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Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star

Dateline: December 5, 2025.

The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse, Yukon) - Friday, December 14, 1934

    W. S. McGee, Great Falls, Mont., mining man and former Alaskan who admits with a chuckle that he is the "Sam McGee" of Robert W. Service's widely known poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee," was a Seattle visitor recently, says The Alaska Weekly.

    He related how Service wrote the poem in McGee's tent cabin on the banks of the Yukon River, and how he "got even with Bob" by taking him over the Whitehorse Rapids on a log raft.

    "I told him he had cremated me once, and that now I was going to plant him in a watery grave," McGee said. "We got through the rapids all right, but Service promised me he wouldn't abuse Sam McGee any more."

    McGee is in Seattle for several days on business connected with his mining interests.