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10,

By tom McEwen

The Yukon is on the march for a new deal,
a chance to grow. It is looking to labor for

Progressive government. The Yukon can at-

tain full development as a proud part of

Canada once free of narrow Tory domination.

NE final long blast of the siren—the ropes cast off, and
the good ship “Keno” of the British-Yukon Navigation

Co. churns into the stream.
“fine white spray that glistens in the sunshine.

Her stern wheel kicks up a

a little for a wide spot in the river where the ship can turn
. . - then!down, like a march-past of farewell to White-
horse, and the “Keno” is off on the 480-mile voyage down
the great Yukon river to Dawson.

The measured chug-chug of
the engines—the fountain of
Spray from the stern paddle

... the rain of sparks from the *

cord-wood fed boilers; all give
a sort of a Hollywood “show-
boat” effect in a setting of
tugged beauty. We tie-up at
the banks many times to take
on cordwood to feed the. appe-
tites of the boilers. Going
“down north’? . . . with good
luck, it is a 56-hour or so trip
between Whitehorse and Daw-
son. Coming back up-river it
is anything from five to seven
days. On a round trip these
boats consume between 125 to
150 cords of wood. Diesel oil
is available—coal could be pro-
duced—but with traditional
tenacity we stick to cordwood.

We pass many Indian vil-
lages and white settlements. A
sack of potatoes is dumped oft

here . . . a parcel of mail
there. At Yukon centres like
Carmacks, Selkirk, Stewart.

etc., Stores for the trading
posts are unloaded and local
news and~ views exchanged.
One really gets the feel of be-
ine “inside,” that is isolated
from the outside world. And
the “inside” gets a few good
laughs at the “outside.” A
miner-prospector fellow pass-
enger, who has made his first
trip to Whitehorse in 31 years
from his home in Coffee Creek,
elaborated upon this isolation,
using an “outside” official view-
point. A young Yukoner wrote
Ottawa requesting. to join the
RCAF; the reply from Ottawa
read something like this: “...
at present we are not recruit-

- of the Yukon,

ing pilots for the RCAF from
foreign countries.”

pee Yukon River has played a

vital part in the development
although the
Territory contains only the up-
per reaches of the river which
does not exceed a mile in width
in any channel. As in the early
days of Canadian settlement
when Canada’s.rivers were the
arteries that bound communi-
ties together and beckoned to
voyageurs to reach further
afield, so with the Yukon river,
navigable for 2000-miles. from
Whitehorse to St. Michael,
Alaska on the Behring Sea. In
the old days this was the only
trade route into the Yukon,
open only for about three or
four months a year due to the
ice on the Behring. The con-
struction of the White Pass
and Yukon railway from Skag-
way to Whitehorse gaye the
Yukon a closer outlet to the
Sea, and terminated the long
river haul from the Behring to
Dawson. Today the Alaska
Highway and the North .West
staging air route have brought
the Yukon within eight hours
of Vancouver, but the river
still serves as a _ territorial
artery.

The Yukon river is a treaty
river; when the USA purchased
Alaska from Tzarist Russia,
the articles of purchase stipu-
lated that the Yukon river
shall be open to Canada, the
USA and Russian commerce
and travel. One finds many

Gold mining, now a wattime casualty, is still. one of
the major industries in the Y akon.

;aigning in

Upstream

&

evidences of early Russian-

Alaskan mfuences in Yulkon
communities and vocabulary.
Canadians in the Northwest

have therefore a traditional
base upon which to build closer
Canadian-Soviet friendship and
cooperation in the years to
come.

In the future development of
this great Northland Canad-
lans can benefit tremendously,
from the experiences of Soviet
arctic development. In my
travels throughout the Yukon
i have found a deep interest in

the Yukon river from another .-

angle ... that of a source of
hydro-electrical energy. Just
&s it has been the main high-
way of the life for the Yukon
in the early days, so also now,
given progressive forward-
looking government, the Yu-
kon river with its many tribu-
taries and lakes, together with
other rivers in the Yukon sys-
tem, such as the [iard, Pelly,
Stewart, Klondyke, Ogilvie and
other vivers, can become a
great source of electrical
energy for industrial and do-
mestic progress.

