left of the sack with the gold nuggets.
HEARTS OF THE YUKON
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