Those who dwell in the far reaches of this northern land pay but small attention to the ordinary hazards of the wilderness, but the experiences of John Turner, speaker of the Yukon Council, W. L. Phelps and C. H. Johnston, members of the council from Southern Yukon, and Dr. Turnbull, veterinary for the White Pass, on their recent overland journey from Dawson to Whitehorse, will never be effaced from their memories as long as life shall last.
The party left Dawson on May 8th, in a White Pass stage, with Ernie Burwash holding the ribbons. At 10 o'clock on the morning of the 12th they reached Yukon Crossing and found the river ice solid, with the exception of several wide cracks, and
impossible to cross without the aid of a boat. A canoe was brought from the opposite shore by Herb McAdam and Jack Parker. Loading the canoe with the mail and their handbags, the
party made their way across the river, dragging the boat across the ice and riding in it where there was open water, and landing several hundred yards upstream from Clarke's roadhouse.
The travelers had heard of a big ice jam, thirty miles up the river at Carmacks, and within half an hour after their crossing the river it became apparent that
the jam above had gone out and that another one was forming in the solid ice below Yukon Crossing, for the water began to rise rapidly and in a few minutes everything was afloat.
The roadhouse and other buildings at Yukon Crossing are located on an island, surrounded by the river and a deep slough, the latter being dry most of the
summer. When it was discovered the river was backing up, the first thought was to save the
horses, and Dr. Turnbull and Charley Johnston forthwith proceeded to open the gates of the corral and let them out. Before they got through the water was up to their knees. The party then made a dash to where they had left the mail and their belongings and got the entire outfit onto the roofs of several nearby cabins. Phelps, Turner and Turnbull were on one cabin, Johnston on one, and Young, telegraph operator, another. By then the river was a sea of drifting ice, cakes of which, as large as a small house, were grinding together and turning topsy-turyy in the waste of waters. The ten horses of the stage company and
two belonging to Clarke were swimming around helplessly, trying to reach shore, and as one by one their strength became exhausted, sank to their death with nerve-racking screams.
Young had a canoe, and at Johnston's suggestion, paddled over to the latter, after which the two men got a larger boat and rescued the other members of the party and luggage and mail. They managed to get close to the shore with the boat, but the back water and ice came down with such force and suddenness that the boat was carried into the ice jam and Dr. Turnbull was the only one who managed to reach land. The drifting boat came alongside a telegraph pole, caught in the ice, one end of which reached within six or eight feet of shore, and Turner, taking the initiative, got astride it and pulling himself
along it until he reached the end, jumped for shore, but landed short, and would doubtless
have lost his life had he not caught some bushes and pulled himself ashore in an utterly exhausted condition, Phelps followed, but the end of the pole had shifted to a precipitous, rocky point, where there was no chance for a foothold. Johnston, seeing his predicament, shoved the pole shoreward and Phelps got out, Johnston followed after, and Young remained in the boat, which went down stream until it lodged and he walked ashore on the ice. The luggage and mail were also saved.
Ed. Reeves, White Pass stage driver, was caught by the flood at the stables, and had to swim about 50 feet to shore. That he did not lose his life was a
miracle.
Clarke's roadhouse was flooded to a foot above the second story floor, and the proprietor rescued his wife and granddaughter in a boat. Mrs. Clarke, in the act of stepping from a window into the boat, fell into the water, but she suffered nothing further therefrom than a thorough soaking of her clothing.
The damage from the flood amounted to about $12,000, the loss to the White Pass being about $8,000; Clarke, $3,000. and Young and Lokken about $1000.