No serious investigation of
Wwater-power resources in the
Yukon has ever been under-
taken. There is an estimated
potential 75,000 horsepower in
the Yukon river system itself;
the Yukon Consolidated Gold
Corporation owns and operates
a hydro-electric plant on the
Klondyke river 26 miles above
Dawson, with a total capacity
output of some 15,000 hp. '
Power development here is
utilized for the operation of
gold dredges, pumps in thaw,
ing and stripping operations,
and for distribution to a sub-
Sidiary company for domestic
consumption. :

In the Mayo district at the
Fraser Falls on Stewart river
a minimum flow of 14,000
horsepower would be easily
available. In the Mayo river can-
yon, close to Whitehorse, and
other areas, tens of thousands
of horsepower can be harness-
ed for human use. In Miles
canyon, close to Whitehorse, a
similar development is attain-
able. The Yukon is rich in po-
tential hydro-electric energy.
Yet in Whitehorse the privately
owned diesel-driven power plant
of the Yukon Electrical Go.,
eosts the citizen of Whitehorse
20 cents per kilowatt hour,
with a minimum monthly ser-
vice charge of $2.00—with no
compensation for the midnight
sun in the summer months. The
light bill of a Whitehorse citi-
zen would stagger the citizen
of Vancouver or Toronto.

PATHY in Ottawa towards
the development of a rich
Territory, plus the short-
sighted policies of a small mon-
opoly clique on the spot are the
main contributory factors in
the arrested development of
the Yukon. A  government-
owned and operated power plant
would cramp the style of the
“Yukon Hlectric Co.”, so to the
devil with power sites ...
“this has always been good
enough for us’, (which may be
quite true at 20 cents per kwh), -

soil = for

the Yukon

4

The civers of the Northwest hold tremendous
possibiltties for hydro-electric. development.

but “us” are not the people of
Whitehorse and the Yukon, to
the extent that “us” used to
be, much to the discomfort of
the old-guard tories. who have
always been- satisfied to leave
pus Yukon as a fertile hinter-
and.

Agricultural development in
the Yukon has suffered a like
strangulation in. its infancy.
There is a small body of opin-
ion who noisily repeat; “you
can’t grow nothing in the Yu-
kon” ... ‘the seasons are too
short” ... “there is no mar-
kets,” etc, ete. But this same
body of opinion, by some
Strange coincidence or other is
against all progressive ideas.

They don’t like the Alaska
Highway, and predict itS early
abandonment; they don’t like
the Northwest air routes; they
are already predicting that the
Canol project and the refinery
at Whitehorse will evaporate
with the coming of peace. Such
people can only see in the Yu-
kon a hinterland to be expoited
on an artificial “boomer” and
slump basis. The war, with
its relentless progress that
2rows out of the will to survive
has broken their. era of un-
broken rule. So the Yukon
“can’t grow nothine”’ and there
“ain’t no markets.”

In many areas of the Yukon
one can find ideal terrain and
grain, cattle, fruit.
field crops. and other diversi-
fied farming. The “lack” of a
market is tied up with mon-
opoly control of transport and
carrving charges, which serves
as an effective obstruction to
new settlers. There is little or
no encouragement siven to Ca-
nadians to come into the Yukon
to build homes and communi-
ties. Generally it is the other
way about; the “boomer” tra-
dition of 798 still prevails: come
in and take your chance .. .
make a stake if you can and
as fast as you can... and get
out while vou can. Hardly an

inducement for  permar
setlement and the building
a stable domestic market, ~

In recent days I have tra
ed over the vast country kn
as the Klondyke gold fields
have talked with many mir
and prospectors. men who h
made their homes in the Yuk
men who have lived close to
soil of the Yukon, and 1
know what it can produce
sides gold’ From Stewar
miner said to me: “Come uf
my place and I will show -
cabbage, potatoes, corn |
wheat that you cannot du
cate anywhere else in Canac
What those people forget 5
continually argue against
development of agriculture
the Yukon, is that in the So
Aretic—in terrain and soil
most identical with large ar
of the Yukon ‘Territory,
Soviet people, aided by ag
ernment which gives every
couragement and help, i
not only mastered the arc
but domesticated it to the ne
of man.

In a little family of fou
read an itemized “store hb
for food, covering from WN
21, 1942 to Sept. 9 1948,
51,023.38, which may expl
the desire of a few to she
“You can’t grow anything
the Yukon.’ The head of 7
famil~ had a clear case for
WPTB but being a fan
man, let it go. “Better ¢
way.” he said, “than fmd yo
self out on a limb.” For
monovolists it is much m
profitable to haul in potat
or other produce from ~
“outside,” than have the
koners producing their o
farm crops.

x

In meetings I have held
the Dawson area: in Daw
itself; Guggieville (the na
stems from early Guggenhe
er influence in the Yuke

Hunker, Bear Creek, Domin
Quartz. and

—Continued on Page

other places

All of this country is rich tn mineral resources. ©