[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 60 (Tuesday, May 4, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E728]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      INTRODUCTION OF H. RES. 618

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                             HON. DON YOUNG

                               of alaska

                    in the house of representatives

                          Tuesday, May 4, 2004

  Mr. YOUNG of Alaska. Mr. Speaker. I rise today to introduce H. Res. 
618, a resolution commemorating the 101st anniversary of Jack London's 
inspirational novel, The Call of the Wild. Originally published in 
installments from June 20th to July 18th 1903, The Call of the Wild is 
considered a uniquely American narrative, recounting the trials and 
tribulations surrounding the Klondike Gold Rush of the Yukon Territory 
in Canada, which impacted the District of Alaska and Washington State 
during the 1890s. This classic of world literature contributed to the 
spirit of exploration and discovery that swept the United States in the 
early part of the last century and led many others to explore what is 
now the great State of Alaska. One of the most widely translated and 
published works by an American author; The Call of the Wild has not 
been out-of-print in the past century.
  Born John Griffith London in 1876 in San Francisco, California, the 
author began working during his adolescent years at various labor-
intensive jobs, which included pirating for oysters on the San 
Francisco Bay, and serving on a fish patrol to capture poachers. It was 
his strong desire to escape the prospect of adult life as a factory 
worker that motivated him to begin his career as a writer. A restless 
spirit and strong sense of adventure led Jack to leave his native 
California in 1897, with his brother-in-law, James Shepard, to join the 
Klondike Gold Rush. His experiences that winter spent in a cabin by the 
Klondike river provided much of the rich material for his most well 
renowned novels, The Call of the Wild and White Fang, both of which 
became inspirations for full-length feature films. He went on to 
produce over fifty volumes of work in his lifetime, which included 
novels, short stories, and political essays. His literary portrayals of 
adventure and frontier life, unparalleled in their time, helped mark 
him as a truly great American author and seminal figure in turn-of-the 
century social history.
  The Call of the Wild, which remains London's most celebrated work, 
tells a story through the eyes of Buck the dog, half St. Bernard, half 
Scotch Shepard. Captured from his comfortable life on an estate in 
California's Santa Clara Valley, he is sold to dog traders who ship him 
north to the Klondike to serve as a sled puller. Surrounded by 
inexperienced and cruel masters, Buck must learn to survive the 
realities of the harsh winter. The Call of the Wild is a tale of 
travel, transformation, and adaptation, filled with Darwinian 
undertones of survival and written in a naturalistic style that London 
is so often praised for.
  As a young child, my father read this moving novel to me on many 
occasions. Filled with recollections of adventure and exploration, I 
too, as a young man left my home in California to explore a world full 
of budding possibilities. These notions led me to a land less 
discovered, the Last Frontier, the State of Alaska. What I found when I 
arrived there was an untold potential for greatness for the land and 
its people, an inspiring setting for leadership and representation. Had 
it not been for the spirit of Jack London's experiences that he 
eloquently shared with the world--and me--in The Call of the Wild, I 
might never have journeyed to this great state that I have called home 
for more than 47 years and have had the great honor to represent, here 
in Washington, for the past 31 years.

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