CHAPTER XXI 



THREE NOTABLE MEN 



"He was famous, Sir, in his profession, and it was his 

 great right to be so." 



IN 1887, ten years before the beginning of 

 the Klondike gold rush in the Yukon, the 

 Canadian Government appointed Dr. George 

 M. Dawson as head of an exploiting and sur- 

 veying expedition called the Yukon Expedi- 

 tion. 



Dr. Dawson was assisted by R. G. McCon- 

 nell and J. McEvoy, of the Geological Sur- 

 vey, while W. Ogilvie "was entrusted with the 

 conduct of instrumental measurement and the 

 astronomical work in connection with the 

 determination of the position of the 141st 

 meridian." 



This expedition was undertaken for the pur- 

 pose of gaining information of the vast and 

 hitherto almost unknown tract of country 

 which forms the extreme northwesterly por- 

 tion of the Northwest Territory. This tract 

 is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, 



