Old Log Church Museum

08/17/2026

Happy Discovery Day! To celebrate the holiday, we found an image in our collection from the Gold Rush Jubilee of 1958. This transparency slide (OLCM 2005.5.62) features an image from the Gold Rush Jubilee parade in downtown Whitehorse. The parade ran through the town and along Front St., right past the White Pass & Yukon Railroad Depot, which can be seen in the background of the photo.

The Gold Rush Jubilee was an event organized by the Whitehorse Board of Trade in an effort to improve tourism to city and the territory after declining numbers in the late 30s and 40s. Events took place in Carcross, Haines Junction, and Atlin, with Dawson adding even more events to their Discovery Day weekend schedule. Whitehorse had the largest program, with events running almost daily from July 25th to August 30th. The Old Log Church even hosted a few events and ran special services.

We hope everyone had a great weekend and that you enjoy the holiday. We will be closed today, Monday the 17th, in observance of Discovery Day. We will resume our regular hours on Tuesday the 18th.

08/16/2026

08/14/2026

It's time for our second Artifact of the Week this week! For this week, Taiga has chosen a pair of sashes (OLCM 2006.7.1-2):

These sashes were given to Bishop Isaac Stringer (red/gold), and his wife, Sadie Stringer (pink/black) by the Yukon Order of Pioneers (YOOP). These sashes were made by B. Pasquale Co. Inc. in San Francisco. When the YOOP first started out when they were fabricated by the local women of Forty Mile. These sashes would’ve been worn on the right shoulder and were worn during special occasions such as the Discovery Day parade in Dawson.

The organization of YOOP was formed on December 1st, 1894, in Forty Mile, Yukon with the goal of having an organization to make laws to better society due to the lack of police force. Their first law and what would become their organizational motto was “Do unto others as you would be done by”. Once the NWMP arrived at the territory, it became more of a fraternal organisation that would advocate for important issues that affected the territory.

Initially, the requirements to join the club meant you had to be in the Yukon before 1888, but this was later changed to a requirement of 20 years in the Yukon.

After the gold rush, the main office moved to Dawson after Forty Mile was almost completely abandoned. By 1904, membership in the YOOP would grow from 68 people at its inception, to a staggering 365 members. In 1911, the YOOP pushed the Yukon territorial council to make a statutory holiday to commemorate the discovery of gold in 1896, which would be known as Discovery Day. On Discovery Day, August 17th (now the third Monday of August, this upcoming Monday!), the Y.O.O.P. celebrate on this day with a tradition of giving away a poke of gold to two lucky winners, a tradition that has continued since the end of WW2.

It is unknown if Isaac Stringer was member of the YOOP or if the sash was honorary, due to him coming to the Yukon in 1894 and the rules changing in 1904 to accept members who came before 1898. The sash given to Sadie Stringer was honorary as women were barred from joining the organization, a rule that was challenged in a Yukon Supreme Court case in 1996.

08/13/2026

Welcome back to Artifacts of the Week! Our first artifact this week is an instructional pamphlet (OLCM 1992.149-150) that was chosen by Heidi:

This literary aid was used as teaching material for the Quechua language. It shows pictures of common animals and objects with accompanying words and syllabic breakdowns to show the written equivalent of the sound using the Roman alphabet.

Similarly to how Robert Macdonald created a syllabarium for Takudh with the goal of providing literacy skills to the native people, the British and Foreign Bible Society also worked on a syllabarium for Quechua in the 1940s, spoken at that time by around seven million people, extending from southern Columbia and Ecuador through Peru and Bolivia well as Argentina and northern Chile. The goal was to give the native peoples access to the Scriptures in their own language.

This specific material was donated by Marjorie Almstrom, whose sister received it from a Scottish gentleman employed as an agent off the British and Foreign Bible Society while she was visiting Lima, Peru. This method is related to the syllabarium system that was used by the Church Missionary Society of England in the 19th century. This led to a number of early translations of the Bible and Prayer Book into languages like Cree, Chipewyan, and Takudh, made by Anglican missionaries. One of the first passages to be translated and taught in Quechua was 23rd Psalms, as it was thought that themes of shepherds and caring for herds would be familiar.

08/07/2026

It's time for our second artifact of the week this week. This artifact is brought to you by Heidi, and it is a communion set (OLCM 2006.9.1) that belonged to Richard Bowen:

This communion set includes a cruet, paten, and chalice and was made out of Yukon gold. The gold nuggets used to make this set were presented to Rev. Richard Bowen in 1899 by the people of Dawson.

Richard Bowen worked under the Church Missionary Society until the gold rush of 1898 which led the population of miners in Dawson alone to grow to 30,000. At the time, Bishop Bompas had so few missionaries that he asked Rev. Bowen to transfer his work from the First Nations camps to the miners, freighters, saloon keepers, and gamblers in the city. When Bowen fell ill with typhoid malaria, which was very prevalent in Dawson at the time, he had to leave the country to recover. On the eve of his departure, the people of Dawson gifted him a sack of gold nuggets and told him to do as he wished with them. The nuggets were made into the communion set by a jeweller in Dublin, Ireland. After his return to the Yukon a little over a year later, this set was used as a reminder of his congregation in Dawson.

