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The Spoilers: A Klondike Gold Rush Adventure
A 1906 bestseller and the basis of five movie interpretations, this classic American novel is based on a true series of events that occurred during the Klondike Gold Rush. The gripping tale recounts the struggle between miners and corrupt government officials as well as a torrid romantic triangle involving a prospector, a politician, and a femme fatale.
336 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1905
About the author
Rex Beach
236 books7 followersRex Ellingwood Beach was born in Atwood, Michigan to a prominent family and pursued a career as a lawyer before being drawn to Alaska at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush. After five years of unsuccessful prospecting, he turned to writing.
His first novel, The Spoilers, was based on a true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors, which he witnessed while he was prospecting in Nome, Alaska. It became one of the best selling novels of 1906.
His adventure novels, influenced by Jack London, were immensely popular throughout the early 1900s. Beach was lionized as the "Victor Hugo of the North," but others found his novels formulaic and predictable. Critics described them as cut from the "he-man school" of literature: stories of "strong hairy men doing strong hairy deeds." Alaska historian Stephen Haycox has said many of Beach's works are "mercifully forgotten today."
One such potboiler, The Silver Horde (1909), is set in Kalvik, a fictionalized community in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and tells the story of a down on his luck gold miner who discovers a greater wealth in Alaska's run of salmon (silver horde) and decides to open a cannery. To accomplish this he must overcome the relentless opposition of the "salmon trust," a fictionalized Alaska Packers' Association, which undercuts his financing, sabotages his equipment, incites a longshoremen's riot and bribes his fishermen to quit. The story line includes a love interest as the protagonist is forced to choose between his fiance, a spoiled banker's daughter, and an earnest roadhouse operator, a woman of "questionable virtue." Real life cannery superintendent Crescent Porter Hale has been credited with being the inspiration of The Silver Horde but it's unlikely Beach and Hale ever met.
After success in literature, many of his works were adapted into successful films; The Spoilers became a stage play, then was remade into movies five times from 1914 to 1955, with Gary Cooper and John Wayne each playing "Roy Glennister" in 1930 and 1942, respectively. The Silver Horde was twice made into a movie, as a silent film in 1920 starring Myrtle Stedman, Curtis Cooksey and Betty Blythe and directed by Frank Lloyd; and a talkie in 1930 that starred Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Evelyn Brent and was directed by George Archainbaud.
Beach occasionally produced his films and also wrote a number of plays to varying success. In 1949, two years after the death of his wife Edith, Beach committed suicide in Sebring, Florida at the age of 71. In 2005, when the home Beach lived in was remodeled, a bullet was found in the wall, believed to be the bullet that ended his life.
Beach served as the first president of the Rollins College Alumni Association. He and his wife are buried in front of the Alumni house. Beach, and his most famous novel, were commemorated in 2009 by the naming of a walking/bike trail in Dobbs Ferry, NY, where he once resided, called "Spoilers Run".
His first novel, The Spoilers, was based on a true story of corrupt government officials stealing gold mines from prospectors, which he witnessed while he was prospecting in Nome, Alaska. It became one of the best selling novels of 1906.
His adventure novels, influenced by Jack London, were immensely popular throughout the early 1900s. Beach was lionized as the "Victor Hugo of the North," but others found his novels formulaic and predictable. Critics described them as cut from the "he-man school" of literature: stories of "strong hairy men doing strong hairy deeds." Alaska historian Stephen Haycox has said many of Beach's works are "mercifully forgotten today."
One such potboiler, The Silver Horde (1909), is set in Kalvik, a fictionalized community in Bristol Bay, Alaska, and tells the story of a down on his luck gold miner who discovers a greater wealth in Alaska's run of salmon (silver horde) and decides to open a cannery. To accomplish this he must overcome the relentless opposition of the "salmon trust," a fictionalized Alaska Packers' Association, which undercuts his financing, sabotages his equipment, incites a longshoremen's riot and bribes his fishermen to quit. The story line includes a love interest as the protagonist is forced to choose between his fiance, a spoiled banker's daughter, and an earnest roadhouse operator, a woman of "questionable virtue." Real life cannery superintendent Crescent Porter Hale has been credited with being the inspiration of The Silver Horde but it's unlikely Beach and Hale ever met.
