FOREST, EMILE - (380 - ENGLISH)

FOREST, EMILE - (380 - ENGLISH)

EMILE FOREST

Originally from Quebec, Emile Forest arrived in the Yukon in 1901. He was 12 years old so he went to school in Dawson city.

In 1910, Emile began his career in navigation.  He became pilot-assistant and took part in creating a map of the navigable passages between Circle and Fort Yukon, in Alaska. From 1914 to 1922, he delivered the mail by boat from Dawson City to the mouth of the Yukon River.  During the 1915 winter, he was a guard with Alex Nicol of the paddle-wheeler “Nisutlin” which spent the winter on the shores of the Stewart River.

In 1919, after the discovery of silver veins found in Mount Keno by Luis Bouvette, Emile Forest demarcated his mining concession, “Tango” which he developed during more than 40 years. Forest also owned shares in the Yukon Silver Lead mine.  During the 1920’s and 1930’s he became a mechanic for the White Pass and for the Treadwell Yukon, and he also worked for the hydro-electric center for Mayo.  In 1923, Emile Forest and Can Smith drove the first caterpillar train filled with merchandise from Whitehorse to Mao.

During his free time, he liked to project silent movies for the miners and their families at Wernecke Camp in the Mayo region. He was well-liked by the children because each winter he’d build and care for a slide on the shores of the Stewart River.  According to what some people said, the parents did not really like this activity because far too often they had to replace their children’s trousers, full of holes due to the slides. In 1939, Forest was a trainer for a women’s softball team.

During the Second World War, he worked at the hydro-electrical center for Whitehorse and then returned to navigation. On August 20, 1960, Emile Forest, aged 71, had a heart attack while he was helping to put the S.S. Keno back into the water.  Had he not succumbed to this heart attack, he would have piloted this paddle-wheeler four days later on a historical trip from Whitehorse to Dawson City.

Ref. Empreinte, vol.11, pages 77-79