The discovery of gold in Bonanza Creek sparked the Klondike Gold Rush. Martha Purdy recklessly left her family in Chicago and ventured, with a brother and cousin, to claim promised gold in the Yukon. They struggled through the Chilkoot Pass to Lake Bennett, where they built a raft and survived the Whitehorse Rapids on the Yukon River trip to Dawson City in 1898. Here gold fever brought together adventurers, prospectors, gamblers, and entertainers as well as Sam Steele, the famous Mountie, and writer Jack London. 

Only a few of the dreamers actually got their gold out of the Klondike and soon the last great gold rush was over. But Martha stayed, survived a brutal winter, and gave birth to a baby boy. She fell in love with the country and with George Black from New Brunswick who later became the commissioner of the Yukon. In 1936, Martha Black became the second woman to be elected to Parliament, becoming a pioneer of a different kind.