Yukon who is who

John Bremner (1833 – 1888)

John Bremner was born in Rhynie, Aberdeenshire, Scotland and immigrated to Iowa. In 1884 he was living on the Copper River in Alaska, prospecting in the summer. He wrote a diary in the winter of 1884/85 that was later transcribed in a book, Shores and Slopes of Alaska.¹⁾

Bremner was living in Taral, an Ahtna village, two miles south of the confluence of the Copper and Chitina rivers in 1885. He was destitute and near starvation when the American Lieutenant Henry T. Allen’s party found him. The Army sent Lieut. Allen to explore the Copper River in 1885. He had $2000 and he outfitted himself, Private Frederick W. Fickett, and Sergeant Cady Robertson. John Pederson, a trader, joined the party at Nuchek. They started on March 29 and in a month had reached Taral. Bremner joined them and they went upriver to the camp of Nicolai, an Ahtna chief, who shared his food with them. He guided Allen's party back down the Chitna River and up the Copper River to the end of his territory. On 5 June, the party crossed the Suslota Pass into the Tanana River valley. They travelled down to the Yukon River to the Koyukuk River and investigated that river to a point above the Arctic Circle. They mapped the Copper, Tanana, and Koyukuk rivers and were the first to successfully ascend the Copper River and cross into interior Alaska.²⁾ In the fall of 1886, Bremner and fellow prospector Peder Johnson decided to stay for the winter at at Nuklukyet [Nuklukayet] (Old Station), about twenty-seven km below the town of Tanana. They prospected on the Koyukuk in the spring of 1887 and then Bremner explored the Dolby River and a tributary later called John’s River.³⁾

Bremner was up the Koyukuk and was short of supplies when he encountered Jim Bender and a few others. He borrowed a boat and few days provisions to get him to the mouth of the river. He stopped at an Ahtna camp and invited a young man to share a meal. While he was packing his boat to continue his trip, the young man picked up Bremner’s shotgun and killed him. John Minook had been travelling behind Bremner. He missed seeing him and sent word to all the communities about his disappearance. Bender learned about Bremner’s disappearance on 4 July and travelled to Nuklukyet where a miners’ meeting was convened, and a posse was formed. They commandeered a river steamer and appointed Gordon Bettles as the captain with Minook as the river guide. They found Bremner’s outfit and part of his boat in a river cache, so they were ready for a fight as they approached the river camp where Bremner was believed to have disappeared. They captured young Silas and his elderly uncle without a fight and took them back to the mouth. Silas admitted his guilt and the men of the posse hung him, leaving the elderly uncle to make his way home. At Tanana, both McQuesten and Al Mayo congratulated the men on their quick resolution of the event.⁴⁾