Yukon who is who

Charles Wilson (d. 1939)

Charles Wilson was originally from Texas.¹⁾ In 1907, he travelled up the Ross River with Joseph Keele’s survey party.²⁾ Wilson was known to be searching for the lost McHenry Mine somewhere between the Macmillan and the headwaters of the Nahanni River.³⁾

Wilson occasionally traded at Lansing Post on the Stewart River and always paid in gold. One year he left Mervyn's Lansing post with a pack and a pack dog and was not seen again for eleven years.⁴⁾ He reappeared one day with his dog as if nothing had happened.⁵⁾ He brought in fifty to sixty pounds of the richest samples ever seen in the Mayo office. He lived near Mayo for a time but returned to Lansing in 1939.⁶⁾ He was found at Lansing with only some fox meat for food. He had fed everything he had to his dog, who remained healthy, while he starved to death.⁷⁾

¹⁾ , ⁴⁾ , ⁶⁾

Linda E.T. MacDonald and Lynette R. Bleiler, Gold & Galena. Mayo Historical Society, 1990: 472.

²⁾

J. Keele, “Explorations on the Pelly, Ross and Gravel rivers, in the Yukon and Northwest Territories.” Sessional Paper No 28. Geological Survey, Department of Mines. 1909: 33-4.

³⁾

J. Keele, A reconnaissance across the Mackenzie Mountains on the Pelly, Ross and Gravel Rivers, Yukon Territory and the Northwest Territories. Geological Survey of Canada Publication No 1097. Ottawa, 1910: 50 in G.P. Kershaw and L. J. Kershaw, “A National Historic Resource: the Canol Project, Northwest Territories.” Yellowknife: Government of the Northwest Territories, 1982: 2.

⁵⁾ , ⁷⁾

Delores Smith, “More Mad Trappers.” The Yukoner Magazine, No 10, January 1999: 25-26.