By the 1890s, local traders were growing vegetables to supplement a monotonous diet of beans, bread and mouldy bacon. Klondike gardeners discovered the need for fresh produce to feed the residents at Dawson and the surrounding creeks. Miners were willing to pay higher prices for fresh produce. Sound familiar? Dawsonites are still content to purchase local produce and pay a good price for it!
“Yukon apples” (turnips) proved to be one of the most-successful crops, and traders Jack McQuesten (one of the founding members of the Yukon Order of Pioneers, which was established in 1894) and his wife, Satejdenalno Ngetah (Kate), grew tons. Their success could perhaps be attributed to owning the only plough in the Yukon and also trying to train two tame moose to pull it. The vegetables from Satejdenalno’s bountiful gardens helped many a miner to fend off scurvy, while the medicinal herbs she sold kept away other illnesses. Mother of 11 children, Satejdenalno integrated both Indigenous and American customs into her lifestyle and became a much-respected community leader at Forty Mile.
It is interesting to discover articles about the adventurous individuals who came to the Klondike in search of their fortune, only to discover that many of the claims had already been staked and that they were too late. Local entrepreneurs, such as Satejdenalno, welcomed those trying to scratch out an existence in the Klondike.
Entrepreneurs have always had a knack for looking around, discovering a niche that needs to be filled and creating a business to meet that need. Another such individual was Turner Townsend.
Townsend had been in Dawson and was a Yukon Order of Pioneers (YOOP) member since 1897. He ran a cigar store, “Townsend & Rose” (circa 1903), with Daniel Rose and with the assistance of his wife, Francis. Turner and Francis and their children, Emma, Lil, Jim, George, Charlie, Alfred and Norton, were well-known in town. The Townsends were involved in all aspects of community life, notably in playing hockey for the Odd Fellows, and as active Freemasons. Two of the Townsend boys enlisted with the George Black contingent, in 1916, and survived the frontline.
Turner became a popular school janitor and local florist in the 1910s. He was well-known for the lush greenhouses and gardens at his Eighth Avenue home, next to Robert Service. His green thumb (and homegrown floral arrangements, in particular) won many a horticultural prize and much community praise. Even in the depths of winter, he sheltered some crops in the school classrooms where he cleaned.
Most of his flowers were in fact, artificial flowers bought from local hat shops and were, according to Laura Berton in her book I Married the Klondike, “bought from the wholesale milliner-supply companies Outside and fashioned into exquisite arrangements.” As one customer noted in her book, “in spite of sub-zero weather, friends could send a floral tribute to the departed … or dress up their dinner party, or throw a wedding bouquet. Townsend’s flowers provided a touch of colour and class to Klondikers, even in the bleakest of months.”
If you have a family member, friend or ancestor who has (or had) a passion for gardening, please drop me a line at hdewell@yahoo.ca
