The Gold Rush (1925)

Charlie Chaplin's groundbreaking silent film comedy found inspiration in the historical Klondike Gold Rush, and led the auteur to drag the production's cast and crew to snowy, rustic Trukee, Nevada to serve as the scenic Chilkoot Pass in Alaska. For the film's opening sequence, 600 extras from Sacramento were brought in by train to reenact the dangerous Yukon trek. The Trukee Ski Club helped clear a 2300-foot single file path near Donner Summit, and what is now the Sugar Bowl Ski Resort. The film was spectacular, but at a price. Many of the cast and crew became sick during shooting because of the harsh conditions.

Reprising his role as The Little Tramp, Chaplin found his comic pratfalls difficult to control in the frigid conditions, and after coming down with the flu, he finally agreed to return to Hollywood. Once back in the studio, work began on the creation of a miniature mountain range, constructed from timber (reportedly a quarter-of-a-million feet), chicken wire, and burlap. Salt and flour were used in lieu of snow, and the resulting snowscape was surprisingly convincing on film. To film the Miner's hut teetering on the edge of the cliff, studio technicians created a miniature model and filmed the scene so smoothly that the cut from the full-size set to the model is hard to detect.