The Golden Volcano

Jules Verne’s novel *The Golden Volcano* (French: *Le Volcan d’or*) was published after his death in 1906, with editing by his son Michel Verne. The story is set during the Gold Rush and follows two French-Canadian cousins who inherit a mining claim along the Klondike’s shores.

After Verne’s longtime publisher Pierre-Jules Hetzel died in 1886, Verne gained more freedom to write novels with satirical or philosophical tones. In 1896, when gold seekers flooded the Klondike, Verne responded—partly because his son Michel had taken up prospecting. Verne saw the Gold Rush as a sign of civilization’s decline, a theme he also explored in *The Survivors of the “Jonathan”*, *The Chase of the Golden Meteor*, and *The Castaways of the Flag*. He wrote *The Golden Volcano* in 1899 but did not publish it, likely because its dark tone and harsh condemnation of greed clashed with his *Voyages Extraordinaires* series. Michel Verne first released it in 1906 after giving it a happy ending, which weakened Jules’ original message but allowed the book to appear. The original, unaltered manuscript was finally published in 1989 by the Société Jules Verne, thanks to Piero Gondolo della Riva.

Verne does not imitate Jack London’s descriptions of the Great North, but he still makes readers feel the cold through vivid accounts of Dawson City snowstorms and the Chilkoot Pass crossing. He describes northern towns with his usual precision. As in *Five Weeks in a Balloon*, *The Children of Captain Grant*, and *The Mysterious Island*, Verne shows a fascination with extreme natural events. Twice, when greed corrupts people and the two heroes nearly come to blows with rival prospectors, nature steps in. First, an earthquake hits Forty Miles Creek. Then, the Golden Volcano erupts. Nature seems to act as a judge, sending the characters home, punishing the wicked, and chastising the innocent.

In the original plot, Summy Skim and Ben Raddle, residents of Montreal, unexpectedly inherit a mining claim in the Klondike, Yukon. They join the Gold Rush but face disaster, disease, extreme weather, and murderous rivals—Malone and Hunter. Just as they are about to fight, an earthquake strikes and floods the area. Ben falls ill and breaks his leg, so Summy and their guide Bill Stell take him to a hospital, where he recovers in a few months.