Gene Dubois (1941 - 1997)
Gene Dubois was raised in St. Paul, Alberta and was of French, Irish, and Mohawk ancestry. He moved to the Yukon in the winter of 1966 to work on the building of the Clinton Creek asbestos mine. He returned eleven years later via the Yukon River on a raft with almost no money. He settled in Dawson and became a trapper/fisherman with a reputation for singing in the local bars and music festivals. In the 1990s, he turned his battle with alcohol into a stark play called “Whiskey” and produced this with the help of the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation. Over the years he held many jobs including butcher, tour guide, ferry operator, and writer. In 1983, he became internationally famous for mushing the mail from Dawson to Quebec City. It took him from 20 August 1982 to 23 February 1983. He made it with nine of the ten dogs he left the Yukon with and eight of the twelve dogs he left Dawson with. Gene had kids from a previous marriage and, after Gene found him, son Jeff moved to the Yukon. Gene married again, to Marie Gogo, but they also divorced. Gene had a rough childhood and did not like to be alone. Gene started the annual kids' ice fishing derby under the sponsorship of the Yukon Order of Pioneers (YOOP). A week before he died, he was working with heavy equipment on a highway crew. He had chronic back problems from a logging accident. Sadly, Gene Dubois took his own life on 2 August 1997.1)