Publication (January 01, 2008)

A look back at the Yellowknife boom

A well-researched history has just been published about the 1936-1951 gold boom that established Yellowknife as an important mining centre. The Prospectors’ Pick: The People of the Yellowknife Gold Boom 1936-1951 was compiled and written over a span of seven years by Geddes Webster, of Geddes Resources/Windy Craggy fame in the 1980-90s.

The book is well organized for research including a full index, and a small section of fascinating maps and photos.A fairly brief history is followed by the main section: profiles of scores of residents and non-residents who were important to Yellowknife in this period. Geddes himself was a resident from 1946 when he arrived as a field engineer, to 1951 when he was the pro tem Acting Administrator for the NWT. He had various jobs in the interim: as the assistant mining inspector for the NWT and the Yukon, he saw much of the operating mines, and he dealt with all classes of people while he was the mining recorder.Based on the bent of this book, one can only conclude that the people interested Webster more than the mines, although he has taken keen interest in all matters.

Most of the lengthy research for this book was spent travelling, trying to talk with as many as possible of those boomtown denizens who were still alive and able to recall their life during the boom. Geddes’ heavy-duty legwork and meticulous care have created a treatise that celebrates and preserves for future generations the heady days of early Yellowknife and the pioneers who made it.

The Prospectors’ Pick: The People of the Yellowknife Gold Boom 1936-1951

by Geddes Webster Published December 2007 byTrafford Publishing, Victoria, B.C. 422 pages, softcover

$39 To order:

www.trafford.com/06-2659 or orders@trafford.com

or tel 1-888-232-4444