After success in literature, many of his works were adapted into successful films; The Spoilers became a stage play, then was remade into movies five times from 1914 to 1955, with Gary Cooper and John Wayne each playing "Roy Glennister" in 1930 and 1942, respectively. The Silver Horde was twice made into a movie, as a silent film in 1920 starring Myrtle Stedman, Curtis Cooksey and Betty Blythe and directed by Frank Lloyd; and a talkie in 1930 that starred Jean Arthur, Joel McCrea and Evelyn Brent and was directed by George Archainbaud.
Beach occasionally produced his films and also wrote a number of plays to varying success. In 1949, two years after the death of his wife Edith, Beach committed suicide in Sebring, Florida at the age of 71. In 2005, when the home Beach lived in was remodeled, a bullet was found in the wall, believed to be the bullet that ended his life.
Beach served as the first president of the Rollins College Alumni Association. He and his wife are buried in front of the Alumni house. Beach, and his most famous novel, were commemorated in 2009 by the naming of a walking/bike trail in Dobbs Ferry, NY, where he once resided, called "Spoilers Run".
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Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews
February 12, 2021
Kinda fun, but not really my cup of tea. I found my attention wandering during some of the action scenes (I are a girl), and relationship scenes were pretty hackneyed. I'd say it was sexist in a benign way. It was also racist in a cringey and dated but not particularly malicious way.
The reader's affect was decent, but his pronunciation was pretty bad, and the way he voiced Helen made her sound like an idiot.
The reader's affect was decent, but his pronunciation was pretty bad, and the way he voiced Helen made her sound like an idiot.
November 17, 2024
A rip-roaring mystery, action, adventure tale set in gold-rush Alaska, and published in 1906. I was caught up in this story and loved every minute of it. It has also been made into a number of films, in 1914, 1923, 1930, 1942, and 1955. (I just watched the 1914 black & white silent version and it was ... okay
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pojdD...
I definitely liked the book better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pojdD...
I definitely liked the book better.
March 6, 2017
Extremely good read
After watching the old John Wayne Movie I decided to read the novel. I was not disappointed. The descriptions of inner struggle for love and power were insightful and compelling. The flaws of human nature were revealed and the clash of the Titans was colorful and dramatic. It could have moved a little faster, but the slower pace, imagery and colorful characters are what make it a great read. The movie did not do this novel anything close to justice.
After watching the old John Wayne Movie I decided to read the novel. I was not disappointed. The descriptions of inner struggle for love and power were insightful and compelling. The flaws of human nature were revealed and the clash of the Titans was colorful and dramatic. It could have moved a little faster, but the slower pace, imagery and colorful characters are what make it a great read. The movie did not do this novel anything close to justice.
November 28, 2021
Surprisingly fun read. The kind of story my dad would have enjoyed.
April 1, 2024
When is a Western not a Western? When it’s a Northern!
The Wikipedia article on this subject is quite good:
“The Northern or Northwestern is a genre in various arts that tell stories set primarily in the late 19th or early 20th century in the north of North America, primarily in western Canada but also in Alaska. It is similar to the Western genre, but many elements are different, as appropriate to its setting. It is common for the central character to be a Mountie instead of a cowboy or sheriff. Other common characters include fur trappers and traders, lumberjacks, prospectors, First Nations people, settlers, and townsfolk.”