Upon his return to the Yukon, Rev. Bowen and his wife Susan were charged with establishing a church in Whitehorse and constructed the Old Log Church and Rectory which were complete in 1900 and 1901 respectively.

This communion set can be seen on display at the Museum in our exhibit case dedicated to Rev. Bowen and the building's construction.

08/06/2026

Artifacts of the Week! Our first artifact was selected by Taiga; a wampum necklace (OLCM 1991.12) made of mollusc shells:

This is a wampum necklace made from mollusc shells which were put on one strand of string and threaded together. For context, a wampum was usually made of shells that were made into beads and often traded from the coastal First Nations to the in-land First Nations for food and furs. Once traded, it would then be made into something like a necklace or bracelet with the pattern signifying some sort of event or relationship. The value of the wampum increased significantly in the early 17th century especially in the trade between the First Nations and Europeans, being used as a type of currency until the 18th century when mass production decreased its value.

The wampum was given to Margret Marsh in the 1960s by Taylor McGundy at Mary Luke’s Camp. The story behind the wampum is that Margret Marsh and Henry Marsh were driving on the highway in the winter, south from the Pelly and towards Carmacks. They spotted a hub cap near the roadside and they decided to stop. This would lead them to a trail to Mary Luke’s Camp, where Taylor McGundy was there at a tent frame encampment. At the camp, there were hides that were skinned by the women lying on the rocks and Henry Marsh, who was Bishop of the Yukon at the time, showed the women his Bishop’s cross. In the meantime, Mary Marsh would return to the vehicle to retrieve the Burse and Veil made of caribou that Sarah Simon had given to the Marsh's. In exchange, Taylor McGundy showed them the wampum, and in the own words of Mary Marsh, “It was more than an exchange of crafts, it was sharing of worth.” As Mrs. Marsh recounts, Mrs. McGundy informed them the wampum was "older than old" and that "they came from the west coast, probably Haida".

08/05/2026

Join us tonight for a historical evening service at the Old Log Church. The event begins at 7pm, all are welcome.

08/03/2026

Hey folks, if you happen to be in Teslin this Wednesday, August 5th, come stop by the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre's Great Hall between 10am and 2pm to help us identify individuals in old photos. We have a large collection of photos featuring people from Teslin and the Yukon related to church and community history, and we need your help to find out who they are.

The event will be catered, so please feel free to drop in, grab something to eat, and take a look at some old photos with us. We hope to see you there!

07/31/2026

Our second artifact this week for our Artifacts of the Week series is a pair of snowshoes (OLCM 2002.1.28ab) researched by Taiga:

These are a pair of traditional snowshoes, made by Joe Kyikavichik. He is picture in the second image (OLCM 1984.415) receiving his ordination certificate in 1970 from Bishop Frame, after serving as a catechist in Old Crow for over fifty years. He began to lead services in 1918 in the town of Old Crow after he was asked to do so by Bishop Stringer, and as he got older and his eyesight began to go in 1965, he taught his daughter Ellen Bruce how to read in the Takudh language so that this traditional language could continue to be used in the church for years to come.

During his years of ministry, he would take a lot of people to fish, hunt, and go on his traplines. Traditional snowshoes would have been one of many important tools used by him and the community members while going out on their excursions.

These snowshoes were made for Kenah Exham in 1968 or 1969 using babiche and wood. The style and design of this snowshoe is unique to the area, often referred to either an Alaskan or Yukon style due to its long, narrow frame as well as the rounded tips at the top. Due to the powdery snow of the region as well as the open spaces the design allows people to float above the snow and walk around with more ease.

07/30/2026

We are once again back for Artifacts of the Week! This week our first artifact was chosen and researched by Heidi, and it is a photo of Bishop Bompas' home in Carcross (OLCM 1984.557):

Bishop William Carpenter Bompas (pictured in the second image) first came to the north in 1869 as a missionary at Ft. Yukon, Alaska. Years later, in 1901, accompanied by his wife Selina, Bompas moved his headquarters from Forty Mile to Carcross to open a mission school. Two years later, he petitioned the Canadian government to change the original name of Caribou Crossing to Carcross due to frequent mix-ups in mail delivery with other communities.

Upon arrival, they rented this Canadian Development Co. bunkhouse, which used to serve as a roadhouse and post office. At that time, the building was T-shaped and much larger, extending into the riverbank. It took several weeks to get rid of the to***co smell and whiskey fumes after he took it over. There was also a squirrel and mouse infestation. Soon after, they purchased the building, and it was used as a school and church until a mission school was established in 1903, and St. Saviours Church was built in 1904. The Grant family lived there until the 1940s, and the Baptist Church used it in 1980 for services given by Mr. Dickie.

The house can still be seen in Carcross today, just off Waterfront Drive on the other side of Nares River.