Last Sled to Dawson
Released: United States-June 1988. No previous publication.
Dates: 1898
Don Rosa's third-ever Uncle Scrooge story (after Son of The Sun and Cash Flow), Last Sled To Dawson is both a sequel to the classic Carl Barks story Back to the Klondike, and a precursor to Rosa's magnum opus The Life and Times of Scrooge McDuck, which it is also an unofficial chapter of retroactively.
The story begins during a hectic business day at the Money Bin, where it seems everything that can go wrong goes wrong, with assorted problems, bad luck and even minor natural disasters popping up to interfere with Scrooge's business empire. While sorting through the afternoon mail, Scrooge discovers a letter from his bank in Whitehorse, Alaska
, the place where he first struck it rich and began building his fortune. As much as he enjoys the challenges of the modern business world, Scrooge can't help but disappear into the memories of simpler days...
Back in 1898, young Scrooge has just been given some incredible news by the manager of the Whitehorse bank; with his latest deposit of gold, he has now officially earned $1 Million just through his own hard work! Amazed at this news, Scrooge decides that it's time to close down his claim at White Agony Creek, which is more or less tapped out, and considers that it might be time for him to settle down with his wealth. Burying a last cache of gold for emergencies, Scrooge packs up his belongings on a dog sled, and begins a journey to Dawson where he intends to do something (or meet someone), joyfully reciting The Spell of Yukon by poet Robert Service as he travels through the frozen beauty of Yukon... and that's when things start going wrong. Lost in a snowstorm, Scrooge accidentally ends up on the Mooseneck Glacier, where a fissure opens up, trapping the sled and it's contents within the ice. With no way of retrieving it, Scrooge jams his rifle into the fissure as a marker, and tries to find his way out of the storm, only to be chased by a pack of hungry wolves right over the edge of the glacier, sending him plummeting towards a certain death in the icy waters of the river below. However, by pure luck, one of Soapy Slick's gambling barges happens to be passing by at the same moment, saving Scrooge as he crashes through the ceiling. Seeing the string of bad luck and the loss of his sled as an omen, Scrooge discards all thoughts of settling down, and vows to dedicate his life to growing his fortune over anything else.
Back in the present, Scrooge snaps out of his daydream when Donald and the nephews arrive. While Scrooge is uninterested in the letter, since the Whitehorse bank (his first business investment after that fateful day) has been dead weight since the gold fields dried up, the nephews open it, revealing that it's not a business document, but a telegram saying that the Mooseneck Glacier has thawed enough that Scrooge's marker is visible again. Having waited for the opportunity to get the sled back for decades, Scrooge immediately has them return to the Klondike...again!
In Dawson, things are pretty much the same as during their last visit, with two important exceptions - a statue of young Scrooge holding the Goose-Egg Gold Nugget, the foundation of his fortune, and the old Blackjack Ballroom, which has been refurbished and turned into a hotel for tourists. The owner turns out to be none other than "Glittering" Goldie, Scrooge's old flame, who used the gold she won off Scrooge during their last meeting to buy the ballroom and convert it. Unfortunately, the next reunion isn't a pleasant one; while trying to chart a riverboat to reach the glacier, the owner turns out to be none other than his old enemy Soapy Slick, who has remained in Dawson long after the end of the gold rush, waiting for the chance to steal the sled as legal salvage, under the belief that the reason Scrooge was so despondent over the loss of his sled all those years ago meant it contained something invaluable. A race to the glacier ensues, with the Ducks using a hot air balloon from Goldie's hotel, but the glacier splits apart while Scrooge and Soapy fight on top of it, with the section containing the sled falling into the river. Soapy rams the ice with his riverboat, causing it to smash into the Dawson docks and break apart, with the sled sliding out and Soapy rushing after it, only to fail at the last second when the sled knocks over the Scrooge statue on top of Soapy, knocking him out and letting Scrooge reclaim it. Much to Soapy's outrage, the "treasure" he'd been coveting for so long turns out to be nothing but a "bunch of junk" - namely Scrooge's old clothes, prospecting gear and cookwear, symbols of a simpler and happier time when he earned every cent with his own two hands.
However, the nephews discover one more item that fell of the sled during the chase - a box of chocolates with a letter tied to it, adressed to Goldie herself.
Tropes:
- Aborted Declaration of Love: It's heavily implied that the letter Scrooge lost in the ice was a love declaration or a marriage proposal to Goldie. Scrooge took the loss as a sign to focus entirely on his business ventures instead.