Some authors that are associated with this genre are Jack London, Rex Beach, Robert Service, Ralph Connor, and James Oliver Curwood. I recently read Beach’s The Spoilers, famously filmed five times (1914, 1923, 1930, 1942, 1955), the highlight always being an epic fist-fight towards the climax (very grueling on the page). The novel is rousing good fun, based on an actual incident of corruption during the Yukon Gold Rush * , which Beach had witnessed first-hand.
* The key malfeasor was Alexander McKenzie (1851-1922), whom I encountered in my recent reading in North Dakota history, a very nasty guy and machine politician who served prison time for corruption. He conspired, in collaboration with officials he helped place in office, to cheat Alaska gold miners of their winnings by fraudulently claiming title to their mines.
The Wikipedia article on this subject is quite good:
“The Northern or Northwestern is a genre in various arts that tell stories set primarily in the late 19th or early 20th century in the north of North America, primarily in western Canada but also in Alaska. It is similar to the Western genre, but many elements are different, as appropriate to its setting. It is common for the central character to be a Mountie instead of a cowboy or sheriff. Other common characters include fur trappers and traders, lumberjacks, prospectors, First Nations people, settlers, and townsfolk.”
Some authors that are associated with this genre are Jack London, Rex Beach, Robert Service, Ralph Connor, and James Oliver Curwood. I recently read Beach’s The Spoilers, famously filmed five times (1914, 1923, 1930, 1942, 1955), the highlight always being an epic fist-fight towards the climax (very grueling on the page). The novel is rousing good fun, based on an actual incident of corruption during the Yukon Gold Rush * , which Beach had witnessed first-hand.
* The key malfeasor was Alexander McKenzie (1851-1922), whom I encountered in my recent reading in North Dakota history, a very nasty guy and machine politician who served prison time for corruption. He conspired, in collaboration with officials he helped place in office, to cheat Alaska gold miners of their winnings by fraudulently claiming title to their mines.
March 29, 2023
Adventure and love story with the associated betrayal and greed hijinks. Good character development and somewhat inspirational in these crazy times we live in. Listened to this while hiking and it made the miles fly by.
December 8, 2017
Gov’t & banks steal mines from owners. Well narrated by Tom Weiss. Worth the read for the info on the “how”...
March 3, 2020
Spoilers
Good, solid western, set in the gold rush days of Alaska. If you want a clean, fun read, you won’t go wrong with this book.
Good, solid western, set in the gold rush days of Alaska. If you want a clean, fun read, you won’t go wrong with this book.
April 2, 2024
It's a bit hard to know how to rate a book like this. If it were written in this day and age, I would only give it one star. It is undoubtedly somewhat sexist and uses racist language in an off-hand way. The writing style is strange to modern ears - very dramatic and overwrought. In a few places, this creates a beautiful and poetic description of a place, but most often it seems extravagant. The dialect that some of the characters speak also seems humorously odd.
But, this book was written in 1906, and based on its popularity at that time, it seems that it must be a pretty good representation of adventure novels from that time period. Knowing from whence it came, the book is a peek back in time. The Author, Rex Beach, really was in Nome for the Gold Rush of the 1900s, so we can imagine that his description of the town, while perhaps exaggerated, may be fairly accurate, and also that the mode of speech of the characters may not have seemed so odd at the time. It's a rollicking if somewhat predictable story, in which there are clear good guys and bad guys. Violent men with hearts of gold, transformed through their contact with good innocent women. Breasts heave and tremble and men ejaculate (in the sense of saying things suddenly and quickly) frequently. There is also a brilliant, beautiful, good hearted bad girl playing a rather tragic role. Basically, I enjoyed reading it, even if it isn't the sort of thing I'd want to read often.
Here's a random quote, for the flavor:
"That which he witnessed in her face he had seen before in the faces of men locked close with a hateful death and from whom all but the most elemental passions had departed - but he had never seen a woman bear the marks until now. No artifice or falsity was there, nothing but the crudest, intensest feeling, which many people live and die without knowing. There are few who come to know the great primitive, passionate longings. But in this black night, fighting in defense of her most sacred self, this girl's nature had been stripped to its purely savage elements."
