"THE GRAND OLD MAN OF THE YUKON"
PIERRE NOLASQUE TREMBLAY (nickname Jack)
"THE GRAND OLD MAN OF THE YUKON"
PIERRE NOLASQUE TREMBLAY --(surnommé Jack)
(Philibert + Eléonore Potvin
Pierre Nolasque Tremblay
Pierre Nolasque Tremblay was born in 1860 at Ste Anne de Chicoutimi, QC. Since he did not like work having to do with agriculture, he left his native village at the age of 21 to look for work elsewhere. From one endeavor to another, he finally ended up in the Yukon in 1886; there he found rich veins of gold in Miller Creek, a tributary of the Sixty-mile River.
In 1893, he returned to Eastern Canada to see his relatives and to organize his plans for more prospecting. It is during this trip that he married Emilie Fortin whose name as Emilie Tremblay was given to the French school in Whitehorse. The couple spent the winter of 1894-1895 in the Yukon. In 1898, after a stop-over of three years in the province of Quebec and the United States, the Tremblays returned to the Yukon right in the middle of the Gold Rush. It was however, too late to get a concession on the richest creeks. So Pierre worked for other people, especially on the Eldorado and Bonanza Creeks. He became foreman on the rich No. 17-Eldorado-and-Narcisse Picotte -and -Arkansas Jim Hall-claim; Hall was a co-proprietor of the Eldorado-Picotte Number 14 claim on the Bonanza Creek. Tremblay prospected and explored until 1913.
After these adventures, Pierre Tremblay spent quiet years in Dawson City where his wife had opened a store. He died in Dawson City on July 16, 1935 aged 75. The newspapers of the day honored him by calling him “The Grande Old Man of the Yukon”. At his death, he was the oldest resident in the Dawson region, known for his great humanitarian qualities. In fact, his courage and his kindness (which was out of the ordinary) made him a hero.
Ref. Empreinte, Volume 11, pages 15-16
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