2001

Flo Whyard

Flo Whyard is a journalist - always has been - and a good one at that. She comes by the trade honestly. One of her first memories is the sound of an old typewriter banging away on the other side…

1999

Amy Sloan

A time long ago and far away, I produced a series of radio programs for kids called The Adventurers of Ookpik, the arctic owl. The stories of Ookpik’s adventurers were brought to life through a variety of arctic animals who…

1989

Lilias Farley

One of the delights in attending the Whitehorse Elementary High School on Fourth Avenue, back in the fifties, was taking art class. Strangely, as I recall, art was a mandatory subject until about grade ten. I can’t imagine why because…

1972

Lucille Hunter

When I was a school kid growing up on Strickland Street, colourful characters were the norm. It was not unusual to find my Dad and Wigwam Harry sharing a story or two at our kitchen table.

Andy Hooper could be…

1965

Babe Southwick Trophy

The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous celebrations of the Sixties had a magical feel about them. The Yukon hadn’t seen winter carnival celebrations since the late forties, so it was like a breath of fresh spring air when Rendezvous rolled…

1963

Edith Josie

When I first read her stuff in the Whitehorse Star, I though it was kinda cute. Not very deep or insightful...just...well...just cute. But more than 30 years later, Edith Josie's columns have become an important record of lives of…

1957

Klondike Kate

Klondike Kate was born Kathleen Eloisa Rockwell on October 4, 1876, at Junction City, Kansas.

Nicknamed Kitty, she grew up in Spokane, Washington, with her mother and stepfather, Judge Frank Bettis. Kate lived a luxurious childhood, with a governess and…

1955

Miss Canada From Whitehorse

'Put Whitehorse on the map' was the motto of the local Jaycees club back in the summer of 1955. They couldn’t find a better way of doing that than to sponsor a local woman in the Miss Canada pageant.

Dalyce…

1949

Emilie Tremblay

Few women who took part in the Klondike Gold Rush stayed in the territory very long. Even fewer climbed the rugged Chilkoot Pass. The celebrated Martha Black climbed and stayed. So did Émilie Tremblay, and she was the…

1948

Ethel Berry

The Klondike was the realm of the male miner. But there were some resourceful women who headed to the gold-fields. One was Ethel Bush, who married Clarence Berry when he returned from his first trip to Yukon in the fall…

1944

Rusty Dow

Today, the Alaska Highway is considered the main street of the Yukon and Alaska. Easy to drive and quick to get there. It wasn't always so. Back in the early 40s, there was no highway. In the late 40s you…

1936

Faith Fenton, Journalist

Though much has been written over the years, the first news accounts from the Klondike came from a pioneering journalist. In the spring of 1898, the Toronto Globe newspaper got caught up in the incredible story unfolding in the Yukon…

1935

Swiftwater Bill Gates (No. 2)

In Dawson City they called him Swiftwater Bill. He liked that. You see, Bill Gates was a little man with a big ego. He told everyone who’d listen that he earned his nickname because of his prowess in steering boats…

1928

Lillian Alling

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…

1920

Kate Carmack

She was born into the Wolf clan in the Tagish lake district of what was later to be known as the Yukon. Her Indian name was ShaawTlaa. She was living in her native village on the shores of Tagish Lake,…

1918

Who was Dan McGrew?

A bunch of the boys were a whooping it up in the malamute saloon.
The kid that handled the music box was playing a jagtime tune,
Back of the bar in a solo game sat Dangerous Dan McGrew,

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1912

Pearl Keenan

Life was simpler when Pearl Keenan was growing up on her father's mink ranch near Teslin. In the days before the Alaska Highway, everything moved by dog team and snowshoes. Pearl got much of her early education on the land.

1906

Marjorie Rambeau - From the Dawson Stage to Hollywood Fame

When she was only ten years old, Marjorie Rambeau performed in the mining camps of Nome.

“...With my hair cropped close ...the  men would shake gold dust into my cap, “ said Rambeau later in her career, “But nobody suspected…

1903

Princess of the Yukon

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,…

1900

Frances Muncaster: Pioneer Woman of Squaw Creek

She was an American woman who gave up the life of high society, comfort and privilege to live the tough life of a miner in the wilds of the Yukon and northern British Columbia.

She was small and slim, with…

1899

Cad Wilson

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…