The Cremation of Sam McGee
Encyclopedia
"The Cremation of Sam McGee" is among the most famous of Robert W. Service
's poems. It was published in 1907 in The Songs of a Sourdough (The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses). It concerns the cremation
of a prospector
who freezes to death near Lake Laberge
, (spelled Lebarge by Service), Yukon
, Canada
, as told by the man who cremates him.
The night prior to the death of the title character, who hails from the fictional town of "Plumtree, Tennessee", the narrator realizes that "A pal's last need is a thing to heed" and swears to McGee that he will not fail to cremate him. After McGee dies the following day, the narrator winds up hauling the body clear to the "Marge of Lake Lebarge" before he finds a way to perform the promised cremation. Robert Service based the poem on an experience of his roommate, Dr. Sugden, who found a corpse in the cabin of the steamer Olive May.
A success upon its initial publication in 1907, the poem became a staple of traditional campfire storytelling in North America throughout the 20th century. An edition of the poem, published in 1986 and illustrated by Ted Harrison
, was read widely in Canadian elementary schools.
the "Olive May" that belonged to the "BL&K" company and had originally been named for the wife and daughter of "Albert Sperry Kerry Sr.". Lake Laberge
is formed by a widening of the Yukon River
just north of Whitehorse
and is still in use by kayak
ers.
"William Samuel McGee" (b 1868, Lindsay
, Ontario
- d 1940, Beiseker
, Alberta
) was primarily a road builder but did indulge in some prospecting. Like others, McGee was in San Francisco
, California
at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush
and in 1898 left for the Klondike
.
In 1904, Service, who was working in the Canadian Bank of Commerce
(not the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a frequent error) branch in Whitehorse, saw McGee's name on a form. He talked to McGee about using his name and received permission, which is confirmed by correspondence between McGee and his family. In 1907 the publication of the poem, along with the others contained in The Songs of a Sourdough, made Service famous and McGee the subject of ridicule.
In 1909 McGee traveled south of the Yukon to build roads, including some in Yellowstone National Park
. Eventually, McGee and his wife moved to live with their daughter outside of Beiseker
, Alberta
. However, in 1930 McGee returned to the Yukon to try prospecting along the Liard River
, but met with no success. He did however return with an urn that he had purchased in Whitehorse. The urns, said to contain the ashes of Sam McGee, were being sold to visitors.
McGee spent the rest of his life at his daughter's farm where he died in 1940 of a heart attack.
There are at least two stories about McGee and Service that have grown over the years. The first takes place in the Yukon prior to them both leaving. McGee is said to have obtained his revenge on Service by taking him on a dangerous canoe ride down the Yukon River. It is also claimed that at the time of McGee's death, Service, who was in Canada, tried to attend the funeral. Service, it's said, went to the wrong church but turned up at the cemetery just as McGee was being buried.
There is a town named Plumtree
in North Carolina, only about twelve kilometers (but twenty-two kilometers by road) from the border of Tennessee.
In the 1993 film Indian Summer
, Alan Arkin's
character recites the opening portion of the poem during campfire.
In 1999, Les McLaughlin and Friends released a musical interpretation of the poem as part of the collection entitled The Songs of Robert Services.
In 2005, Christine Hanson, who had been inspired by the Ted Harrison illustrations and was given support by a commission from Celtic Connections
International Festival in Glasgow
, composed a musical suite for nine musicians to accompany a reading of the poem by well known Dundonian
musician/songwriter Michael Marra
. The premier performance took place, to a backdrop of Ted Harrison illustrations, in January 2005, as an event at that year's Celtic Connections International Festival. Subsequently a studio recording was made and released in January 2006.
In the 1976 film Dead River Rough Cut woodsman Walter Lane recites the poem in its entirety.
Johnny Cash
's reading of the poem was National Public Radio's song of the day on May 9, 2006. Cash's "The Cremation of Sam McGee" was released along with a vast collection of personal archive recordings of Johnny Cash on the two-disc album Personal File. Cash misreads the occasional word (such as "toil for gold" instead of "moil for gold") and accidentally transposes a few lines.
In the Boy Meets World
episode "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not," Mr. Feeny reads the first few lines of the poem to his class.
In Season 3, Episode 7 of the HBO series Big Love
, Bill's mother recites the end of the poem to his sons.
In Season 6, Episode 14 (1994/1995) of the TV series Northern Exposure
, Phil and Holling recite the end of the poem.
Robert W. Service
Robert William Service was a poet and writer who has often been called "the Bard of the Yukon".Service is best known for his poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew" and "The Cremation of Sam McGee", from his first book, Songs of a Sourdough...
