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6 July 1993: St. Simon's
was built in 1900. It is one of the oldest buildings in
Whitehorse on its original site.
Anglican services were held here until 1960 when the church was turned
into a museum in 1962, now referred
to as
the Old Log Church Museum.
The Bishop Who Ate His Boots:
In 1909, Isaac Stringer was the Bishop of
the Yukon Diocese. Returning to Whitehorse from the Mackenzie
River with a companion, the two men were lost for 51 days on a 500-mile
trek through muskeg, dense bush,
and over a steep mountain divide. "There came a day when no food
was to be found; thus it was that the Bishop
decided it was time to eat his boots. It is well known in the North that
the skin of an animal that has not been
tanned can be eaten and will sustain life. Both men had brought their
light, hairless, sealskin boots with walrus
skin soles. The boots were cut into pieces that were then boiled for
hours and then roasted." In his diary, Stringer
reported that the soles (walrus) were better than the tops (seal).
Each of the two men lost 50 pounds, but they
survived their ordeal, thanks in part to their boots.
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