Martha Amelia (Ballentine) Cameron

Martha was born on April 29, 1904, in Dawson City, Yukon, and passed away on May 20, 1990. She was the second of the five children of David and Elizabeth Ballentine.

Times were difficult and with the start of the First World War, the population of the Yukon dropped significantly. Martha only completed grade five and then went out to work, first in the local laundry and then in one of the hotels.

She was a very popular girl, a good curler and dancer. She had many good friends who all worked hard. In summer they helped on the local farms on weekends or on days off. It was a happy life and Martha was always on the go.

It was in the hotel restaurant where she waited on tables that she met her future husband, G.I. Cameron. This was in 1926 and he was with the RNWMP and had just been posted down to Dawson City from Elsa.

A new Mountie in town was always something to be checked out. Cam was a relatively shy person and it took a few weeks before she could get a date. Martha and Gordon married on June 16, 1928.

At that time, the Force did not allow married men so Cam had to “purchase” out.

They moved to Ottawa for a year and then drove across Canada with Cam’s brother, Charlie and his wife, to

Bonanza, Alberta, where they homesteaded for four years.

For the first year they lived in a wall tent. Ione was born in 1933 and the family moved to Vancouver in the spring of 1934 where Cam once more joined the Force.

He was posted to Fort Selkirk, Yukon, in June 1935, where they lived until 1949. The population was 163 (13 whites, and 150 First Nations).

Martha was a very busy lady: lay nurse; agent for White Pass Transportation Company with the boats in the summer and the planes in the winter; relief telegraph operator; and unofficial police person when Cam was away on patrols. To the local population “police woman” much tougher than police man.”

Martha was a true daughter of the Klondike and could turn her hand to just about anything. She was very outgoing and had friends all over the world.