We went to the Marge of Lake Leberge .....

 ....but we did not see Sam McGee!

Dear Blog Readers 

This post will be about the famous Yukon poet, Robert Service.  

He wrote the famous poem "The Cremation of Sam McGee" using the name of a real live person who was a miner and a road builder WHO BUILT THE BRIDGE AT CANYON CREEK.  The real Sam McGee was from Ontario but Robert Service needed a name that matched with Tennessee.

Cremation of Sam McGee

There are strange things done in the Midnight Sun

By the men who moil for gold

The Arctic Trails have their secret tales,

That would make your blood run cold;

The Northern Lights have seen queer sights,

But the queerest sights they ever did see

Was the night on the marge of Lake LeBarge

I cremated Sam McGee.

It turns out Sam McGee was Not Happy to have name used in a poem and be cremated when he was still very much alive. This caused him to be very unhappy with Robert Service but later in life they became friends

Robert Service was a failed banker from Scotland who was sent to British Columbia and then to Whitehorse. From there the bank sent him to Dawson (in 1908 -years aftervthe gold rush)  and he wrote poems on the side. He wrote 2 of his most famous poems in Dawson, Sam McGee and "The Shooting of Dan McGrew".  He sent the poems to his dad was living in Toronto who found a publisher that made the poems wildly famous. 

Robert Service quit his bank job and became a successful poet. 

Here are some photos of Lake LeBerge and then Robert Service's house in Dawson City