George Johnston brought the first automobile into Teslin. He painted his four-door Chevrolet sedan white and put chains on the wheels so he could hunt more efficiently on frozen lakes and rivers.
Johnston was a respected man and, since his youth, had been recording his people’s lives with his camera - photographing life in the beaver camps, posing people in front of fur and game displays and along traplines. He recorded anything that helped to tell the story of his inland Tlingit people.
Through his camera lens he gathered a wealth of culture and history.
Johnston - photographer, trapper, and gentleman - was also a merchant, having run a small store in Teslin at one time. Many of his photographs can be seen in the George Johnston Museum.
This photograph of Johnston and the car was found in the Teslin landfill by Shannon Moffatt, who recognized the importance of the picture and gave it to me. Thank you, Shannon.
Anyone with information about this subject, please write Jim Robb: The Colourful Five Per Cent Scrapbook - Can You Identify? c/o the Yukon News, 211 Wood Street, Whitehorse, Yukon, Y1A 2E4, or email through the News website, www.yukon-news.com.