In To Build a Fire in Jack London's 1908 story of life in the winter in the Yukon the author talks about the extreme dangers of hiking alone at -59 degrees centigrade and the difficulty of lighting a fire to warm up. Historically, it would be about just after the gold rush of 1898 in the Yukon in which many ill-prepared men came from warmer climes (like Sam McGee of Plumtree Tennessee) and perished due to lack of respect for the harsh winter conditions.
