Yukon who is who

Joe Gardner

Joe Gardner was a First Nations pilot from the Fraser River Valley. Gardner was captain of the Yukon sternwheeler Dawson. The Dawson had virtually an all-First Nation crew at one point.¹⁾ The steamer Yukon travelled across the Canadian/ United States border on its run down the Yukon River. The boat had to have a Canadian pilot in Canadian waters and in the late 1930s it was always the very able Joe Gardiner.²⁾

¹⁾

Robert G. McCandless, “Western Steamboats and the Yukon River.” National Museums of Canada, NFB, 1978: 11.

²⁾

Arthur E. Knutson, Sternwheels on the Yukon. Snohomish, Washington: Knutson Enterprises, Inc. 1979: 42.