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i:chi_isaac

Chief Isaac, Azhanta and Gats'ada (d. 1920)

Golan (Klukwan) and Madaka (Fort Selkirk) had one surviving child, Isaac, chief at Aishihik. Chief Isaac had two Indigenous names and one, Gats'ada, was also given to his grandson, Eddie Isaac. Mary Jacquot tells a story about how Chief Isaac saved his people from starvation by shooting a cow moose with a bow and arrow and feeding the people in his camp very slowly, so they would not get sick. He also took some meat to the starving people at Asheyi village where some people had already died. This was during the coldest winter in history. Gats'ada became a very important name among the Aishihik people and the name could only be given to a man of the Crow clan who helped his people in time of need and friendship. His son, Eddie Isaac who shared the name, was a good trapper and hunter, never turning away anyone who came to him in need, and he always shared moose meat with his people.1)

Chief Isaac was the guide for Glave and Dalton when they wandered into Southern Tutchone territory in 1890/91.2)

Isaac Creek, west of Aishihik Lake, is named for Chief Isaac.3)

1)
Margaret Workman, ed. Kwaday Kwandur: Traditional Southern Tutchone Stories. Yukon Native Language Centre, 2000: 12-15; Dakeyi Teaching Guide: Southern Tutchone Place Names, Yukon Native Language Centre, 1997: 65.
2)
Catherine McClelland, “The Girl Who Married the Bear: A Masterpiece of Oral Tradition.” Publications in Ethnology; 2. Ottawa: National Museums of Canada. 1970: 53-54. 2008 website: http://collections.civilisations.ca/multimedia/3143/840/PUB-E-1970-2E-028_033.pdf
3)
Dakeyi Teaching Guide: Southern Tutchone Place Names, Yukon Native Language Centre, 1997: 65.
i/chi_isaac.txt · Last modified: 2024/09/27 12:33 by sallyr