What is the setting in "To Build a Fire"? Can you give specific quotes from the story and explain when the story took place? The time period and...

The opening sentence of the story gives readers the
location setting of the story.  

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Day had dawned cold and gray when the man turned
aside from the main Yukon
trail.

That puts the man in
northwestern Canada.  No date is given for when the events of the story take place, but
I do know it is taking place during the winter.

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There was no sun or promise of sun, although
there was not a cloud in the sky. It was a clear day. However, there seemed to be an
indescribable darkness over the face of things. That was because the sun was absent from
the sky.

The man is far to
the north, and the during the winter, the sun won't rise above the horizon.  This has to
do with the position of the earth compared to the sun and the tilt of earth on its axis.
 If the story took place during the summer, then the sun
wouldn't set.  

  There is no specific
date as to when the story takes place, but I can offer a fairly accurate guess.  As a
reader, I always like to ask "why."  Why is this guy tromping through the snow in the
dead of winter in one of the harshest environments on the planet?  The answer -- gold.
 In 1896 gold was discovered in the Yukon.  An estimated 100,000 prospectors rushed to
the area with hopes of striking it rich.  The gold rush lasted from 1896-1899.  I'm
quite sure that the story took place during those dates, because it offers the reader
the best explanation for why the main character is putting his life at risk in that part
of the world.