Born in the region of Saint-Rémi de Napierville, in the Province of Quebec, Narcisse E. Picotte was in the Yukon at the end of the 1880’s and was a member of the Order of the Pioneers of the Yukon. This French-Canadian miner was a member of the first prospectors to make their fortune in the Klondike.
With Arkansas Jim Hall he purchased the No. 17 limit or mining concession from Joseph Cazelais on the Eldorado Creek for the sum of $600.00. Then Picotte and Hall dug out 100,000 ounces of gold (gold then was worth $32.00. an ounce). Their property was thus the most valuable in the Klondike and the gold vein which it contained was the largest in the country (500 feet or 150 m.) When they discovered this rich vein, Hall and Picotte felt sorry for Cazelais because he had not seen the future potential of his limit and had sold it too fast and too cheaply. So, they gave him 75 feet (23 m) of their No. 17 concession on the Eldorado.
In July 1897 Picotte was on board the boat which brought the first wealthy men of the Klondike to Seattle, US with their bags stuffed with gold.
Then Picotte returned to the Yukon and as a well-advised man, he reinvested his wealth in various other limits. He alone, employed over 90 French-Canadians on the three limits which he owned. Among those were his four brothers: Emile, François, Moïse and Napoléon. In 1899, he sold to a group formed by Arkansas Jim Hall, Pierre Tremblay and his brothers-in-law the No. 14 on the Bonanza Creek which he had demarcated as early as 1896. The gross or raw worth of this limit was around $140,000.00 at that time. In 1901 Picotte also sold his share in the No. 17 Eldorado to Arkansas Jim Hall for $32,500.00
Narcisse Picotte married a Native woman and had three children with her, then took a white woman as his wife whom he brought to the Yukon after a sojourn in Montreal, PQ.
His son, Robert Picotte, also became a prospector. On July 3, 1901, he found gold in a tributary of the Indian River situated not far from the region around Dawson City. He demarcated his limit of discovery and named the creek the Montreal Creek in honor of his native city in the Province of Quebec.
Ref. Empreinte, vol. 11, pages 20-21
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