This story takes place around the year 1900. How might the story be different if it took place today? (Would the man just text his buddies at the camp to say, "I'm gonna B a little L8"?)

That's a good question. I suppose our current technology allows for a small amount of respite from nature's wrath. Still, stuck in the cold in the middle of the Yukon would kill any man if help were not quick. I wonder if it still gets that cold in the Yukon anymore but London's themes around naturalism still hold water today. Man, as an organic species, is still fragile and at the mercy of nature. Technology provides us with a measure of reassurance but we are no more evolved biologically than we were in the 1900's. In the face of extreme weather variations, we are warm blooded, as well as natural disasters (earthquake, tsunami) we are as helpless as the man in the story.