Lonny Johnny
Lonny Johnny was born at Lancing on the Stewart River to parents Isabel [or Elizabeth] and Fred Lightning. Fred Lightning was a trapper and the family moved around a lot.1) Fred’s father, Johnì, came from Fort Good Hope in the NWT and travelled to Lansing Creek by dog team. He trapped all over – at Wind River, Bonnet Plume, Snake River, Little Arctic River, and Arctic Red River. Lonnie’s mother’s father came from Fort McPherson and his mother Elizabeth [?] married Johnny, a man from Inuvik. Lonny’s sister, Eliza Farr, lived in Dawson. Lonny’s extended family spent the summers in Lansing.2)
In 1890, Frank Braine, an independent trader, persuaded the Mountain people to cross the Cordillera divide and settle on the Stewart River near Braine’s trading post near the mouth of Lansing Creek. Lonny Johnny made this trek across the Mackenzie Mountains with his family when he was a small boy.3) Johnny was raised at Lansing.4)
Louis Brown met Johnny at Lansing Post about 1938. They trapped together for years and Brown learned enough to be an accomplished woodsman. When Brown took up big game hunting in 1947 and became an outfitter, Johnny became his chief guide. He was unequalled in the bush. Once he travelled a trail he never forgot it. Sven Johanson, a big game outfitter, working on the Arctic Red River before there was road access, hired Lonny to deliver some horses from Mayo to his base camp. The trip was hazardous, and Johnny was a very small boy when he last crossed the divide. Weather and new growth had changed the old trail. There were treacherous rivers to cross, and maps were sketchy.5)
Johnny knew the habits of wildlife and could mimic their sounds. He had an extensive knowledge of medicinal plants and was adept in their use. He was an expert in using tact and diplomacy with difficult hunters and grumbling guides. He seldom lost his patience but when he did, he called hunters dumb white men with enough humour that they were amused. After Brown married Dolores Cline, Johnny took on the job of training her as well. He taught her to be cheerful no matter what pains she had. He also taught her it was impractical to worry. Johnny became famous as a guide and the Browns received many requests for his services. After their hunt, many hunters wrote to ask about his welfare. Johnny would start with a small dunnage bag but by the end of the season he had several bags of gifts from appreciative hunters. When Brown lay dying in 1987, he told his wife that Johnny was waiting for him with the pack horses that had gone before.6)
Johnny was one of five men hired by Lt. Bill Hammond to guide him from Mayo to Norman Wells in 1943. The American military was looking for an alternate route for the CANOL pipeline from Norman Wells to Whitehorse.7) No one was living at Lansing by 1947. Two buildings were used by Norman “Dinky” Mervyn and Lonny Johnny as trapline cabins.8) In the 1960s, both men worked on mineral exploration crews out of Elsa.9)