An Albertan and The Yukon Territory of 1898

Route Stikine

On May 20, 1898, Arthur St. Cyr sailed on a Scottish built Canadian Pacific Railway Company’s steamer Athenian from Vancouver to Wrangell to reach Teslin Lake via Stikine River. He was unable to use the regular route through Skagway (Alaska), so he chose the rough trail of Nahlin River in Northwestern British Columbia.

The intent was to survey the area east of Teslin Lake, which included the Nisutlin, Big Salmon, Pelly, and Ross rivers. The terrain of the destination and his changed route limited his survey to Nisutlin and Big Salmon, which probably seemed like a missed milestone at the time. It wasn’t, because the scope change gave him the opportunity to explore the Quiet Lake batholith and discover Mount St. Cyr.

Source: Canadiana (Exploration of the country east of Teslin Lake)

The Yukon Eclogites

In 1968, a geologist found the first eclogite specimen of the Canadian Cordillera near Tay River (NW of Quiet Lake). For many years, geologists agreed that the Yukon eclogites were exotic and associated with the Slide Mountain terrane, but a 2014 study of eclogite near the St. Cyr area revealed that the Yukon eclogites metamorphosed in situ and were part of the Yukon-Tanana Terrane (YTT).

Source: Geological Survey of Canada (An occurrence of eclogite near Tintina Trench, Yukon)

Aaranya Susipetonen, one of my fictional characters, is following Cyr’s survey notes during her field trip at the Quiet Lake batholith. In Prof. Long’s notes, she finds a reference to Cyr’s survey that describes the Teslin-Quiet Lake area.

She’s back on Canol road near Sidney Lake (south of Quiet Lake), which is a tributary of Nisutlin River. She will be here for two weeks, traversing the same routes taken by Arthur St. Cyr during his 1898 exploration of the Nisutlin and Big Salmon rivers.

She makes a partially erroneous connection between Cyr’s journey and the Yukon eclogites for a discussion with her friend, Jalo Monivilja, who is a geologist from Newfoundland and Labrador. He isn’t too far from the Yukon though, as he is collecting serpentinized rock samples near the Nahlin mountain for his research on carbonation potential.

The elevation map and alteration mineral mapping for this region need more work, so Jalo’s colleagues have their work cut out for them. If this Nahlin area proves to be promising for carbon sequestration, Jalo won’t have much spare time for Aaranya’s rescue effort.

Can Aaranya Susipetonen solve the mystery of the chosen rock without a geologist?

Nose Hill Park, Alberta

Being able to visit Nose Hill Park often is a delight, and it pushed me to reconsider my character’s hometown. Aaranya is an Albertan for sure, but where should I place this character? Grande Cache is my first choice, but Rainbow Lake in northern Alberta is a strong contender because of the key role it plays in my story.

Image credit: Shot by the author when she visited Nose Hill Park in Fall 2024.

She could be a Calgarian, but she is studying prehistoric animals. Plus, she brought home a gold medal for Canada in the 1997 World Figure Skating Championship after a mediocre performance at Northlands Coliseum the previous year. I want to go with Grande Cache, but she seems like an Edmontonian.

Does she like the Oilers? I don’t know yet.

Podcast Note

This is a non-commercial project and a work of fiction, so everything herein is imaginary with some dangling facts. You will hear your host give you some context throughout this episode, which includes an excerpt from Wolves of the Yukon by Bob Hayes. Your host has received permission to read some excerpts from the book. Susi means wolf in Finnish, which is why this book is extremely close to your host.

The following YouTube video is a conversation with Bob Hayes on The Wolf Connection Podcast.

Cover Image

Taken by Letty during her road trip from Northern British Columbia to Québec. It’s a gorgeous hamlet of Alberta called Grande Cache.

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