Left: Robert Service's Cabin, Dawson City. Photo courtesy of John Lambert.
Charlette Cameron,
A Cheechako in Alaska and Yukon
In 1920 Charolette Cameron wrote a book called "A Cheechako in Alaska and Yukon". Miss Cameron traveled from Seattle to Alaska and the Yukon in 1919. Her book is an interesting account of her journey. Dawson City was close to a ghost town almost 20 years after the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.
In her book Miss Cameron describes an interesting visit to " Bobbie Service's" cabin in 1920 as follows: " The next afternoon I visit, with Mrs. Mackenzie and Mrs. Knight, Robert W. Service's little log -cabin. It has a place on the sloping side of the Dome, on the corner of Eighth Street, which some of the people would have renamed after the poet. I think the request is perfectly natural, because no one has ever described the Yukon as Service has done. His was the true spirit and genius of this vast Northland; thousands of people, after reading his wonderful poems, will long to visit the land he has immortalized.I have never met Mr. Service, and probably never shall, so I have no axe to grind, nor any personal reason to eulogize him. But genuine admiration I certainly owe him. He has certainly made me see the "valleys brimful of hush, the lone trail, the mountains heaved to heaven, the black canyons where the rapids rip and roar." Service's cabin is entirely rustic, overgrown with wild roses, weeds, vines, pussy willows, bluebells, and yellow mustard flower. It is set back from the street, surrounded by a decaying fence of saplings. Moose antlers, stark and white, decorate the front porch, silhouetted against the blue sky, and a hornets nest hangs under the rafters. At the back frowns the Dome. The neighbors tell you that this was a favorite stroll of "Bobbie's"; he would spend hours there absorbed in meditation. From this height he gained his inspiration, his impressions of solitude, space, and the untrampled wilds. The old flag flies over the roof of this old, crumbling, and lonely place. The custodians live next door; they charge you a nominal fee of 1s., and you enter through the gate. The tiny porch where he dreamed his dreams is going to dust, as are the steps, but the view from here is charming. Nailed on the logs outside is Service's poem, "Good-bye Little Cabin," which describes it perfectly.
We entered his tiny sitting room; it is just as he left it. As Bobbie Burns dreamed in his crofters cottage, so Bobbie Service Rhymed in his log cabin under the Northern Lights, each offering to humanity the fruits of the genius bequeathed them. service's room abounds in mottoes.The first one you remark is " Dont worry just work". In a corner one reads " rebuffs are only rounds in the latter of success." Another, " Difficulties are only strength tests". The roof was slanting and was papered white. A door, over which was nailed a horseshoe, and two small windows completed the details. A chair which had been fashioned out of a tree trunk, a table, a lamp, and a stool, comprised the cabin furniture. Over the inner door leading to his bedroom hung the snowshoes of the poet. A cabinet made out of a starch box, hanging on a wall, held some old pipes, a tin box with some fragments of tobacco, and a pin-cushion. His sleeping apartment would not arouse envy. Just a narrow camp bed under the eaves, a window, a minute mirror, and an old rickety chest.
The other room or cubicle, served as a kitchen, and was entirely papered with old newspaper photos of famous people and beautiful actresses. On the diminutive Yukon Stove, Service cooked his food, washed his dishes, and arranged his shelves. I am hopeful that someday he will return before the cabin falls into the dust. I called at the Bank of Commerce where Service worked in Dawson to cash a draft-it seemed strange to think of Service behind the counter. They appeared anything but interested when I inquired if Service really had worked there. In temperament ,they said, he was very quiet, more of a listener than a talker, and he was fond of solitude. After he became famous and money poured in from the sale of his books, hostesses endeavored to lionize him, but unless he really liked them he would not accept there hospitality. Some even accused him of being unsociable. However his neighbors, the present custodians, were exceedingly fond of him. It is plainly seen that that they love the little cabin for its associations.
If one has not yet read Service's poems, his first three books are the best; his vivid pen-pictures of this great Northland cannot be forgotten."
This Service Selection compliments of "Yukon" John Lambert . . . Thanks John!
