LES TEMOINS DE L'HISTOIRE - (420 - ENGLISH)

LES TEMOINS DE L'HISTOIRE - (420 - ENGLISH)

WITNESSES TO HISTORY

While some are searching for colors in the gold-filled grits, others take photos or notes.  Narrative adventures, descriptions of newly exploited  countries, guides for the gold-seekers, regardless of the form of the document, the Klondike has been a source of inspiration for many people. It is thanks to these historical witnesses  that we can better understand this fascinating era. Here are some Franco-phones whose works have been published:

AUZIAS-TURENNE, Raymond arrived in the Yukon during the Gold Rush coming from Montreal, PQ.  On July 25, 1898, this young Frenchman registered for a mining concession on a small hill near Bear Creek in the region of Dawson City.

In 1899,  Raymond Auzias-Turenne  published the book,  “Voyage aux mines d’or du Klondike” “Voyage to the Gold Mines n the Klondike.”  He owned real estate in the important region of Dawson City.  On the 22 of July 1899,  he bought lot no. 12 of block 12 in the Government residential sector of Dawson City.  From 1902 to 1909, he obtained a few transactions: some 300 acres (121.5 hectares) of land which were staked and marked and then subdivided into lots by the surveyor, Raoul Rinfret;  Raymond Auzias-Turenne still owned these titles in 1922.

In 1937, Auzias-Turenne was consul for Belgium in Seattle, U.S. Therefore he received the visit of Emile Fortin-Tremblay.  He knew the Tremblays very well when he had been consul for France to Dawson City, thirty years previous.

NOTE:  Here is something which is well worth reading: “The group where the French author Raymond Auzias-Turenne belongs is also forced to stop on the way. “Everyone was scared to lose their chance,” he said, “except the French-Canadians who were singing and proceeded to bring forth joy, hope and optimism” said Raymond Auzias-Turenne.

BEL, Jean-Marc: Originally from Paris in France, Jean-Marc Bel had been in the Yukon from March to July 1902 for professional reasons. Upon returning to France, this civil engineer of mines and minerals gave conferences on the Yukon: their mining lodes and veins, and their exploitation..  The texts of these oral presentations were published in Paris in 1905 under the title of “Gites aurifères du Klondike” and “Voyage minier au Nord-Ouest Canadien” (“Gold Deposits of the Klondike” and “Mining Voyages in the Canadian North-West “)

BOILLOT, LEON.  Léon Boillot was the author of the book: Aux mines d’or du Klondike: du Lac Bennett à Dawson City” (“The Gold Mines of the Klondike from Lake Bennett to Dawson City”) published in 1899 in Paris.  This work has many sketches drawn by Boillot himself.

DeFONVIELLE, Wilfrid:  Wilfrid DeFontvielle is the author of the book , “Aventures d’un français au Klondike » (« Adventures of a Frenchman in the Klondike »)  published in Paris around 1901 in a deluxe edition.  This narrative presents a Frenchman, Charles Simonot, who goes to the Klondike during the Gold Rush and who along the way becomes a friend of Pierre and Jeanne Lhomond a French-Canadian couple.

DeVILLER, J.:  J. DeVillers was the author of the book, “A la recherche de l’or” (“In Search of Gold”) published in Montreal in 1914.

RINFRET, Raoul: During his sojourns in Quebec, Raoul Rinfret worked as a representative for the “Great Northern”, a transportation  society which he  promoted amongst the French-Canadian miners who wanted to go to the Klondike.  In 1890, Rinfret published “Le Yukon et son or” (“The Yukon and its Gold”) and “La guide du mineur”.  (The Miner’s Guide) .

ROUQUETTE, Louis Frédéric: Born in 1884 at Montpellier in France, Louis Frédéric had been in the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush.  He wrote many works inspired by his adventures in the North. “ La bête errante” , (“The Wandering Beast,”),  “Le grand silence blanc,”  (“The Great White Silence”), “La bête  bleue,” (“The Blue Beast,”)  “L’épopée blanche”  (“The White Epic”) and  “L’Ile d’enfer,” (“The Island of  Hell”.)

Ref. Empreinte, vol. 11, pages 39-41