Breathing New Life Into A 1950s Mystery
It could be a military dog tag, a cut of metal or a twist of fabric. Uncovering even the smallest thing from a plane that disappeared…
The ‘Impertinent, Wacky Disorder’ Of Whitehorse In The ’50s
When Pat Ellis walks around downtown Whitehorse, she sees evidence of the past because she knows just where to look.
Stolen Loot Or Hard-Earned Savings?
As a professional trail builder, Bill McLane spends a lot of time digging earth, moving rocks and finding treasure.
‘We have never got rich, but we sure have a good life being poor.’
For nearly 70 years, the Bradley family have called the Pelly River Ranch home. Dale Bradley’s roots run deep at the Pelly River Ranch.
Unearthing a ‘miracle’
Nun cho ga is a near complete mummified female mammoth calf. This piece of Yukon history was found by placer miners working at Eureka Creek
Finding Connections to Their Northern Roots
Yann Herry is drawn to true stories of daring. Ask him about his favourite characters in the Yukon’s Francophone history and he’ll tell you about the people who took chances, cut their own trails and lived their dreams. “It’s the French-Canadian spirit, going back to the voyageurs,” he said. “We’ve always been pulled toward big …
Telling the Yukon’s Untold Stories
When Paul Gowdie first learned about the hundreds of Black soldiers who worked on constructing the Alaska Highway in the 1940s, he was surprised. “I’m in a mostly white town, in a mostly white territory, and I attend this presentation and find out that 30 percent of the soldiers who built the highway were Black,” …
Back to the land
On an evening in early November, Teri-Lee Isaac and her family butchered a caribou that was given to them by family in Fort McPherson. While the practice gives the family a freezer full of wild meat for the upcoming winter, it also connects them to the land, and to Northern Tutchone cultural practices that have been passed down through the generations.
In the footsteps of her great-grandfather
In 1898, Ione Christensen’s great-grandfather and his four sons hiked the Chilkoot Trail on their way to find fortune in the Klondike gold fields. Over her lifetime, Christensen, who recently turned 86, has spent a lot of time on the historic trail herself.
Revitalizing the routes that connected the people of North Yukon
North Yukon is honeycombed with routes. It’s an intricate network of trails and waterways that the Gwich’in people have used to move through the area for thousands of years.
Paddling in the Peel
In the early 1900s, when she was a teenager, Bobbi Rose Koe’s great-great-grandmother and her friend paddled a moose skin boat through the dangerous stretch of fast-flowing high water at Peel Canyon. More than 100 years later, Koe joined a group of five youth from First Nations in the Yukon and the Northwest Territories on an 18-day canoe trip. Along the way they passed through the treacherous Peel Canyon.
Deep roots
Her name is Wolf Mother, Ghoóch Tlâ in Tlingit, and Colleen James in English. She grew up in Cowley, about halfway between Whitehorse and Carcross. Her mother was Tlingit and her father was English.
Teri McNaughton and the Watson Lake Historical Society are ensuring the history of the town is recognized–one site at a time
McNaughton had rescued boxes of photographs showing the southern Yukon town in its heyday, and with that newly acquired collection, the Watson Lake Historical Society was born.
