Dick North, Dawson City

2004

His surname says it all.
Dick North is the consummate northern historian and writer. When he first arrived in the 1960s, the region's dramatic history inspired him to pen the best-selling classics The Mad Trapper of Rat River and The Lost Patrol. An adventurer as well as a superb storyteller, North also organized the 1965 dog sled expedition that located the cabin occupied by world-famous author Jack London during his one winter in the far north. This effort was recently documented in the short film Lost Cabin: Jack London's Home in the Klondike. Since then, North has spent many summers as curator of the Jack London Interpretive Centre and Museum in Dawson City. After living in Whitehorse from the late 1970s to the late 1990s, he now resides in Edmonton.

Here's a sneak peak at "The Lost Patrol: The Mounties' Yukon Tragedy":

"The magnetism of trail life in the North is made up of many things. It is the crack of a spruce tree splitting in the frigid temperature. It is the flickering of candlelight that cheerily illuminates a canvas shelter. It is the startling flutter of wings when a flock of ptarmigan rise from an approaching dog team. It is the silent dance of the multicoloured aurora as it flits across the skies. It is the physical exhilaration of meeting each day's challenge and mastering it. It is the wholesome smell of caribou steak sizzling in a frying pan and setting the saliva to flow. It is the crunch of snowshoes and the rasp of a toboggan as it grates across an ice hummock. It is the comic gurgle of the raven as he hops into camp looking for a handout. It is the sibilant sound of ice expanding and contracting on a nearby creek. It is the fragrant aroma of spruce boughs that permeates the tent at night. It is the sight of a band of caribou wandering spectre like in the morning mists. It is the camaraderie of men helping one another to achieve a common goal. It is the refreshing freedom of the trail."

- From The Lost Patrol: The Mounties' Yukon Tragedy

Purchase Dick North Books Online at Amazon.ca (click the book)