Mystery Pic

Comments 100% updated at 8:58 this morning

Without cheating, which of these handsome fellows would later be immortalized in literature? The picture was taken in 1898.

It's tough to post these any more, since reverse image searches are so easy now. On the other hand, it's always fascinating to see the meaning unlocked from these old shadows of the past. What has always impressed me is that every anonymous and nondescript old picture has meaning, a backstory; we often merely don't know what it is.

Comments 100% updated at half past midnight, Sunday

ANSWER: Obviously people know me too well, because my attempted misdirection came up woefully short and a lot of people guessed the answer or were somewhere adjacent to it.

Here's Christopher J May:

Seems very Klondike Gold Rush-ish with the timeline and the snowshoes in the background. The dog is by far the most handsome so I’m going to guess him and say Buck from Call of the Wild.

Bingo. The picture is in the Yale University Library and the two men in the crop are Marshall Bond and Oliver H. P. La Farge. They're sitting in front of the Bond brothers' log cabin in Dawson City in the Klondike in either 1897 or 1898. The Bond brothers were either the "landlords" of a young wanderer who was born John Griffith Chaney, or, putting it more plainly, had allowed him to pitch his tent next to their cabin because he was an old friend. The former John Chaney, who went by Jack, had been raised by his mother and stepfather, whose last name was London—although as a child Jack London had been wet-nursed by an African-American woman named Virginia Prentiss, who was his main source of support and affection when he was young and who remained close to him throughout his short life. An inveterate wanderer and adventurer, he had gone to Dawson City for a cure after contracting scurvy in the gold fields of the Klondike. (No fruit or other sources of vitamin C; apparently scurvy was common during the gold rush). The dog sitting next to Marshall Bond is a St. Bernard / Scotch Collie mix who was also named Jack. Jack London was described by some who knew him as having an original and unusual bond and manner with dogs, as well as some passionate beliefs about them. A dog-whisperer, maybe, like some sort of old-timey Cesar Millan. I believe I read (although I can't find it now to check) that the Bonds said that there seemed to be a special understanding and sympathy between Jack the human and Jack the dog.

For his part, London strongly objected to being lumped in with a type then called "nature-fakers," writers who viewed nature and animals with excessive sentimentality and anthropomorphism. London joined into an ongoing controversy against none other than Theodore Roosevelt, among others. He wrote in his own defense,

I have been guilty of writing two animal-stories—two books about dogs. [This would have been The Call of the Wild and White Fang.] The writing of these two stories, on my part, was in truth a protest against the 'humanizing' of animals, of which it seemed to me several 'animal writers' had been profoundly guilty. Time and again, and many times, in my narratives, I wrote, speaking of my dog-heroes: 'He did not think these things; he merely did them,' etc. And I did this repeatedly, to the clogging of my narrative and in violation of my artistic canons; and I did it in order to hammer into the average human understanding that these dog-heroes of mine were not directed by abstract reasoning, but by instinct, sensation, and emotion, and by simple reasoning. Also, I endeavored to make my stories in line with the facts of evolution; I hewed them to the mark set by scientific research, and awoke, one day, to find myself bundled neck and crop into the camp of the nature-fakers.

London later wrote to the Bond brothers that their dog, Jack, the one in the picture, had indeed been the prototype of Buck in The Call of the Wild.

Quest
The Call of the Wild is part adventure story, part animal story, part fable, and partly the story of a spiritual quest through a series of brutal challenges toward one's own true nature. London varies his writing style throughout the book to echo Buck's progress, and the simple, clean language in parts of the book influenced Hemingway. It's short. It was popular immediately, has been published in 46 languages, has never been out of print, and earned for London an audience that stayed loyal to him from then on, eventually making him rich. It's been adapted for TV and movies all the way from the silent era to the latest attempt, which features an elderly Harrison Ford with a computer-generated Buck! Everything about Jack London is complicated, from his varied output, to his alcoholism and relationships, to his enigmatic death at only 40 (some people still believe he was a suicide). You can read the book in a facsimile of the first edition, or online for free. (Mine is a seventh edition from 1907 which belonged to my great-grandfather.)

And by the way, Jack London was also a dedicated photographer. Here's that picture at Yale.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Comments

[Kylian]

I'm going to guess it's the dog. ;)

[Rob Spring]

Just a WAG, Sam McGee.

[Bob Keefer]

My wild guess: Jack London and the Call of the Wild dog. The period is right, and the dog is very charismatic. The gentleman in the white shirt has a presence that might extend beyond the simple abode of the cabin.

My question is, what manner of wine or spirits is in the bottle to the left?

[ASW]

I'm going to go out on a limb and say the "handsome fellow" we're talking about in the picture is the dog. This seems like the sort of pictorial misdirection a former teacher like yourself would engage in.

My first guess was Rin Tin Tin, but my dim memories suggest that he came along a few decades later.

[James]

The dog?

[ASW]

On closer inspection, the dog doesn't look like a German Shepherd, so disregard my previous guess.

[Bruce Bordner]

Is one of those gentlemen Jack London? Knowing you, I'm betting that the character is the dog.
However, the only literature I know is Science fiction, so I'm lost after that. At least I didn't cheat, as I obviously know nothing. Thanks for playing!

[Christopher J May]

Seems very Klondike Gold Rush-ish with the timeline and the snowshoes in the background. The dog is by far the most handsome so I’m going to guess him and say Buck from Call of the Wild.

[Tim McGowa]

Probably the dog. Fang ?

[Bill barton]

Great shot of Jack London, too bad I don't know which one he is.....

[Charlie Ewers]

Buck (Call of the Wild)?

[William Lewis]

Hmm. Playing it honest. Looking at the dog, the cabin, the cloths, the date... I'll bet one of them is Jack London and that it's up in the Yukon for the gold rush.

The kind of place I'd have set up with a portrait & landscape photography shop (portraits for $$$ & landscapes for art) because you'll always make more money selling to the nutters out trying make fortunes than the people thinking they'll get rich. Probably make even more being a dry goods merchant but that's too much like real work.

[Mike Plews]

White fang?

[Richard Tugwell]

Obviously the dog

[Mark B]

The one in the middle. Lassie Come Home.

[Ed Hawco]

I’m betting it’s the dog.

[Sharon]

Guy on the left is Peyton Manning. That dog is gigantic!

[Matt Kallio]

I don't know the literary work, but I'm pretty sure it's the dog you're referring to.

[Califlefty]

Nothing says "gold rush" quite like a bottle of champagne.

[Walt Foreman]

I got it wrong. And backwards. I thought, hmm, end of the 19th century, frontierish setting, big dog, like Buck. Aha! I bet one of the men is Jack London. But which one? My private guess between these two was also wrong (I picked the man on the right), but at least this time it wasn't backwards. Just wrong.

[That's why I said several readers were "adjacent" to the right answer. You were in the neighborhood. I thought it was going to be a harder question than it turned out to be. But I guess that's usual...my audience is smart and informed! --Mike]

[Kye Wood]

Given that they've revised the law in the EU with respect to how crustaceans are to be treated, because they've been recognised as being sentient beings, you'd have to be proudly ignorant to miss that quality in a dog.

[Ken Lunders]

Should you find yourself in the northern California wine country you might want to check out the Jack London State Historic Park. It is a Don't Miss if you're a fan of his.
https://www.parks.ca.gov/?page_id=478
https://jacklondonpark.com/

A few photos I took in the park while on a brief visit are on Flickr at this link -
https://flickr.com/photos/7331818@N02/albums/72177720309318601/