Before writing The Alaska Gold Rush, Wharton had previous worked as a newsman, diplomat, college professor, lawyer, and lecturer.

[1] A review by Rodman W. Paul in Pacific Historical Review called the book "colorful and wellwritten" piece, praising Wharton's writing and saying also that his research "would have won the warm approval of Francis Parkman or Samuel Elliot Morrison".

He compared it favorably to Klondike Fever by Pierre Burton, calling it "more persuasive".

However, Paul also criticised the structure and flow of the book, and he felt that the stories and anecdotes it contained were not well-connected to each other.

[1] In a 1992 review of Wharton's later book, They Don't Speak Russian in Sitka, Jo McMeen of the Huntingdon Daily News described it as much less "stimulating" telling of Alaskan history than The Alaska Gold Rush.