Michael “Mike” Powaschuk (1958 – 2015)

Mike Powaschuk (Mad Mike) was born in Swift Current, Saskatchewan. He visited the Yukon in 1981 and moved here in 1985, leaving the oil fields to work as a miner. He trapped and loved to hunt and fish and had great skill in the back country. He thought of himself as an accomplished Mountain Man and became one of Jim Robb's Colourful Five percent. He loved his community of Ross River and became fire chief in 1987, a role he held for thirty years. He served in the Army Reserves before coming to the Yukon and he led the Ross River Rangers as a Sergeant.¹⁾