History Hunting in the Yukon
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by Michael Gates
Harbour Publishing, Madeira Park, B.C., 2010
256 pp., illus., $18.95 paperback
A double review with People of the Lakes: Stories of Our Van Tat Gwich’in Elders
by Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation & Shirleen Smith
University of Alberta Press, Edmonton, 2009
453 pp., illus., $34.95 paperback
Within its first year of publication, People of the Lakes has garnered numerous awards, including Story Teller of the Year from the international Independent Publisher Book Awards. And storytelling is what this richly illustrated book is all about.
Great care went into the creation of this work, which describes the oral history of the Van Tat Gwich’in of the northern Yukon. A few years ago, the Gwich’in were central in efforts to halt oil drilling on sensitive caribou calving grounds. Realizing the importance of preserving its stories for generations to come, the First Nation itself determined how the project would unfold. Context was important - elders were taken to particular areas on the land to tell their stories, as opposed to being interviewed in a studio. About eighty per cent of the interviews were done in the native language, with skilled translators transcribing them into English.
The book starts with “long ago” stories, which include a legend of a great flood brought on by retreating glaciers that resulted in animals being rescued by a raft built by a man — echoes of Noah’s Ark. For ease of reading, and to contrast with the narrator’s commentary, the elders’ translated words are in red. A beautiful book.
History Hunting in the Yukon is a collection of lively stories about the colourful characters and events of this northern territory. It’s a quick, engaging read by an author who combines academic and professional backgrounds. Michael Gates is an archaeologist and former cultural resource manager with Parks Canada in the Yukon, and has a natural storytelling talent. He’s also a history columnist for the Yukon News.
Read his book to get an overview of Yukon history in bite-sized pieces. For instance, the region might have looked wild and almost devoid of human settlement to the Gold Rush Stampeders, but archaeologists have uncovered plenty of evidence that river valleys like the Tatshenshini were once bustling transportation corridors filled with people about whom we know little.
Much more is known about some of the more recent arrivals. Gates tells of “Klondike King” Joe Boyle’s WWI heroics in Russia, Robert Service’s secret love life, and Bill Gates (no, not that Bill Gates), a dapper gold millionaire who liked the ladies a little too much. But Della Murray Banks, a hardy woman who served as cook on a gold-seeking trip over the notorious Dalton Trail in 1898, deserves the last word. As she wisely observed, “It wasn’t the man who didn’t know, it was the man who wouldn’t learn, that made it hard.”
— Nelle Oosterom (Read bio)
Nelle Oosterom is the Senior Editor of Canada's History magazine.