IditaProject Forum

by **Frozen Chosen** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:16 am

The Yukon Quest is upon us once again. In a couple of days a bit more than a hand full of mushers will leave the interior gold rush town of Fairbanks, head up the Chena River toward the Mighty Yukon! There, in Circle City, the teams will veer east up this big river (as the Gwitchin or Kutchin Indians call it: Yuchoo) toward another gold rush town: Dawson City. Yes, this trail is replete with stories of gold, of men, hardy at best, seeking their fame, and fortune (yes you know that tune!) in a bygone year. Well, man hasn’t changed…but the venue has: a thousand mile sled dog race that will let your blood run cold! And as it was back in the early 1800s, only a handful dare travel this leg of the river deep in winter!

And yes, as the thermometer dips…as it usually does this time of year** …the howl of the wilderness canine can be heard over the deep valleys and rivers and over high hills, where that yellow glistening stone lured the ancestors of Lindner, Mackey, Anderson, Dalton, and Neff. Well, this is starting to sound like your Top Five now isn’t it? Well, how bout: Pelly, Campbell, Olgivie, Stewart, and Liard? Yes, the ancestors of today’s mushers, now their names are given to the hills, mountains, and streams along this “big” river.

Well, there is one place…one stream…that the white man never dared to name after their own kin. This, they acknowledged, was the name the first man maybe had rights to: the Gwitchin Indian’s name for the “big” river: the Youcon (as a Hudson Bay Explorer, John Bell, wrote when he first heard the name from the Gwitchin).

As the English and American explorers pushed their way northwest, and the Russians east and north, it never occurred to these seekers that, there, deep in the heart of northwest North America flowed a mighty stream. This stream alone fed countless tribes of the Athabaskan, Inuit, and Yupik peoples (three distinct groups!) with numerous species of fish (pike, sheefish, king salmon, dog salmon, bourbot, and grayling to name a few), big game (caribou, moose, black bear, grizzly), fowl (grouse, ptarmigan, ducks, geese, crane, and swan), timber (spruce, birch (with which many made the canoe), alder, cottonwood, larch), and yes thousands upon thousands of fur bearing animals (mink, marten, fox, wolf, squirrel, wolverine, otter, beaver, muskrat, coyote).

It was a dream land, and still is. The Keepers of the Land, the Gwitchin, dwelt within the heart of this might stream. Maybe they had a hard time coming up with some magnificent name. Maybe they couldn’t come up with one, so, what did they do…they came up with one that was as basic and simple as their lives: “The Big River”, the Yuchoo…the Youcon. The Yukon, then as now, was born, not so much geologically, but in the imagination of those who saw it for the first time. It was so big, so awesome, so magnificent…that NO name was worth it’s description. So, what did they call it? The Big River. The Yukon.

There, the first peoples, the first nation, the Gwitchin, as they are known today, settled, roamed, and sought out a way of life. The endless search for food, for shelter, for survival. (What in the world does one do when it dips down to -50 below Farenheit? How does one make it through the season of darkness and cold? How does one make it through the night?) Well, the Gwitchin found a way. And this river that flows two thousand miles and through countless tribes provided a way. Their quest was born.

To be continued…

**Circle City as of tonite has temps of -56F; Eagle is -53F; Dawson City has -57F, while Fbks is a balmy -40F!

by **braider** » Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:46 pm

As the Chippewa/Ojibway Native Americans of Northern Minnesota would say - Me Gwitch

by **dilli** » Mon Feb 18, 2008 7:16 pm

Hi Frozen

You're such a busy man. :shock:

You didn't finish Tales of Old: The Yukon Quest yet, so I thought I'd bump this thread up so you can easily find it again. I'm going to pass out soon holding my breath waiting for you to finish the rest of this glorious tale.