Sgt. Preston of the Yukon

Map of the Yukon Territory

Dateline: September 29, 2025.

    As a member of the world's most famous police force, Sgt. Preston is responsible for upholding the law throughout the vast and remote wilderness of the Yukon. Such is the quality of Canada's Northwest Mounted Police that only a handful of brave "Mounties" are needed to patrol the thousands of miles of raw frontier. Mounties are trained to cope with every problem imaginable . . . from rescuing stranded trappers or sourdoughs to hunting down the world's most desperate criminals and bringing them back across the trackless wastes to justice.

    Those who watch Sgt. Preston on CBS Television know that Mounties face temperatures of 80 or 85 degrees below zero . . . far colder than it ever gets at the North Pole. On the other hand, during the brief arctic summer when the sun shines almost 24 hours a day, the climate is almost unbearably hot. Plants grow under the never-setting sun with amazing speed... and, as their foliage is withered by the tropic heat, their roots are reaching for the eternal ice just a few inches underground.

    In 1897 a penniless prospector dipped his pan into the gravel of a stream, later named Bonanza Creek, just south of Dawson in the area known as the Klondike. When the water and gravel had washed away, he found the bottom of the pan covered with glittering yellow nuggets of raw gold. In that instant the prospector had become a rich man. The gold in his pan started thousands in the wildest gold stampede the world has ever known. Dawson became the capital of the Yukon and thousands upon thousands rushed to the Klondike to stake their claims and find their share of the tons of gold contained in the uncharted creeks. Fortune favored some in the bleak hills and freezing rivers... but starvation and agonizing death came to many more. This area was the focal point for most of the activity in the Yukon, and naturally many of Sgt. Preston's adventures on CBS Television take place in or near the fabulous Klondike.

    Today, much of the Yukon is still virtually unknown by white men. Right now, somewhere near the arctic circle, a poor prospector may be hearing the buzz of his Geiger Counter as it indicates a rich uranium find.

    Bill Preston was born in the United States, but moved to Canada in early boyhood. Years later, he returned to the States to enter college. But before he had completed his education, his father was murdered in the Yukon. The criminal, Spike Wilson, made good his escape and Preston joined Canada's Northwest Mounted Police to help track him down. Wilson eluded the law until Preston had finished his training and was assigned to the case. For months Preston followed the faint trail left by the outlaw until Wilson heard of his relentless pursuer and decided to head for the border, away from Mountie jurisdiction. Preston's superior woodsmanship helped him overtake the criminal on the banks of the Snake River. Preston's rigorous Mountie training came to his rescue in the hand-to-hand battle that ensued. Striking every blow with scientific precision, Preston eventually wore down the savage Wilson and with the intelligent help of Yukon King brought him back to Dawson. Before Wilson paid for his crime, Preston was made a Sergeant as a reward for capturing the murderer of his father.

    On his way to the Indian trapper's camp, Sgt. Preston came upon a scene uncommon in its savagery even for the North. Deep in a snow-covered gully, a brave she-wolf was fighting desperately against a giant lynx. Preston was amazed to see that a young wolf cub was by the wolf's side . . . trying to help his mother in her fight against such unfair odds. Before Sgt. Preston could climb down the steep gully wall, the lynx put a finish to the brave wolf's last fight. The great cat then turned on the cub who seemed determined to carry on the unequal battle. But a shot from Preston's rifle sent the lynx scrambling for cover. The mountie had suddenly seen that the cub was not a young wolf but a handsome Huskie puppy. Evidently the wolf, acting as a wild "stepmother," had raised the youngster as her own.

    "Yukon King," as Preston named the orphan Huskie, quickly grew until he was the swiftest and strongest lead dog in the North. Trained in the ways of the wild by his wolf stepmother, he was soon trained in the ways of men by his new master, Sgt. Preston. King's courage, training and his wild upbringing make him an invaluable companion for Sgt. Preston in his thrilling CBS-TV adventures.

The text above was printed on the back of this map that let viewers follow the adventures of Sgt. Preston of the Yukon and his husky Yukon King on CBS-TV. Click on the map to greatly enlarge it in a new window.