Since I usually make a note of this, I will say that there are fewer mispronounced place names in this book than in many Alaska books I've read, perhaps because the book takes place in Nome, and that is pretty hard to mispronounce. Tanana was pronounced differently than it generally is, however.
But, this book was written in 1906, and based on its popularity at that time, it seems that it must be a pretty good representation of adventure novels from that time period. Knowing from whence it came, the book is a peek back in time. The Author, Rex Beach, really was in Nome for the Gold Rush of the 1900s, so we can imagine that his description of the town, while perhaps exaggerated, may be fairly accurate, and also that the mode of speech of the characters may not have seemed so odd at the time. It's a rollicking if somewhat predictable story, in which there are clear good guys and bad guys. Violent men with hearts of gold, transformed through their contact with good innocent women. Breasts heave and tremble and men ejaculate (in the sense of saying things suddenly and quickly) frequently. There is also a brilliant, beautiful, good hearted bad girl playing a rather tragic role. Basically, I enjoyed reading it, even if it isn't the sort of thing I'd want to read often.
Here's a random quote, for the flavor:
"That which he witnessed in her face he had seen before in the faces of men locked close with a hateful death and from whom all but the most elemental passions had departed - but he had never seen a woman bear the marks until now. No artifice or falsity was there, nothing but the crudest, intensest feeling, which many people live and die without knowing. There are few who come to know the great primitive, passionate longings. But in this black night, fighting in defense of her most sacred self, this girl's nature had been stripped to its purely savage elements."
Since I usually make a note of this, I will say that there are fewer mispronounced place names in this book than in many Alaska books I've read, perhaps because the book takes place in Nome, and that is pretty hard to mispronounce. Tanana was pronounced differently than it generally is, however.
July 18, 2014
As a writer of popular fiction, Rex Beach hit the ground running with this, his first published novel, set in the gold rush days of Nome, Alaska. Its story was based on actual events and portrays attempts by crooked lawyers, politicians, and a judge to jump claims of legitimate miners already extracting fortunes from the gold fields.
The central character is Roy Glenister, a young and ambitious man, who has been prospecting for three years with his partner, an older man named Dextry. Their mine, the Midas, is one of the richest in the area. Returning by steamer from Seattle, where they have spent the winter, they learn that their claim is being challenged in court, and until the suit is settled, the Midas is being put in receivership, to be operated by a lawyer, Alec McNamara.
More at my blog.
The central character is Roy Glenister, a young and ambitious man, who has been prospecting for three years with his partner, an older man named Dextry. Their mine, the Midas, is one of the richest in the area. Returning by steamer from Seattle, where they have spent the winter, they learn that their claim is being challenged in court, and until the suit is settled, the Midas is being put in receivership, to be operated by a lawyer, Alec McNamara.
More at my blog.
March 11, 2012
Adventure in the early days of Alaska and the gold rush. Didn't really like the hero. He was just too overbearing, especially when he first meets the heroine. Wanted someone to smack him upside the head. But I guess he redeems himself when he manages to rescue the heroine from a fate worse than death towards the end of the book. No, I've given it a second thought - I still don't like him.
October 10, 2019
An RB. Western Action Adventure (TS)
RB. has penned a western action adventure about a western family from 1820 through the beginning of the 20th century. The old man of the clan has an answer for everything, but is not afraid to share his wisdom with his younger families. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS
RB. has penned a western action adventure about a western family from 1820 through the beginning of the 20th century. The old man of the clan has an answer for everything, but is not afraid to share his wisdom with his younger families. This is an excellent read for the genre.....DEHS
February 17, 2024
Locations/settings: [Alaska: Unalaska (Aleutian Islands), Nome]
Want to Read
June 30, 2017Read this book online for free through Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5076....
Displaying 1 - 14 of 14 reviews