Erwin “Ernie” Barz (1917 - 2011)

Ernie Barz was born in Sandhof, East Prussia, Germany to August and Hulda Barz. August lost his savings in hyperinflated Germany and emigrated to Canada in 1927. His family joined him in the Salmon River valley in British Columbia in 1928. Sons Art and Ernie trapped before moving to Vancouver Island where they worked as loggers. In March 1937, they heard about the high wages paid at the Keno silver mine. The two brothers and Max Hopperdietzel boarded the Princess Norah for Skagway at the end of April. They arrived in Whitehorse during spring break-up and were unable to follow through with their plan to walk to walk the 475 km to Keno.¹⁾

The Barz brothers changed their plans, hearing that the dredge companies in Dawson were hiring men. They were in Dawson for two weeks before YCGC hired them. The work driving steam points was hard and muddy, so the company thought the Barz boys were too young to stick it out when older and supposedly tougher men were quitting after a few days. It was during this time that the Barz brothers met Harry Schmidt. In 1938, the brothers worked as carpenter helpers on the construction of Dredge No. 8 in the Sulphur-Dominion area.²⁾

The brothers had thought to trap during the winter, but in 1937 the Yukon government changed the Yukon Game Ordinance to establish an annual license fee of $250 for non-resident British subjects and a $300 fee for non-British subjects. A person had to live in the Yukon for two continuous years to qualify for residency. The brothers cut 100 cords of wood at Phil Harris’ wood camp 19 miles upriver from Dawson in the winter of 1937-38. They met Chappie Chapman when they were working at Hunker Creek and he would bring tourists out to the creeks on a tour. The brothers did trap a bit that winter and sold their furs to Chappie at the NC Co. store.³⁾

Ernie and Art worked for YCGC again in the summer of 1938 and prepared to go trapping that winter with partner Henry Schmidt. Chappie Chapman helped them get prospecting permits that got them around the legal restrictions for trapping. They were flown into the Bonnet Plume country by pilot Everett Wasson. The lake they landed on, about three miles west of the river, would later be named Chappie Lake.⁴⁾ The Barz brothers flew into Chappie Lake again in 1939 and relocated their main trapping cabin to the Bonnetplume River where they started a garden and supplemented their diet with wild game and berries.⁵⁾

After the first year, the brothers didn’t trap together. Ernie trapped into the Hart River and the Blackstone and trapped with Louis Brown over to the Wind River. Art went towards the Snake River and the Mackenzie Mountains. They spent the summers exploring and prospecting. In 1940, the Barz brothers made a deal with Chappie Chapman to run a trading post for him. Chappies’ Trading Post was on the Bonnett Plume River.⁶⁾

When Chappie Chapman was killed in a plane crash at the end of January 1941, he was bringing in cargo for the Barz brothers at Chappie’s Bonnet Plume trading post. The Barz were forced to snowshoe out of the Bonnet Plume country. Expecting to replenish their supplies, they had traded everything they had to the First Nation trappers. The Gwich’in trappers in the area included John Modeste, Abraham Alexie, and Johnny Semple. They decided to go to Mayo although Fort McPherson was a shorter distance with a flatter terrain. Mayo was a larger centre with cheaper prices. They mushed up the Wind River, following the old Mounted Police route, and were fortunate to meet Robert Martin, experienced guide, trapper, and hunter. Martin was travelling without dogs, and he shot a moose which was fortunate for the out-of-supplies brothers. They stayed at Louis Brown’s cabin on the Wind River and dried the moose meat for travelling on to Mayo with Robert Martin.( (Don Barz, Yukon Wanderlust. Celticfrog Publishing, 2021: 196, 201-214, 216-221.)

After arriving in Dawson in March 1941, Chapman’s widow signed over his trading post permit and trapper’s license to Ernie. They managed to reclaim the freight from the downed plane including a cake made by the Barz brothers’ mother. They mushed back to their trap line, taking Peter Henry with them. Seventeen-year-old Peter was Johnny Semple’s nephew. The Barz named Chappie Lake, where they had built their first cabin in 1938, in his honour. The Barz brothers and Peter Henry built a cabin and a boat at Margaret Lake in 1941. They used a cross-cut saw they found in Aaron Knorr’s long abandoned cache. They spent the month of June fishing and planting their first garden.⁷⁾

The Barz brother were aware of world affairs and the Second World War through their short-wave radio. They knew that plane service would be interrupted to the back country through the need for fighting pilots. Les Cook flew in in February, forty-four days overdue. He brought 1,500 pounds of supplies and took out twenty-five pounds of fur. He gave them the news that White Pass Airways had been sold to Canadian Pacific Railway and would operate as Yukon Southern Air Transport. They could not guarantee that another plane could come in June. When no plane arrived, the brothers floated down to Fort McPherson. They left all their equipment, cabins and supplies to Peter who died of tuberculosis in 1946.⁸⁾

Ernie and Art moved to Salmon Arm and bought a farm with the money they had from the fur business. In 1944, Ernie sold his half of the farm to Art and went to serve with the First Edmonton Regiment in the Canadian Army. He saw front line duty during the Second World War, was wounded in 1945, and returned to Canada and operated a poultry farm with his wife in Pitt Meadows. They lived in several places before retiring in Salmon Arm where Art remained. Art and his wife made several trips to the Yukon where they visited old friends. Ernie’s Barz’ son Don lived in the Yukon from 1985 to 1992 and worked in land use planning and environmental assessment.⁹⁾

The Barz brothers’ photo collection, which includes photos taken by the Barz’ trapping partner Henry Schmidt, is held at the Yukon Archives.