Sharing Northern Tutchone stories, culture and heritage—one bar at a time
Sometimes when Joella Hogan returns home after a long day, she’ll find a bag of fresh rose petals on her doorstep. And once in a while, neighbourhood kids will knock on her door with fists full of wild flowers and plants. “People always want to help me; they see this little business and they see …
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As Elsa moves towards an uncertain future, a former resident reflects on its past
The Hamlet of Elsa—a collection of homes and industrial buildings nestled into the Silver Trail at kilometre 97—transformed from a booming mining town in the 1960s to a ghost town in the 1990s. Today, it faces an uncertain future. But to Mike Mancini, it was the first home he knew as a child. It was …
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For more than 30 years Doug Davidge has helped solve Yukon’s historic mysteries, both hidden and exposed
Doug Davidge finds lost things. Over the course of more than three decades in the Yukon, Davidge has been known to find things that people know are missing–such as the A.J. Goddard, a steamboat that vanished in Lake Laberge in 1901–and things that people might not even realize are lost. For example, a few years ago …
Erin Dixon – Artist documents the vintage, the eclectic and the historical houses of Whitehorse and Dawson
Erin Dixon is interested in how other people live. “I have been interested in other people’s houses, since I was a little kid,” she said. “Trick-or-treating was always my favourite because you got to go to other people’s houses and peek inside. Now, I love it when you drive down a dark street and everyone …
Kim and Mike McDougall
Mike and Kim McDougall have been mining gold in the Sixtymile region of the Klondike for nearly 40 years. Throughout the decades, they’ve made their own history in the area. They’ve also been surrounded by the remnants of those that came before them, both the mammoths and the miners. “There are not too many places …
Protecting more than a park
Park ranger keeps Inuvialuit stories alive on Herschel Island-Qikiqtaruk When Richard Gordon was a young man he worked on an oil rig in the Beaufort Sea, but often found himself looking across the water to a special place he had visited as a child. “I’d look out and think about all the times my parents …
Yukon historian builds online community
Murray Lundberg – Yukon historian – builds an online community for sharing stories and building a collective memory When it reached 500 people, Murray Lundberg was satisfied. Then, out of the blue, it jumped to 2,500, then 5,000. Now the “Yukon History and Abandoned Places” Facebook group has more than 11,000 users. And it steadily …
Finding the keys to safer camping
On the Canada Day long weekend in 2012, the Congdon Creek Campground, located on the shore of Kluane Lake near Burwash Landing, played host to a furry teenaged visitor. A medium-sized grizzly found its way into the campground and proceeded to lounge around in the central meadow, feeding on the tasty flowers.
Molasses, methanol, and mine-water remediation
Yukon College mine-life-cycle researcher Dr. Guillaume Nielsen likes to find innovative solutions to problems.
Can wisdom save the world?
The post-apocalyptic, not-so-distant-future world of The Unplugging, an award-winning play by Canadian playwright Yvette Nolan, is the latest production on offer from the Yukon-based Gwaandak Theatre.
Moving Mountains
Student Sharon Bubsy examines one of the seismometer stations in remote areas of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. PHOTO: courtesy of the Yukon College Researchers investigate how Earth movement on the coast can affect inland mountains The white-capped Mackenzie Mountains, which spill over the border between Yukon and the Northwest Territories, are surprisingly active… …
Fete for the Feline
When Coralie Ullyett first saw him at the bar a few years ago, she thought he was cute. Ullyett and some friends were visiting Atlin, B.C., for a girls’ weekend, and before settling into their rental cabin, they stopped at the recreation centre lounge for a drink. “I hadn’t heard about Bob before, and I was …
Powering up the North
Diesel power generators are like cars: the more efficient they are, the less fuel they need. And that increased efficiency translates into less cost, both for drivers at the pump and for the communities that rely on diesel fuel for heat and electricity.
From the field to the lab
Yukon College archaeologist Norm Easton has been unearthing the secrets of the area around the Yukon-Alaska border for more than 25 years. This year, for the first time, he is leaving the field to focus on doing research in the laboratory.
Increasing the chance of survival
For the past two years, Yukon College student Cheyenne Bradley has been working at the McIntyre Creek Salmon Incubation Site while taking classes at the College.
What do you think?
ResearChats, devised by Northern Studies Instructor Amanda Graham and Chemistry Instructor Ernie Prokopchuk, are weekly opportunities for researchers from all disciplines to share ideas and learn from one another. They happen on Fridays from noon to 1 p.m., and everybody is invited to attend.
There’s Always a Stack of Books Hidden Under Their Quilts
The Yukon Imagination Library — non-profit organization that gives free books to Yukon children from birth to age four — is turning 10 this year. To celebrate the milestone we have collected reading stories from families who have used the library and from a few well-known Yukoners. We will be sharing them over the next …
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Imagine the Yukon – Part 1
The Yukon Imagination Library — a local non-profit organization that gives free books to Yukon children once per month from the time they are born until they reach age 4 — is turning 10 this year. To celebrate the milestone we have collected stories from families who have used the library and from a few …
