F: The Yukon to Teslin at Mile 776.5

   On 6/28, we entered the Yukon Territory at Watson Lake and spent the night near the Sign Post Forest. Their motto is The Yukon, Larger than Life.  It is large, just a bit larger than California … but with only one-thousandth the number of people in that 3rd-largest state.

 The next day, we moved on to Teslin: a town of 450 permanent residents, and with rich history in First Nation Culture.  There, we learned about George Johnston: a member of the Tlingit tribe in the early 20th century who was a trader, a photographer and a respected member of his community, and a man whose philosophy has a lot to offer the world today.

  Watson Lake is in a hunting/fishing region.  About the only thing of note in this community is the Sign Post Forest: about an acre of community erected 12'-high posts that visitors use to attach street signs and other customized mementos of their origin.  Of course, our Tour Group added our own signpost.

Teslin is situated at the confluence of Nisutlin River and Teslin Lake: tributaries to the 3rd longest river in the world - The Yukon River.  Teslin began as a trading post.  Capitalizing on the 35mile long lake that allowed ready connection for the Tlingit and exploratory trappers to commerce at Whitehorse - by barge in the summer and over the ice in winter.  Beginning in the late 1890's a sequence of paddlewheel steamers traveled up the Yukon from the West Coast, then on to Whitehorse and eventually to Teslin by rivers and lakes.

The hunting and trapping skills of the Tlingit made them abundantly successful in selling furs and flesh to into the burgeoning marketplace that grew along the river in the early 20th century.  One of the most remarkable of these was George Johnston.  He was an entrepreneur and an early technology adaptor of the first magnitude.  One of his earliest interests was photography.  He photographed and developed photos and movies of his people, their work, their art and their heritage.  These form a significant element of the George Johnson Museum.

  George Johnston also brought the first automobile to Teslin, a 1928 Chevrolet, hauled by paddle-wheel into town some 13 years before the AlCan Highway.  George used the vehicle for hauling during the summer, on short roads he paid his friends to help build.  Gasoline was scarce so he often used naphtha from the druggist for fuel.  In winter, he took the Chevy onto the lake as a hunting transport.  Since it was black, it often kept the animals away … so he painted it white with housepaint as a form of camouflage against the snow.  He used a number of colors for various seasons, just painting over the last version.  This car now resides in the Museum, restored (they hope) to it's original color.

 

A significant feature of the Museum is an excellent documentary film by Carol Geddes* that depicted much of the work and activities of George Johnston.  Unfortunately, I can't find any part of this on YouTube for you.  But, I loved the tag line  ...  In 1951, when George was notified that the Parliament had recently passed significant and favorable amendments to the Indian Act, George responded to the effect … Thanks, anyway - I've got my own Act.

* Picturing a People: George Johnston, Tlingit Photographer, Nutaaq Media Inc.

 You are here; Tour Miles 1327-1620