In my last column, I mused upon the numerous and various aspects of history that are conjured up in old photographs. That was just the tip of the iceberg where interesting old photographs are concerned. But something was brought to my attention, about one of the images that I had pondered in that column: the moose.
The photo is of a man mounted on a moose with a pack seated behind him. How, I wondered, had the photographer managed to keep the animal standing still long enough to compose and take the picture? Well, I have since come to the conclusion that the photo is a fake. Thanks go to one of my faithful readers, Tim Green, who contacted me, suggesting that the photo was the creation of artificial intelligence.
I took a closer look. First, I noted that the moose had no bridle. I was raised on a farm, and had a horse. I could ride old Patches without a saddle, but I could not ride him without a bridle. Then I noticed that there is no belt wrapping around the moose’s girth, with which to hold the pack and the saddle in place. A few steps, and the saddle and rider would most certainly have hit the ground.
I took a closer look at the photo, enlarging it and taking in the details. The rider seems to be holding a leather strap in his right hand, but the strap disappears into the moose’s fur without going anywhere. I looked at the feet of the moose, and they appear to blend into the mud with a certain fuzziness. I could not see footprints in the mud behind the animal. How did he arrive on the scene without walking to it?
Someone who had viewed the photo pointed to a strikingly similar hand-written caption on a photo that can be found in the Dawson City Museum. This one says “Baby moose in the Yukon August 11/1907.” Take away the word “Baby” and the remainder of the caption is a dead ringer for the one found on the questionable image. The caption was lifted from a legitimate photograph by Dawson photographer Frank Wolfe, the first word removed, and the rest of the caption added to the photograph of the man on the moose.
I did a search on the internet for “man riding on moose,” and came up with the same image in the website for Fine Art America, where it was posted as a mixed media piece by artist Jas Stern back in January of this year. The image is available on coffee mugs, T-shirts, phone cases, stationery and puzzles. I searched for information about the artist Jas Stern without success, leaving me wondering who is this person. Is his identity as fraudulent as this image?
A thank you goes out to Tim Green for making me take a closer look at this. It is a reminder that we must be very discerning when viewing things on the internet these days.
Let’s change the topic. A new statue has been placed on the dike in Dawson, in honour of Hähkè (Chief) Isaac of the Tr’ondëk Hwech’in. The statue, just north of the Dӓnojӓ Zho Cultural Centre, was sponsored by H2 mining, and was created by Dawson artists Halin Derepentigny and Jake Armstrong.
Dawson City is filled with plaques and statues. There are more Historic Sites and Monuments Board plaques per capita in Dawson than anywhere else in the country. They commemorate J.B. Tyrrell, Martha Black, William Ogilvie, Father Judge and Joe Boyle. Others commemorate events, and buildings like St Paul’s Church, the Old Courthouse and the Old Territorial Administration Building (which currently houses the Dawson Museum). Other plaques scattered around Dawson honour Jack McQuesten, Joe Ladue and Fred Caley.
There is a memorial on the dike reminding us of the hundreds of northerners who perished aboard the Princess Sophia, when it sank not far from Skagway in October 1918. There is a plaque in front of the Pioneer Hall on King Street, and another at the RCMP detachment in honour of the Lost Patrol, who perished in 1909. Dawson is riddled with more history than any other town that size that I can think of.
A statue on the Dawson waterfront, of a miner working a traditional rocker by hand, is a tribute to the miners and prospectors that made the Klondike what it is today. Another statue, of a mammoth located opposite the Commissioners Residence, reminds us of the ancient beasts that wandered the land, during the last ice age, where Dawson stands today.
It's about time that Hähkè (Chief) Isaac was honoured in a similar fashion. He was an imposing man who spoke on behalf of his people to the new arrivals who appeared on the scene during the gold rush. At every opportunity, he reminded the newcomers of the harmful impact they were having on the longtime Indigenous inhabitants of the region. He also recognized the importance of the print media, and took many opportunities to voice his concerns to the likes of the Dawson News.
His trip to California just after the gold rush was big news in the local newspapers, and when a rainmaker from the United States was hired to bring relief to the drought-stricken Klondike placer miners, Isaac captured headlines again when he said that he could rustle up rain better than any outsider. Hähkè (Chief) Isaac appeared at the annual Discovery Day celebrations, decked out in clothing that was part traditional, part European. And when the Governor-General visited Dawson City in 1922, Isaac presented gifts to the vice-regal party. Nobody is more deserving of recognition with a statue than Hähkè (Chief) Isaac.
Changing the subject again, I note that the recent edition of the Klondike Sun includes an article about the transfer of two heritage properties from Parks Canada to the Yukon government: the Red Feather Saloon complex, and the Old Territorial Courthouse.
The territorial government collaborated with Parks Canada back in the 1990s to rebuild the historic cluster of buildings at the corner of Princess Street and Third Avenue to house the government agent and the liquor store. The courthouse building was designed by architect T.W. Fuller, who later followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming head architect for the federal government. An Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada plaque recognizing the importance of the courthouse was unveiled in 1984 by Flora Boyle Frisch, daughter of the above-mentioned Joe Boyle.
I think back to the 1970s, when a complex of historic buildings, owned by Parks Canada in Dawson, was to become one of the premier historic sites in the country. Teams of architects, engineers, archaeologists, historians and other professionals descended upon Dawson to study it and make plans. The plans were ambitious and would have turned Dawson into a remarkable living museum. I looked at one of the early planning documents that projected a need for 50-60 seasonal staff units and up to 17 year-round units to house the massive staff that was projected to work at the site.
I worked for Parks Canada in Dawson City for nearly a quarter century, and while it employed as many as 80 during the busy summers in the late 1970s, the plans were reduced and budgets were cut year after year in the following decades until it became obvious that despite the many successes enjoyed by Parks Canada, they would never have the resources to fulfill the ambitious dreams of the early planners.
So, it comes as no surprise that many of the buildings acquired to meet the objectives of the original plan have been divested to reduce the assets to a manageable level with current budgets and changing directions of the program. I hope that the department that assumes the responsibility for developing the Old Courthouse in Dawson respects the historic features and the cultural values of the building when it is (I assume) restored.
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
