- Narrator: Here in Alaska, the only thing you can predict for sure about the weather, is that it's *un*predictable.
- Ezra Lambert: There is so much gold. I tell you, more than-- more than anything we've ever had been dreamed of. That dust we've been pannin', it's nothin'. Nothin', compared to the spadin'.
- [first lines]
- Narrator: It was early summer of 1898 when Ezra Lambert finally reached the Yukon Territory. Everybody said it couldn't be done, bringing a wife and child along. But, Ezra had prepared himself well. The family left Sacramento in the fall of '97, traveled by boat up the Pacific coast of Vancouver, then booked passage on the Canadian Pacific Railway, inland to Calgary, and north to Edmonton. Of course, that was only the first leg of their journey. They still had 1,600 miles to go yet before reaching the gold fields. But now finally, they had arrived, the three of them. And it suddenly seemed that Ezra had lost all sense of time and distance. His mind could only think of a... great wealth waiting for them, just up ahead. Ezra was lucky, always happy, and he was counting on his good luck to lead the family to a rich gold strike.
- Narrator: Eve had bought kitchen supplies the family would need in Edmonton. 350 pounds of flour, 150 pounds of bacon, 50 pounds of beans, 10 pounds of tea, bakin' powder, salt, soap, and matches.
- [Ezra inspects the gold nuggets he and Kidd dug up; Kidd cleans his pickaxe]
- Eve Lambert: Ezra, now that you have enough gold, are we gonna be going home soon?
- [Ezra doesn't respond]
- Eve Lambert: The winters are gonna set in soon. We don't leave, we're gonna die. We've got enough gold to last us for the rest of our life.
- [again, Ezra doesn't respond; Kidd continues cleaning his pickaxe]
- Eve Lambert: Ezra, what's the matter with you? You've changed.
- [yet again, Ezra doesn't respond]
- Eve Lambert: You don't care about yourself, think of Kidd and me!
- Ezra Lambert: [he snaps by slamming his fist and yelling] No!