Yukon Gold

In the Canadian port of Dawson City, bandits murder Paul Briand in his steamboat cabin. The scene is investigated by Royal Canadian Mountie Corp. Rod Webb and his dog, Chinook, who sniffs out a letter from Briand's niece, Marie. When she is brought in for questioning, Marie reveals that Paul was a gold prospector who recently spent his last dime on a mine which then turned out to be empty. She informs Rod that Paul's last letter was stolen from her house and insists on accompanying Rod to Paul's cabin in Fort Le Beau. On the boat to the small mining town, a man tries to break into Marie's room, but Chinook attacks him and throws him overboard. The two reach Fort Le Beau, where everything is owned by either shopkeeper Clint McClay or assayer Jud Powers, except the gambling house The Lucky Chance, which is run by Nan Duvall. Although McClay, who rents them a canoe, claims to be shocked about his friend Paul's death, Rod is suspicious of him. Rod and Marie then find Paul's cabin ransacked, and as they are cleaning, they uncover a love note from Nan to Paul. Rod heads to The Lucky Chance, and after he surreptitiously drops the note in front of Nan, she takes him to her dressing room. There, she pulls a gun on him and accuses him of stabbing Paul. When Rod points out that the killer's method has been kept secret, and therefore only the murderer could have spread the news that Paul was stabbed, Nan believes him and agrees to aid his search. Back in the casino, however, Nan's partner, Ace Morgan, warns Rod to leave Nan alone and then later asks Nan to stay away from Rod. She rebuffs his advances and Ace intimates that Rod will soon be gone. Meanwhile, Rod visits Powers to buy Paul's claim, and although Powers tells him that the land is no good, Rod insists that Paul must have had other information. A man watches them through the window, and when Rod travels back to the cabin, the man shoots at him but is stopped by Chinook. The next day, Rod, having learned that only one mine, the North Star, has been producing gold, goes there with Marie. She informs him of a secret entryway, but once he enters, Powers turns up outside with armed men. Rod sees them and signals to Chinook, who leads the men in the wrong direction so Rod and Marie can escape. Back at the cabin, they examine the North Star ore and, finding no gold in it, realize that someone has been creating fake gold deposits to lure new prospectors into the area to buy worthless land. Rod hypothesizes that Paul must have been similarly bilked and that the ransackers must be looking for the one piece of damning evidence, Powers' falsified assayer's report. He then asks Nan for a handful of gold, with which he makes a fake gold-flecked ore brick, and instructs her to hold a poker game that night, during which she will pretend to be against him. At the game, Rod uses the fake gold as collateral and gives it to Powers, who declares it real. When Rod wins the high-stakes card game, Ace accuses him of cheating and the two fight. Rod wins but Nan pulls a gun and throws him out, at which he declares that they cannot quiet him as easily as they did Paul. He jumps into his canoe, followed first by Ace, then, separately, by Marie and McClay. Rod races to the cabin, where he finds Marie being held by Powers and the man who had shot at him earlier. Rod fights them and when Powers breaks a chair over Rod's back, Paul's fake assayer's report falls from the chair leg. Powers grabs it and takes Rod and Marie outside, but just as he is about to kill them, Chinook attacks Powers and Rod beats up the other man. At the same time, Ace, who really was Paul's friend, lands and rushes over to help Rod hold Powers. Rod reveals that he is a Mountie, after which Powers confesses to the gold swindle but asserts that he had nothing to do with Paul's murder. Just then, Nan and McClay land, and the shopkeeper pulls out a rifle and holds the group up, revealing that he killed Paul to keep him quiet. After Chinook ambushes McClay, a fight breaks out and ends when McClay is shot and killed. Later, the town begins to shut down after the mine is revealed to be spent, and as Nan plans to join Marie at her home in Dawson City, Rod and Ace simultaneously memorize the address.