SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
In the summer of 1937, nearly 35 years before the first edition of Yellowknifer went to print, two men decided to take a risk by staking a historical claim in the small mining town of Yellowknife.

The editorial team of The Prospector prepares the newspaper by candlelight in a tent on what is now known as Pilot's monument, in the summer of 1938. This image appeared in the September 19, 1938 issue of Life magazine, as part of a photo essay on the gold rush in Yellowknife. - photo from Sept. 19, 1938 issue of Life Magazine, page 48 A cartoon on the front page of The Prospector depicts a man locked out of the public washroom a week after the paper ran a vocal editorial on the issue. The caption reads, "A little united effort and we could have a suitable 'relief station' at both ends of town." - image courtesy of the Prince of Whales Northern Heritage Centre

At a time when prospectors were flocking to what was then a town of no more than a few hundred people in the hopes of making a small fortune, Charles Perkins and Larry Alexander saw the need to give a voice to the young community.

Perkins, who moved to Yellowknife in February of that year, had already been granted the dubious title of being the town's first lawyer, even though there was not a courthouse where he could practise his craft.

With no printing press in town, Perkins travelled to Edmonton and pitched the idea of starting a newspaper to Alexander, who was still studying at the University of Alberta where the two had become friends.

The proposition intrigued Alexander, who was somewhat of an eccentric, and the two soon decided to buy a mimeograph machine and three tonnes of paper, which they shipped to Yellowknife by barge.

When the materials arrived, they set them up in a tent on the slope of what is now known as Pilot's Monument.

By the following summer, the first edition of Yellowknife's first newspaper went to print.

"This is a time when Yellowknife was really becoming a town," said local historian Ryan Silke.

"These gentleman decided the town needed some kind of serial publication just to promote and advertise and document what was going on in the community."

The Prospector's first edition ran on May 10, 1938, with a front page story that heralded the construction of Yellowknife's first civic enterprise: a boardwalk running from "Willie Wylie's Wildcat" to Weaver and Devore.

"Now unnecessary to swim from one part of town to the other," exclaimed the article's subhead.

The paper came out twice a week, on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and a single copy could be purchased for 10 cents, while an annual subscription cost $6. By the winter of 1938, the publication had become a weekly.

Although the operation was a small one, with all the typeface having to be set by hand, the paper had a wide circulation, with some subscriptions coming from as far away as the United States and Britain.

The paper even got some international publicity when Life magazine came to Yellowknife in 1938 to write a feature about the gold rush. As part of the article, it published a photo of the small editorial team putting together the paper by candlelight.

"We had great fun, working hours into the night with the light on, on top of the hill there," said Perkins in an interview with Ray Price for the book, Yellowknife Tales.

In many ways, the paper was just like any small town newspaper you would see today, said Silke.

There was talk about founding schools, revamping the liquor laws, as well as lots of articles detailing what was happening in the mining industry.

One edition of the paper even ran an editorial speaking out against the public outhouses being locked up.

There was news of visits from dignitaries and notable personalities, including a trip made by the famous Toronto Star reporter, Gordon Sinclair. During his stay in the summer of 1938, Sinclair would declare that Yellowknife was "a cross between a three-ring circus and a picnic."

There were even stories about what was happening in sports, with the formation of a hockey league being foremost among them.

The paper also records Yellowknife's first boxing match, which was organized by the RCMP on July 30, 1938. Approximately 250 people showed up to the fight, which had three bouts, including one between Dick Wells and Buckshot Munawich.

During the final fight of the night, which was being "held for the hand of a lady," the referee declared the match a draw "and won the woman for himself."

"For the most part, people knew what was going on in the community. They wanted to know what was going on outside of town," said Silke.

One of the more notorious editorial elements in the paper was a column titled The Step-Children of Ottawa, penned by none other than Jock McMeekan, a prospector and publisher of another early Yellowknife newspaper, the Yellowknife Blade.

"It was critical of the fact that Yellowknife and the NWT were still being dictated by Ottawa," said Silke.

"In that sense, things have changed a lot but that struggle has been going on for years."

Among some of the things McMeekan advocated for was the creation of a city council. Although it would be several more years until Yellowknife officially became a municipality, the town would

eventually form its first council in 1939.

In The Prospector's last edition, Perkins expressed his regret at not being able to cover Yellowknife's first "experiment" in autonomous governance.

"We would like to be active as a newspaper when they get under way. However, as that can't be, we want to wish them a slightly premature godspeed," wrote Perkins.

With the outbreak of the Second World War in the fall of 1939, many people started to leave Yellowknife. Alexander had already left in the winter of 1938, leaving Perkins to run the paper with his wife, Helen. Concerned that struggling businesses would not be able to pay for advertising, Perkins decided to fold the paper. The Prospector's last edition ran on Sept. 30, 1939, less than two years after it was started.

"The Yellowknife Prospector has joined the list of war causalities," wrote Perkins on the front page of the Sept. 30 issue. "This however, is only one of Hitler's minor crimes."

Yellowknife's voice was not lost for long, however, as The Prospector's most vitriolic columnist, Jock McMeekan, would go on to found The Blade in 1940. Five years later, News of the North was founded by Duke DeCoursey. The newspaper still exists to this day as Yellowknifer's sister publication under the title of News/North.

While The Prospector's lifespan may have been short in comparison, it would only be fair to leave the last word to the man who gave Yellowknife its first printed one:

"We are confidant we have written only the first chapter in the newspaper business in Yellowknife. Others will come after us as conditions return to normal, and perhaps they will come better equipped and more experienced than we were, but they will miss the fun of being first, and knowing and writing about Yellowknife as we have known and written about it," wrote Perkins in his last column, titled Aurevoir.

"And so we say goodbye, and good luck to you."

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