The Yukon

Joann Robertson's grandfather moved to the Yukon in 1897 to make his fortune. He did not succeed at that, but he did fall in love with the North. Leaving their eldest two children in London, his wife joined him in 1899. They had six more children born in various settlements. The life the family lived and the work they did-telegraphy, dog-team mail delivery, teaching and working in the gold-mining industry-were typical of the Yukon during this era. From memories of her Yukon youth, family letters, photographs, unpublished works and news clippings, Joann brings to life the experiences of her family and others during this little-known period of Yukon history. Her narrative-at one point describing the dismantling of a Model T Ford to smuggle it by canoe across a river in the dead of night-echoes her love of this unique society.

Joann Robertson's grandfather moved to the Yukon in 1897 to make his fortune. He did not succeed at that, but he did fall in love with the North. Leaving their eldest two children in London, his wife joined him in 1899. They had six more children born in various settlements. The life the family lived and the work they did-telegraphy, dog-team mail delivery, teaching and working in the gold-mining industry-were typical of the Yukon during this era. From memories of her Yukon youth, family letters, photographs, unpublished works and news clippings, Joann brings to life the experiences of her family and others during this little-known period of Yukon history. Her narrative-at one point describing the dismantling of a Model T Ford to smuggle it by canoe across a river in the dead of night-echoes her love of this unique society.

Joann Robertson, granddaughter of a Yukon pioneer and riverboat pilot, was born in Dawson City and spent the first ten years of her childhood in Bear Creek, the centre of gold production in the North from the early 1900s to 1966. Later, she lived along the Alaska Highway and in Whitehorse before moving 'Outside' to Vancouver. Her fascination with and love of the tight-knit Yukon community in which she was raised is evident in her clear and candid narrative.