It has always been an honour to become a member of the Yukon Order of Pioneers, an organization with quite a Yukon history. It was created on December 1st, 1894 at Forty Mile when a group of men got…
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In his days, he was the toughest man in the British Empire. He'd beaten everyone he'd met in the ring. But he never had the chance to fight the best in North America. So when he came to the Klondike,…
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The first newspaper to hit the streets in Dawson City was the Klondike Nugget. Actually, the first edition didn't hit the streets at all. Instead it was nailed to a telephone pole.
Gene Allen was the fiesty editor of the…
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In those heady days of 1898-99, the Klondike kings had money - or gold - to burn. They were also starved for entertainment and they wanted the best. Saloon owners were prepared to oblige.
There were many Klondike entertainers, most…
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The Klondike gold rush attracted a strange mix of personalities. Dawson City was the land for adventure seekers as much as it was for gold diggers. The Klondike had it all - from major prize fights to big-league gambling nights.…
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It had all the makings of a slapstick movie comedy. Had there been video cameras back in the summer of 1900, the last-spike ceremony for the White Pass railway would be a YouTube winner. The railway between Skagway and Whitehorse…
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Joanie Mitchell said it best. "Don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got til it's gone." Prophetic...that line from the song Big Yellow Taxi.
Back in the 60s, I often met up with Archie Gillespie,…
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Sometimes national anthems have a tough time catching on. Take O’Canada. It was written first in French in 1880 and translated into English in 1908. Since then, the English version has been revised many times. Who knows what the words…
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It seems during those tumultuous years of 1898-1899, the Klondike Nugget newspaper didn't miss a story. So it's no surprise that the paper gave considerable coverage to the Princess of the Yukon.
Margie Newman was just nine years old,…
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The North Star Athletic Club building was the hub of Whitehorse recreational activity from 1900 until it burned down in 1943. This was the club in Robert Service’s poem about Bob Smart’s dream. It was the place where people…
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It was quite the show back in May of 1908 in Whitehorse. The town’s movers and shakers had been practicing in private for a good part of the winter. And now they were gonna strut their stuff on the long…
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In the golden days of the 1950s, sports was king in Whitehorse. As with many towns, the hockey, basketball and softball leagues had some real superstar players supported by many journeymen. Such was George Krautschneider. George was a softball pitcher…
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The tentacles of the Klondike gold rush reached across the world like some gigantic primaeval octopus leaving in their wake both success and failure for those involved. A Greek immigrant experienced both during his colourful life and one of his…
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According to a friend who knew him in the Yukon, William Taylor was the dude of Dawson City. Not much was really known about the background of this flamboyant character who worked for the Yukon Gold Corporation, on and off,…
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In the fall of 2010, the Vancouver Opera Company will present its first full-length commissioned piece for its main stage. The opera is based on the real-life story of Lillian Alling. You probably never heard of her, but if she…
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