Keys to History

This rather amusing picture shows a middle-aged missionary standing outside one of the roadhouses that dotted the trail between Whitehorse and Dawson City, for the use of winter travellers. It is midwinter (note the length of the shadows) and very cold, for there seems to be frost on his beard. What is he doing with the bicycle? Is he planning to ride it through the snow to the goldfields? Is he crazy, or just having some fun with the photographer? Perhaps he is one of what Yukoners call the "colourful five percent," those oddballs who make the North unique. But since he is a clergyman, this doesn't seem very likely. The North has many mysteries, and this may be one of them.

Source : Off to the Klondike! The Search for Gold [Web tour], by William R. Morrison, University of Northern British Columbia (see Links)