- Anachronic Order: Written several years before any of the main Life and Times chapters.
- Be Careful What You Wish For: While he's in better shape now that he's reconnected with his family and come out of retirement, Scrooge is completely bogged down by the work required to keep his empire running, and misses the days of his youth when he earned every cent by hand.
- Beleaguered Boss: The story starts by showing the downside of being a mega-bazillionaire; the exertion from running a massive business empire, especially on days when everything that could go wrong does, which is apparently happening in this story before the main plot distracts Scrooge.Scrooge: (Thinking) I'm running on a financial treadmill that never slows down!
- Chekhov's Gun: As they enter Dawson, the Ducks spot a statue of Yukon-era Scrooge holding up the Goose Egg Nugget. During the climax, the statue topples over and slams right on top of Sloapy's head (fittingly enough, the part that hits him is the hands which hold the Goose-Egg nugget), keeping him from getting the sled.
- Continuity Nod: Goldie mentions that she rebuilt the Black Jack ballroom into a tourist hotel with money she "came into a while back", a nod to Carl Barks' first ever story where she is introduced: "Back to the Klondike". In it, Scrooge eventually challenges Goldie to a digging contest to see who can find gold first, and (despite his claims) purposefully loses by leading Goldie to a spot where he buried nuggets 50 years ago.
- Entertainingly Wrong: In the present, Soapy has come to believe that the reason Scrooge wants the sled back so badly is because it contains the deed to the land he bought from the Coot family back in 1898, where his Money Bin now stands.
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: Soapy Slick is furious that the long-coveted treasure is just Scrooge's old prospecting gear and doesn't understand why he's so happy to have it back. Considering that Soapy is a former evil Loan Shark and crime lord who hasn't done an honest days work in his life, this isn't exactly a surprise.
- For Want Of A Nail: Scrooge was actually planning to settle down after making his first million. However, the loss of his dogsled convinced him that he should keep making money. In the present, the Nephews wonder
What Could Have Been if Scrooge hadn't lost that sled. - Guns Are Worthless: Young Scrooge left his rifle behind as a marker, because all of his ammunition was on the sled, making it nothing more than dead weight. Naturally, a pack of timber wolves attack him a short while later.
- Near-Villain Victory: Soapy is literally seconds from getting the sled until chance, or fate, intervenes. Granted, it would have been a Meaningless Villain Victory as there's nothing on the sled Soapy could possibly want, but still.
- Savage Wolves: The wolf pack that attacks Scrooge on the Mooseneck Glacier. Since all he has for weapons is a knife, he's forced to run for it.
- Self-Made Man: The comic shows the day when Scrooge could truly claim this title after having earned his first million. While still an impressive sum today, it was a much bigger one in 1898.
- Silver Vixen: Goldie, unlike her last appearance in Back to the Klondike. Aside from grey hair and glasses, she almost looks the same as she did in her youth.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: How Scrooge got the land for his Money Bin. Back in his Yukon days, fellow prospector Casey Coot wasn't nearly so fortunate, ending up a sourdough without enough money to get home with. To help his friend, Scrooge offered to buy something off Casey (Presumably, direct charity would have hurt Casey's dignity) and bought the deed for Fort Duckberg for $200.
- Villain Decay: Soapy Slick is still stuck in Dawson some 40 years after Scrooge left the area, and has been reduced to running a riverboat tour of the old gold rush territory. He's still a Jerkass of the highest order, but no longer possesses the resources to utilize it, and with the gold rush long over, his primary business is gone.
- Way Past the Expiration Date: The box of chocolates on Scrooge's sled is roughly 50 years old by the time Goldie finally gets it, but due to being frozen inside a glacier for all that time, the candies are still fine.
- Worthless Treasure Twist: Scrooge lost his dogsled while leaving White Agony creek, which soon became frozen in the ice. However, he marked the spot so he could go back and retrieve it someday. Soapy spent the last 40 years waiting for the chance to steal it, assuming that the dogsled had something valuable on it. At the end, we learn that it was just a change of clothes, some prospecting gear, and a box of chocolates, though they're of great sentimental value to Scrooge.
- "X" Marks the Spot: Scrooge left his rifle behind on the Mooseneck Glacier as a marker so he'd be able to find the spot with his sled again. It's still there 40 years later, albeit rusty and worm-eaten.
