If we allow it, the past will quickly fade from human consciousness. I become more aware of it these days when I talk to those of younger generations, who do not share a common experience of the past with me. Do you remember the cold war? How about fall-out shelters. What were you doing and where were you when John F. Kennedy was shot? How about Woodstock?
Our entire perspective is shaped profoundly by the cumulative experiences we acquire and the knowledge we gain through our lives. I’m surprised by how many people of a younger generation can’t tell me when World War I took place – it was before their time. It had to, though, didn’t it? If not, why would we have a World War II?
I learned much about the Second World War from my father – who lived it. He flew 40 missions as a mid-upper gunner on Halifax bombers. They got shot down during a raid on Berlin, but the crew managed to make it to the coast of Sweden. He got back to England eventually and completed his tour of duty. I learned much from him, at a visceral level, things that he experienced that are not written down in any history book.
My grandfather? He and I had little opportunity to talk and beyond him in the past, I know little of the personal experiences of my antecedents because they fall outside the realm of personal memory. I never met them and they left no stories or memories to pass along.
So how do we remember the details of our past that fall outside of personal experience, and are not passed along to us by our elders? Books help, old church records, tax rolls, even old newspapers, for as far as they go back in our past. When I think of this, I realize how fleeting the past can be, and how fragile too. Much has been lost through fires and floods. At one time or another, books (and records) have been burned because they don’t conform to one philosophy or another.
Here in the Yukon, we have much to learn through the oral traditions and stories told by First Nations. In a culture that relied upon oral transmission for many generations, stories and place names held lessons in social behaviour and concepts of what is right or wrong. The European tradition, by comparison, relies much more upon written records to retain our knowledge of the past.
We have, however some very tangible aides-mémoires of past people and events which are intended to remind us of people and events that were thought to be important. They are all around us, if we only look for them. The names of those who died in the service of our country during past wars can be found on plaques and monuments everywhere. There is the cenotaph in Dawson which reminds us of those who died during the First World War. There is one in Mayo, and another in Atlin. Another stands before Whitehorse City Hall. The Whitehorse memorial has been moved more than once, from in front of the old Whitehorse public library, to the federal building on Main Street, to its current prominent location.
The Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC) consists of members from each province and territory. They make decisions about things of importance in Canadian history that should be of a permanent nature. The Board has commissioned hundreds of plaques across Canada to remind us of people, places and events that are deemed to be important to all Canadians. You will find one of them mounted on the front of the White Pass train station at the foot of Main Street and another in front of the S.S. Klondike.
Dawson City may have more plaques per capita than any other place in Canada; by my count, at least 14 of them. There are a half dozen more scattered around the territory from the extreme north of the territory (Herschel Island), to the south end (Skookum Jim in Carcross). The first of many such plaques was installed on the Territorial Administration Building in Dawson in 1932.
There are other plaques to be found attached to various features. One, mounted on Dredge Number 4 on Bonanza Creek, is a reminder of the effort that was invested in saving the massive structure in 1991 and 1992. There are others reminding us of important engineering feats, like the Alaska Highway and the White Pass railroad. The Yukon Order of Pioneers have one mounted in front of their Dawson City lodge, and another one down the Yukon River at Fortymile. The latter plaque survived the devastating flood there last year. The RCMP placed a plaque in Forty Mile in 1973 to remind us of the first Mounties to come to the Yukon.
There is another plaque to remind us of the Lost Patrol near the Dawson RCMP detachment, and one honouring Fred Caley, a Dawson grocer, mounted on the building that was his store for decades. The Bank of Commerce mounted a plaque on the front of their historic structure in Dawson to remind us that poet Robert Service worked there. There is a plaque in front of the Carnegie Library and one on Diamond Tooth Gertie’s. In fact, you can’t throw a stone in Dawson without hitting another of the darn things, there are so many of them.
There are several plaques in the Yukon devoted to heritage rivers – including the Bonnet Plume, the Alsek and the Thirtymile. There are so many memorials, that we often don’t notice them, but if you stop to read what they have to say, there is a history lesson to be learned.
We honour the dead with grave markers as a reminder of those who have passed, but meant something to others. The Pioneer and Masonic cemeteries in Dawson have been well maintained, though the Catholic cemetery and the public cemeteries have been neglected.
There are also statues. One in Rotary Park is dedicated to murdered and missing indigenous women, and another, located on Front Street, is dedicated to firefighters. The one in front of the Elijah Smith Building honours early prospectors, as does one in Dawson. Another statue was installed on the Dike in Dawson this summer in Honour of Chief Isaac, one of the Yukon’s most important First Nation leaders.
If you walk around downtown Whitehorse, especially on Main Street, you will find bronze busts combined with commemorative plaques, donated by Rolf and Margaret Hougen and family dedicated to: Angela Sidney, Ted Harrison, Pierre Berton, Jack London, Robert Service, Edith Josie, and Erik Nielsen. George and Martha Black each have one, and I understand another will soon appear on Main Street in honour of artist Jim Robb. You can still talk to Jim who holds court in the Gold Rush Inn each afternoon.
I think that in due course, Rolf Hougen should also be memorialized by a similar bust and plaque for all that he did to develop the Yukon and recognize our history.
There are several other similar markers scattered around the territory that should, with luck, withstand the rigours of time, to remind us of who we are and where we came from. If you think I have missed one that is important, let me know.
Michael Gates was the Yukon’s first Story Laureate from 2020 to 2023. His latest book, “Hollywood in the Klondike,” is now available in Whitehorse stores. You can contact him at msgates@northwestel.net