C Ihe Ladies c cu. V'VVAN - History and Classics, Department of

282 Notes to Poges 160-165, 218rectorship of Christ Church, Whitehorse. In 1905, hesucceeded Bompas as bishop of Selkirk (the name of thediocese changed from Selkirk to Yukon in 1907). From 1907to 1931, the Stringers lived in Dawson and travelled throughoutthe North, including trips together across Peel River Portage.It was in 1909 that, during a winter journey, he and acompanion ran out of food and had to eat their moccasins,thus earning Stringer the sobriquet, "The Bishop who ate hisboots." In 1931, he became Metropolitan of Rupert's Land,and he and his wife moved to Winnipeg for the remainder oftheir lives (Sovereign 3-21,27-30). By Laura Berton, SadieStringer was remembered as '''the sort of woman who immediatelyhands you a piece of pie as soon as you cross herthreshold'" (59; qtd in Backhouse 123). The standard biographyof Bishop Stringer is by Frank Peake.Field Note for Thursdqy 22 JulyGwen + our stalwart guide David are paddlingDorrien Smith's field note for this date clarifies that "Claraand I [were] taking turns with the paddle at two-hour spellseach."CHAPTER 25: To FORT YUKON (23-26 JULY)"My name is Hely," said the man who had been steering thegas boatWhen he visited Rampart House in August 1906, Elihu Stewartmet "a French Canadian, bearing the Hibernian name ofHealy, [who] ... was in charge of the store" (147). Perhaps thisis the man in question. On 28 August, Platt met him comingupriver with his partner (31). The caption on an undatedphoto of Cadzow, Healy, and others at Rampart House listsHealy's first name as Henry (Alaska-Canada 65-31-76), and asHarry on the photo above, 158.the Sheenjek RiverUpstream from its confluence with the Yukon River, thePorcupine has four principal tributaries flowing in from thenorth; in order from east to west, they are the Bell, Old Crow,Coleen, and Sheenjek, the latter two being in Alaska. Flowingin from the south, the Black and Salmon rivers are the twoprincipal tributaries, both in Alaska.our arrival at Fort YukonIn 1846, Fort Yukon was established on the east bank of theYukon River just up from its confluence with the PorcupineRiver by Alexander Hunter Murray of the HBC. At 145"17' W.,it stood well west of the 141st meridian, the internationalborder officially set by the Anglo-Russian Treaty of 1825.(Fort Yukon, about eleven degrees oflongitude west of FortMcPherson, was the HBC's second most westerly post-a shortlivedpost operated at Hawaii, another eleven degrees west ofFort Yukon.) Despite an "1839 agreement between the HBCand the Russian American Fur Company under which theformer firm promised to refrain from trading on Russianterritory" (Coates 61), the British found themselves unencumberedby Russian interference. Only after seventeen years ofoperation did the first Russian trader, Ivan Simonsen Lukeen,reach the fort from the sea (Wilson 47). The British operationthrived for two full decades, "returning profits as high as£4,200 in 1866" and consistently ranking "among the topthree posts of the Mackenzie River District" (Coates 63).In 1867, the annexation of Alaska by the Americans initiateda period of tension over the location of the fort, but, soprofitable were its returns, the HBC was loathe to abandon it,even though it had to be supplied from across the mountains.In August 1869, not only did Capt Charles W. Raymondformally notify John Wilson, acting factor at the post, that FortYukon stood on American soil, but also he exceeded hiswritten orders by taking possession of the fort in the name ofthe United States. At the time, it comprised a six-room housefor the chief factor and six other buildings for a complementof seven HBC men and one Church of England clergyman(Dall 103). Rev William West Kirkby had visited the post firstin 1861, and Fort Yukon featured an Anglican presence fromthat year onward (Allen Wright 87).In due course, Fort Yukon became the property of theNorthern Commercial Company, which continued the furtrade there for only a few years before trade declined and thepost was abandoned, later to be torn down to supply wood forthe Yukon steamers (Wilson 51): "By 1890, only a chimney,mounds of ashes, and a few graves marked the location ....Gold discoveries in the 1890' s provided a measure of revivalfor the site as a supply depot and pilot station" (Lain 16).