George M. Skirving
North-West Mounted Police Sergeant George Skirving climbed the Chilkoot Pass with Sam Steele in February 1898 to confirm that the summit detachments were open.1) Sergeant Skirving later led a patrol from Dawson to LaPierre House to investigate the deaths or disappearance of stampeders Moffat, Belleveau, and Holmes, who had started for the Yukon over the Edmonton Trail in 1897.2)
The patrol travelled to Forty Mile and collected D. A. McPhee, the original guide of the Moffat party. At a First Nation camp at the mouth of the Bell River, they learned that two of the men had been buried and they identified Moffat and Holmes. The body of Belleveau was never found. On October 1st, the patrol started over the mountains for LaPierre House where First Nations people were reported to be starving. They arrived at LaPierre on October 19th to find conditions were improved. They started a return trip via the Old Crow River and Rampart House which they reached on November 1st. The patrol left Circle City, Alaska on November 20th. Skirving's sled tipped over and an axe cut his leg so badly he returned to Circle City and sent the patrol on to Dawson. Skirving returned to Dawson in December when he was fit to travel.3)
On the way back, and just over the border into the Yukon, Skirving met Edward McBeath on the trail into Alaska. In Forty Mile, Skirving found that McBeath was wanted for stealing six dogs. He retraced his route with Constable Samuel Kembry and arrested and escorted McBeath back to Dawson.4) Skirving’s patrol was the first two-way patrol for the Mounted Police. He was also able to report that American whalers on Hershel Island were trading with the local First Nations and not paying duty.5)
Skirving was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Colonial Forces and was killed in action in South Africa.6)