When Robert Service, the famous Yukon poet and writer, penned The Cremation Of Sam McGee back in 1907, he may not have known just how enduring a piece of literature it would become. Readers are instantly drawn into the harsh and unforgiving landscape of the Klondike during the gold rush of 1898 and promptly dragged into Sam McGee’s personal purgatory as his growing lust for gold causes him to lose his grip on reality. Eventually he comes to the realization that he will parish in the gold fields and asks the speaker of the story to cremate his remains aboard a derelict ship called the Alice May located at the famous Lake Lebarge in the Yukon.
There are strange things found on the Internet when you’re surfing just for fun. There’s misinformation galore and yet, there’s no way to get it undone. I won’t even apologize to Robert Service because I’m here to defend his honour. Case in point: www.planetware.com. If its reporting on other topics is as sloppy as that …
For nine years Don Watt and fellow artists Mike Lane and Gisli Balzer have attracted like-minded snow carvers to Whitehorse
Sam McGee was a real person, but nothing like Service’s character. He stole the name off of a deposit slip.The two men never knew each other.
