As the protagonist, Jason Hawthorn is the viewpoint character in the novel’s real-time scenes; only the historical interludes do not include this main character. Jason is 15, and his family consists of his two older brothers, Abraham and Ethan, whom he considered predictable and accommodating until he learns that they became stampeders. Jason’s parents are deceased; his mother passed away before he could remember her, and his father died four years before the novel’s start.

Hobbs reveals Jason’s backstory gradually in Part 1; his history clarifies his goals, purposes, and actions throughout the novel. At the time of the story (1897), child labor was not uncommon. Jason went to work in a fishing cannery at age 11 after his father’s death and has not attended school since, though he was a strong student and still enjoys books and learning. Earning only 10 cents an hour was difficult for him; harder still was the loss of his freedom to endless cannery shifts. Motivated to avoid monotonous wage labor, Jason set out to live on his own, determined to make it to the East Coast and stay away from Seattle for a year. He accepted odd jobs along the way, learning a variety of skills such as horse wrangling.