's poems. It was published in 1907 in The Songs of a Sourdough (The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses). It concerns the cremation
Cremation
Cremation is the process of reducing bodies to basic chemical compounds such as gasses and bone fragments. This is accomplished through high-temperature burning, vaporization and oxidation....
of a prospector
Prospecting
Prospecting is the physical search for minerals, fossils, precious metals or mineral specimens, and is also known as fossicking.Prospecting is a small-scale form of mineral exploration which is an organised, large scale effort undertaken by mineral resource companies to find commercially viable ore...
who freezes to death near Lake Laberge
Lake Laberge
Lake Laberge is a widening of the Yukon River north of Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. It is fifty kilometres long and ranges from two to five kilometres wide. Its water is always very cold, and its weather often harsh and suddenly variable....
, (spelled Lebarge by Service), Yukon
Yukon
Yukon is the westernmost and smallest of Canada's three federal territories. It was named after the Yukon River. The word Yukon means "Great River" in Gwich’in....
, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, as told by the man who cremates him.
The night prior to the death of the title character, who hails from the fictional town of "Plumtree, Tennessee", the narrator realizes that "A pal's last need is a thing to heed" and swears to McGee that he will not fail to cremate him. After McGee dies the following day, the narrator winds up hauling the body clear to the "Marge of Lake Lebarge" before he finds a way to perform the promised cremation. Robert Service based the poem on an experience of his roommate, Dr. Sugden, who found a corpse in the cabin of the steamer Olive May.
A success upon its initial publication in 1907, the poem became a staple of traditional campfire storytelling in North America throughout the 20th century. An edition of the poem, published in 1986 and illustrated by Ted Harrison
Ted Harrison
Edward Hardy "Ted" Harrison, CM is a Canadian artist notable for his paintings of the Yukon.-Life and work:Ted Harrison was born in Wingate, County Durham, England and currently lives in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada....
, was read widely in Canadian elementary schools.
The truth behind the fiction
Although the poem was fiction, it was based on people and things that Robert Service actually saw in the Yukon. The "Alice May" was based on the derelict stern-wheelerPaddle steamer
A paddle steamer is a steamship or riverboat, powered by a steam engine, using paddle wheels to propel it through the water. In antiquity, Paddle wheelers followed the development of poles, oars and sails, where the first uses were wheelers driven by animals or humans...
the "Olive May" that belonged to the "BL&K" company and had originally been named for the wife and daughter of "Albert Sperry Kerry Sr.". Lake Laberge
Lake Laberge
Lake Laberge is a widening of the Yukon River north of Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. It is fifty kilometres long and ranges from two to five kilometres wide. Its water is always very cold, and its weather often harsh and suddenly variable....
is formed by a widening of the Yukon River
Yukon River
The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. The source of the river is located in British Columbia, Canada. The next portion lies in, and gives its name to Yukon Territory. The lower half of the river lies in the U.S. state of Alaska. The river is long and empties into...
just north of Whitehorse
Whitehorse, Yukon
Whitehorse is Yukon's capital and largest city . It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1476 on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River, which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in...
and is still in use by kayak
Kayak
A kayak is a small, relatively narrow, human-powered boat primarily designed to be manually propelled by means of a double blade paddle.The traditional kayak has a covered deck and one or more cockpits, each seating one paddler...
ers.
"William Samuel McGee" (b 1868, Lindsay
Lindsay, Ontario
Lindsay is a community of 19,361 people on the Scugog River in the Kawartha Lakes region of south-eastern Ontario, Canada. It is approximately west of Peterborough...
, Ontario
Ontario
Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....
- d 1940, Beiseker
Beiseker, Alberta
Beiseker is a village in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Calgary. It is considered to be an outermost part of the Calgary Region and is included within Calgary's Census Metropolitan Area...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
) was primarily a road builder but did indulge in some prospecting. Like others, McGee was in San Francisco
San Francisco, California
San Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
at the time of the Klondike Gold Rush
Klondike Gold Rush
The Klondike Gold Rush, also called the Yukon Gold Rush, the Alaska Gold Rush and the Last Great Gold Rush, was an attempt by an estimated 100,000 people to travel to the Klondike region the Yukon in north-western Canada between 1897 and 1899 in the hope of successfully prospecting for gold...
and in 1898 left for the Klondike
Klondike, Yukon
The Klondike is a region of the Yukon in northwest Canada, east of the Alaska border. It lies around the Klondike River, a small river that enters the Yukon from the east at Dawson....
.
In 1904, Service, who was working in the Canadian Bank of Commerce
Canadian Bank of Commerce
The Canadian Bank of Commerce was a Canadian bank cofounded in 1867 by William McMaster. The Canadian Bank of Commerce opened in Toronto with a charter in 1866 that it purchased from the defunct Bank of Canada, which folded in 1858....
(not the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, a frequent error) branch in Whitehorse, saw McGee's name on a form. He talked to McGee about using his name and received permission, which is confirmed by correspondence between McGee and his family. In 1907 the publication of the poem, along with the others contained in The Songs of a Sourdough, made Service famous and McGee the subject of ridicule.
In 1909 McGee traveled south of the Yukon to build roads, including some in Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Yellowstone National Park, established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872, is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho...
