Robert Alexie (b. 1934)

Robert Alexie was born in the Peel River watershed in 1934. His mother was Bella Alexie. His grandfather is buried along the Hart River downriver from Horseshoe Mountain. His father was born in 1887 and his mother in 1892 or '93. Robert and his siblings grew up in the Blackstone watershed. Deception Mountain, or //Vinidiinlaii// (where the water hits the mountain), is an important place to Alexie's people. It is located on the Wind River, just upstream from where the Wind meets the Peel River.  His parents set up camp there in the winter because the caribou often wintered there. Lots of people in tents would stay there. In the summer Robert worked in the Fort McPherson visitors centre telling visitors of his river adventures. In 1959 he took a trip from Fort McPherson to Dawson by dog team with his aging father. The old man showed the way and wanted to see Dawson again before he got too old. Around 1974 he started travelling to encourage people to protect the Peel River watershed.((Jacqueline Ronson, “The People of the Peel." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 31 January 2014.))