<P> The Call of the Wild is a short adventure novel by Jack London published in 1903 and set in Yukon , Canada during the 1890s Klondike Gold Rush , when strong sled dogs were in high demand . The central character of the novel is a dog named Buck . The story opens at a ranch in Santa Clara Valley , California , when Buck is stolen from his home and sold into service as a sled dog in Alaska . He becomes progressively feral in the harsh environment , where he is forced to fight to survive and dominate other dogs . By the end , he sheds the veneer of civilization , and relies on primordial instinct and learned experience to emerge as a leader in the wild . </P>
when does the call of the wild take place
the 1890s