Peter Moses (1882 - 1963)

Peter Moses was born around Fort Yukon in Alaska and was an orphan from when he was small. He became a good hunter and trapper, and broke trail for the RCMP and mail carriers on the Yukon River. In 1901, Peter Moses married Myra and that winter they trapped around Black River, Alaska. They stayed for three years and in 1904 came back up to the Porcupine River. They met Dan Cadzow on the river and moved to Rampart House, Yukon where Cadzow had a post. They eventually moved to Old Crow where they raised eight children. They travelled over the mountains to Fort McPherson and stayed for two years and Moses hunted for the community. They moved back to Old Crow where they stayed. They made him a chief and he stayed in that role for eighteen years. The family trapped in Crow Flats and got lots of mink there. That was during the Second World War.1)

Chief Peter Moses, from Old Crow, used to come over to Herschel Island from Old Crow to trade in the 1930s and 1940s. Moses was a young man then and he came over to Herschel a lot and knew the trail through Blackfox that no one uses anymore.2) He traveled to Herschel Island for supplies and worked there for many years on patrols with the RCMP.3)

In September 1941, Chief Peter Moses brought RCMP Corporal Bayne a package of dollar bills adding up to $393. It was donations from 150 Old Crow residents as a gift to children in London who had suffered in air raids during the Second World War. The Canadian High Commissioner, Vincent Massey, decided the money would be spent on clothing for the children in the worst-bombed areas of London, and forty-seven children in the boroughs of Southwark, Bermondsey, and Lambeth benefited. Massey arranged a party and the proceedings were broadcast to Canada on 5 March 1942. Massey told his audience about Old Crow and they saw a film about Canadian life. The children wrote letters back to Old Crow and they were delivered to the village five months later.4)

Malcolm MacDonald and Charles Camsell travelled to Old Crow in 1942 on behalf of the British Government to thank the village for their generosity. MacDonald’s speech was translated by Tom Njootli and he also translated Peter Moses’ reply. Peter Moses and his wife Myra hosted a dance for the guests. When the MacDonald party left Old Crow, Chief Moses handed then an additional $58 collected by the school children.5)

Chief Peter Moses was awarded a British Empire medal from the British Government.6)

1) , 3)
Interview with Myra Moses in Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation & Shirleen Smith, People of the Lakes: Stories of Our Van Tat Gwich’in Elders. University of Alberta Press, 2009: 114- 116.
2)
David Neufeld, “Jim Hickling, RCMP ret'd: Herschel Island RCMP Detachment, 1953-1956.” Interview Transcript and Photos. Western Arctic Field Unit - Parks Canada. Whitehorse 2004: 7-8.
4) , 5)
Malcolm MacDonald, Down North. Oxford University Press, 1943: 115-17, 120-21, 139.
6)
Vuntut Gwich’in First Nation & Shirleen Smith, People of the Lakes: Stories of Our Van Tat Gwich’in Elders. University of Alberta Press, 2009: LIX.