Johnny Semple (d. 1980)
Johnny Semple was born in the Peel River country. He was known throughout his life as a trapper, hunter, and provider, and was a lay minister in the Anglican Church. He was baptized in 1888. He was well-known in the Dawson-Mayo-Fort McPherson area. He often assisted with Gwitch’in services in the communities and those held by the people as they travelled on the land.1)
Johnny was a great storyteller. In 1931 he wrote a letter to the Dawson Daily News about a trip by the Peel River people who arrived in Dawson for Christmas in 1931. They travelled from the Blackstone River, having covered 150 miles in one week. At that time the group was six families; 34 people all together including 20 children, with 62 dogs.2)
The first time the Peel River people visited Dawson was during the Klondike Gold Rush and on another visit many of them died in the mountains. The children of those people were raised in the Blackstone and they married and moved their families to Fort McPherson some time ago. But they always talked about Dawson and how good it was and about the moose and caribou.3)
In 1931, they decided to go again to Dawson and about 100 people started off. They made about 10 miles a day and hunted for caribou along the way. On Sundays, two men held a church service. When they came to game country they stopped to “get fur” and then on to Dawson for “grub and stuff.” Out of those who started, only six families came on and they stayed at Blackstone in the spring. There was lots of beaver, but they were afraid to break the law hunting them. They came into Dawson in the summer with dog packs and stayed a couple of months while some of the boys helped build a house for Reverend Richard Martin. They returned to the Blackstone about August, just in time for the bull caribou run. They made dried meat and lard and pemmican for the fall trapping. At trapping season, everyone went in different directions, some 50 miles away and some 200 miles away. Johnny finished his letter by saying that they had some mountain sheep for sale.4)