The Yukon

I enjoy reading books about distant places...

​  I suppose it's because I'm a missionary at heart, and would love to travel to distant places to tell people about God's love for them.

So when a friend sent me a copy of "Land of the Midnight Sun: A History of the Yukon," it was exactly what I needed to inspire me. For a long time, I have been fascinated with Canada's Yukon province, and the book was able to mentally take me deep into the Yukon.

​Through the words of the book's writers, I was able to travel back to the days of pioneer settlers and their attempts to tame the land. It was a world of fur trappers and pelt gatherers, gold seekers and oil men. It was a lawless land, as well. There was plenty of alcohol, prostitution, and crime. 

Land of the Midnight Sun, Third Edition:
A History of the Yukon

The original dwellers of the Yukon were First Nations aboriginals who survived for hundreds of years, and long before white men arrived, by hunting, trapping, and fishing on this mostly frozen terrain with its short growing season.

In the Yukon's early days of development, adventurers and entrepreneurs flooded the region to seek their fortunes. Some became filthy rich, but most returned home years later, penniless and broke. Happiness for a few; heartbreak for many more.

For me, however, the book gave me a strong desire to pray for the Yukon and its people.

D. B.

Note:  
​LAND OF THE MIDNIGHT SUN: A HISTORY OF THE YUKON,
by Ken. S. Coates and William R. Morrison.
1988, Hurtig Publishers, Ltd.,
Edmonton, AB CANADA