The Invincible Martha Black

A Klondike Gold Rush odyssey featuring "The First Lady of the Yukon." Climb the treacherous Chilkoot Pass, run the Whitehorse Rapids, and experience what was once the most famous city on Earth: Dawson City.

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There were many, MANY more entertaining characters in Dawson City we wish we’d had time to include in the episode. We’re very much hoping that we’ll be able to cover some of them in more detail in the future. In fact, we’ve already shot a bunch of footage for an episode about Klondike Kate Rockwell and her rival in Whitehorse, Klondike Kate Ryan, which we’ll be releasing some time in 2019. Make sure you subscribe so you don’t miss it!

There was also Belinda Mulroney, “the richest woman in the Klondike”, whose broken-down pet mule, Gerry, had a habit of poking his head into the saloons to and getting drunk on free booze until he finally got kicked out. (At least, according to some stories — including the tales Pierre Berton tells in “Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush”, although we’ve been told that he could get more than a little carried away with repeating the most exciting myths sometimes.)

There was “Swiftwater” Bill Gates, a dishwasher from Idaho whose claim on Bonanza Creek was so rich he paraded through the muddy streets in a top hat, with a diamond pin in his tie and the only starched collar in town. He fell so deeply in love with a teenage dancer that he offered her her weight in gold if only she would marry him—but still got soundly rejected. He died decades later, searching for silver in Peru.

There was Charlie Kimball, who sold his claim on Bonanza Creek for $100,000, opened a dancehall and was so excited by its success that he got drunk for three straight months, spent all his money on booze, and lost his dancehall in the process.

There’s more to the story of Martha and George, too—especially when it comes to their contributions to the First World War.

When the war broke out, the Blacks were determined to do their part. George created his own Yukon Infantry Company and convinced nearly 300 men to sign up. And when they sailed off to join the fight, Martha made sure she was with them. She spent the war in England, working harder than she’d ever worked before: volunteering for the Red Cross and the YMCA, writing reports for the newspapers back home, and visiting wounded soldiers in hospital. She was even made a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society thanks to a series of talks she gave about the flora of Yukon. (She was very much an expert on the subject; in fact, the Canadian Pacific Railway displayed the art she made of pressed flowers in hotels across the country.)

Just a few months before the end of the war, George joined the list of the wounded. At the Battle of Amiens, his legs were hit by shrapnel and cut through by a machine gun bullet.

And the Blacks were far from the only Yukoners who made sacrifices during those terrible years of the war. Dawson City and Whitehorse spent more per capita on war bonds than any other cities in Canada. And in 1918, the territory was devastated by the sinking of the SS Sophia. The steamship was owned by the Canadian Pacific Railway, ferrying passengers between Alaska and Vancouver — including soldiers destined for the front lines in Europe. There were more than 350 people on board when the ship struck a reef. It was stranded there for nearly 48 hours, in sight of the desperate rescuers who tried and failed to save the passengers before the ship finally sank beneath the waves. Every single one of them died. This, too, is a story we’d like to cover in more detail someday. You can read more about the sinking of the Sophia from the Canadian mint, who created a memorial coin this year, here: https://bit.ly/32oong4

Note: The portrait of Martha Black used in the episode for her journey to Dawson is a substitute for the fact there are no usable photos of her during her younger days. Rather than use a photo of an elderly Martha Black, we chose to find a public domain image that closely resembled her since Martha was not an elderly woman when she first came to Yukon--she grew old here in Canada, and we didn't think it would make sense to use a late photo for her 20s and 30s. We believe strongly that the animations in Canadiana episodes are a way to connect to the past, so we make decisions to strengthen that sensibility, even if it means fudging some lines (think: re-enactments).

A big thank you to Alpine Aviation, Janet and Gerd, and to our pilot Andrew who gave us the experience of a lifetime flying over Chilkoot Pass!

Видео The Invincible Martha Black канала Canadiana