. Eventually, McGee and his wife moved to live with their daughter outside of Beiseker
Beiseker, Alberta
Beiseker is a village in the Province of Alberta, Canada. It is approximately northeast of Calgary. It is considered to be an outermost part of the Calgary Region and is included within Calgary's Census Metropolitan Area...
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
. However, in 1930 McGee returned to the Yukon to try prospecting along the Liard River
Liard River
The Liard River flows through Yukon, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories, Canada. Rising in the Saint Cyr Range of the Pelly Mountains in southeastern Yukon, it flows southeast through British Columbia, marking the northern end of the Rocky Mountains and then curving northeast back...
, but met with no success. He did however return with an urn that he had purchased in Whitehorse. The urns, said to contain the ashes of Sam McGee, were being sold to visitors.
McGee spent the rest of his life at his daughter's farm where he died in 1940 of a heart attack.
There are at least two stories about McGee and Service that have grown over the years. The first takes place in the Yukon prior to them both leaving. McGee is said to have obtained his revenge on Service by taking him on a dangerous canoe ride down the Yukon River. It is also claimed that at the time of McGee's death, Service, who was in Canada, tried to attend the funeral. Service, it's said, went to the wrong church but turned up at the cemetery just as McGee was being buried.
There is a town named Plumtree
Plumtree, North Carolina
Plumtree is an unincorporated community in Avery County, North Carolina, United States. The community is located along US 19-E, between the communities of Roaring Creek and Ingalls.-See also:* Grassy Ridge Bald* Little Yellow Mountain* North Toe River...
in North Carolina, only about twelve kilometers (but twenty-two kilometers by road) from the border of Tennessee.
Today
The poem was anthologized in the Oxford Book of Narrative Verse (1983).In the 1993 film Indian Summer
Indian Summer (1993 film)
Indian Summer is a 1993 comedy drama film written and directed by Mike Binder. The movie was filmed and set on-location at Camp Tamakwa, a summer camp located in Ontario, Canada, where Binder himself had attended in his childhood...
, Alan Arkin's
Alan Arkin
Alan Wolf Arkin is an American actor, director, musician and singer. He is known for starring in such films as Wait Until Dark, The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming, The Heart is a Lonely Hunter, Catch-22, The In-Laws, Edward Scissorhands, Glengarry Glen Ross, Marley & Me, and...
character recites the opening portion of the poem during campfire.
In 1999, Les McLaughlin and Friends released a musical interpretation of the poem as part of the collection entitled The Songs of Robert Services.
In 2005, Christine Hanson, who had been inspired by the Ted Harrison illustrations and was given support by a commission from Celtic Connections
Celtic Connections
The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of traditional Scottish music and also features international...
International Festival in Glasgow
Glasgow
Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...
, composed a musical suite for nine musicians to accompany a reading of the poem by well known Dundonian
Dundee
Dundee is the fourth-largest city in Scotland and the 39th most populous settlement in the United Kingdom. It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firth of Tay, which feeds into the North Sea...
musician/songwriter Michael Marra
Michael Marra
Michael Marra is a Scottish musician from Dundee.Jenny Marra, the Labour MSP, is his niece.-History:Michael Marra was brought up in the Lochee district of Dundee. His first public performance was at an NCR Christmas party in the 1950s...
. The premier performance took place, to a backdrop of Ted Harrison illustrations, in January 2005, as an event at that year's Celtic Connections International Festival. Subsequently a studio recording was made and released in January 2006.
In the 1976 film Dead River Rough Cut woodsman Walter Lane recites the poem in its entirety.
Johnny Cash
Johnny Cash
John R. "Johnny" Cash was an American singer-songwriter, actor, and author, who has been called one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century...
's reading of the poem was National Public Radio's song of the day on May 9, 2006. Cash's "The Cremation of Sam McGee" was released along with a vast collection of personal archive recordings of Johnny Cash on the two-disc album Personal File. Cash misreads the occasional word (such as "toil for gold" instead of "moil for gold") and accidentally transposes a few lines.
In the Boy Meets World
Boy Meets World
Boy Meets World is an American comedy-drama series that chronicles the events and everyday life lessons of Cory Matthews, played by Ben Savage, a kid from suburban Philadelphia who grows up from a young boy to a married man. The show aired for seven seasons from 1993 to 2000 on ABC, part of the...
episode "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Not," Mr. Feeny reads the first few lines of the poem to his class.
In Season 3, Episode 7 of the HBO series Big Love
Big Love
Big Love is an American television drama that aired on HBO between March 2006 and March 2011. The show is about a fictional fundamentalist Mormon family in Utah that practices polygamy...
, Bill's mother recites the end of the poem to his sons.
In Season 6, Episode 14 (1994/1995) of the TV series Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure
Northern Exposure is an American television series that ran on CBS from 1990 to 1995, with a total of 110 episodes.-Overview:The series was given a pair of consecutive Peabody Awards: in 1991–92 for the show's "depict[ion] in a comedic and often poetic way, [of] the cultural clash between a...
, Phil and Holling recite the end of the poem.