The book is well known for its verse about the Klondike Gold Rush in the Yukon a decade earlier, particularly the long, humorous ballads, "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee."
"[2] Out on a walk one Saturday night, Service heard the sounds of revelry coming from a saloon, and the phrase "A bunch of the boys were whooping it up" popped into his head.
Inspired, he ran to the bank to write it down (almost being shot as a burglar), and by the next morning "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" was complete.
[2] "A month or so later he heard a gold rush yarn from a Dawson mining man about a fellow who cremated his pal."
He spent the night walking in the woods composing "The Cremation of Sam McGee," and wrote it down from memory the next day.
[3] He did not set foot in Dawson City until 1908, arriving in the Klondike ten years after the Gold Rush when his renown as a writer was already established.
"[5] The publisher "sent Robert's cheque back to him and offered a ten percent royalty contract for the book.