At the Klondike

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Klondike River in the winter of 1899.

The Lucky Luke album Am Klondike (original title: Le Klondike ) satirizes the gold rush on the Klondike that broke out in 1896 in what is now the Yukon territory and in Alaska . The volume, drawn by Morris and written by Yann and Jean Léturgie , was first published in 1996, exactly one hundred years after the gold rush.

The volume is full of allusions to older stories and clichés about the great gold rush. So have Soapy Smith , Jack London , and Charlie Chaplin appearances in the strip.

action

The so-called "Discovery Claim" on Bonanza Creek . This is where the gold rush is said to have started

The story begins with the story of how George Washington Carmack was the first to find gold on the Klondike , which triggered the great gold rush. Thousands of people embarked on Alaska hoping to get rich. The journey there is dangerous and arduous, and few will really find anything. Jasper (see The Greenhorn ) telegraphs his friend Waldo that he has become rich. Soapy Smith's Telegraph is not affiliated with anyone, only he himself benefits from reports from the prospectors.

Ascent to the Chilcoot Pass

Only a little later, Waldo and Lucky Luke find themselves in Dyea because Waldo is worried about his friend. When they inquire about a means of transport to Dawson , they meet for the first time on Mounty , which informs them about the difficult journey to the Klondike and makes it clear to them that it is best not to make it at all. After Jolly Jumper has bought the equipment for the trip, they set out on the steep climb to Chilkoot Pass . Waldo and Luke are not impressed by the long line of gold prospectors who climb the pass on foot and ride up. Waldo loses his horse in the process, but the ascent is no problem for Jolly. Once at the top, they find that the writer Jack London has clung to their heels. At the campfire he explains that he can return now because he will make up the rest of the story.

At night they get caught in a snow storm and therefore look for shelter in a hut. Luke finds an uneaten shoe in the saucepan. Shortly thereafter, they save Mounty from wolves, but the latter is extremely ungrateful. Then, as was the custom, they build rafts to sail down the Yukon to Dawson. In doing so, they also overcome the dangerous five fingers .

Soapy Smith

In Dawson, the prospectors pass the time weighing Mattie Silks in gold. Everyone in turn puts gold on the scale until it changes, but that never happens, only later does it become clear that the scale has been manipulated. Jolly Jumper is also causing quite a stir, as no horse has ever arrived in Dawson alive. Waldo and Luke learn from Soapy Smith that Jasper had filed a claim. But they won't find him there and no gold either. When Soapy's first attempt on Luke goes wrong, he sets a trap so that everyone thinks he is a thief and tries to hang him. When he is supposed to dig his own grave, he finds gold in it (actually just a gold tooth), whereupon a commotion arises that enables him to escape.

Lucky Luke disguises himself as an old prospector and returns to town - allegedly filthy rich. When Soapy's gang stole his gold sack, they didn't expect a skunk to be hidden in it. So it's easy to find the crooks again. They then hit Smith with his own phony telegraph because suddenly someone answers and Smith blurts himself out. Mattie Silks appears unexpectedly and accuses Smith of killing Jasper. But Luke hadn't told her about Jasper, so now it comes out that she is holding him prisoner to blackmail him into the location of his gold mine. Now that she is threatened with the gallows, she decides to marry Jasper instead to find out his secret. After the ceremony, she freaks out when Jasper tells her that he found the gold on her claim.

Allusions and references to reality

The story Am Klondike is based on various real or older fictional stories. The authors have tried to portray the scenario authentically.

  • The whole story takes place in winter. The climatic conditions in the far northwest of today's Canada are extremely demanding and the temperatures in winter are deep below zero. Except for the beginning, Lucky Luke doesn't wear his usual cowboy outfit, but a winter jacket.
  • For a long time, George Washington Carmack was considered to be the first to find gold in Alaska. It was probably his brother-in-law, Skookum Jim , but that doesn't matter to adventure stories.
  • Jack London lived near Dawson for a number of years . His hut can still be viewed there today. In the autobiographical stories from the Alaska Kid he tells, among other things, of the arduous journey over the Chilcoot and past the "Five Fingers" to Dawson. However, other chapters in this book are written more like a novel.
Well-known scene from Charlie Chaplin's film Gold Rush : The protagonist eating a shoe
  • Charlie Chaplin's comedy Gold Rush is honored when Luke finds a shoe in a saucepan in an abandoned hut and tersely notices that the residents have left without finishing their meal. Later in Dawson, one of the pictures shows the figure of Chaplin's Tramp .
  • The crook Soapy Smith actually existed. Among other things, he became notorious for his telegraph , which was not connected to anyone.
Mattie Silks

literature