The file consists of the transcript from an oral history interview of William Firth and Sarah Simon in Fort McPherson on April 20, 1977. The interviewers are Ray Price and Sue Look [Sarah's daughter].
Interview notes from 1992 Index: Father - died May 1939 at 86 years old. He left Scotland when he was 19 years old and arrived in the Mackenzie River area in 1872. Also worked in the Yukon. He was a Hudson's Bay Company manager. Mother, Margaret Stewart or Stuart - died about 1943. Mother's father was from Iowas, Scotland. Mother's mother, Ivy Liluaen [?] was Loucheux. William's siblings - Joselyn, Margaret, James, Catherine, Joanne, Annie, Henry, Fred, Ellen
Ray's summary of one of William's stories. In the spring, the Indians [Mountain Indians? - mentions moose skin boats] and the Eskimo who came in from the coast, would meet at Fort McPherson. The Eskimo would stay under the bank and the Indians were higher up the hill
and farther away. Both the Anglican Mission and the Hudson's Bay Company would keep watch at night. "One method used to prevent any hostility of exploding in to something bad between the Eskimos and Indians in those days was a free for all football game, that was played, Eskimos on one side and the Indians on the other side. The Hudson Bay Company would put up as a prize maybe a pound of tobacco or something like that. Apparently, according to William, there weren't any rules attached to this game, it was just every man for himself. There
must have been some pretty good games. (laugh) There were shirts torn up and parkas torn up but nothing terribly serious." "William says one of the things that is interesting, he says, is that when they (the Indians) moved out they always cleaned out the place up completely. The brush they used for sleeping on was cleaned up and burned, the whole camp was left in a neat and orderly fashion. When they moved away this is what happened.
