William John Duncan (Jack) Dempster is one of the two Dempsters who can honestly be described as heroes. Unlike his US counterpart, John who received the Congressional Medal of Honor, Jack Dempster received no medal, but his name lives on in the 417 mile Dempster Highway from Dawson City to Inuvik.

Born in Wales in 1876, and so far not connected into any of the Dempster genealogies, Jack Dempster joined the Canadian North West Mounted Police, later the RCMP in 1897 and served until 1934

His great feat occurred in February of 1911, when, with Constables J.F. Fyfe, F. Turner and indian guide Charlie Stewart they tracked and traced the "Lost Patrol".

In December 1910 a patrol of four members of the NWMP commanded by Inspector F.J. Fitzgerald left Fort Macpherson in the Yukon with the mail for Dawson, by February it was obvious that they were long overdue and Jack Dempster was ordered to pick a search team and go out with dog-teams to try to locate them. Leaving Dawson on 28th February, they traced the likely route of the patrol in apalling weather conditions and eventually found the bodies of the Fitzgerald party on 22nd and 23rd March. The "Lost Patrol" had lost their way in the Ogilvie mountains and had turned back in an attempt to return to Fort Macpherson. They died only 35 miles from the fort.

Promoted to Sergeant for this feat, Jack Dempster was to cross and recross the trail that has now become the Dempster Highway during his remaining years of service before retiring to British Columbia in 1934.

The road which bears his name was the first all-weather road to cross the Arctic Circle and was originally to be called the Aklavik Highway till a campaign to commemorate Jack Dempster and his feat of endurance was launched in the early 1960s by the "Yukon Order of Pioneers". The highway was named after him in September 1963, and was officially opened in 1979 with the unveiling of a memorial plaque by his children, Professor Hugh Dempster and Mrs Sheila Calvert.

My thanks go to Eleanore Dempster for providing much of the information I have about Inspector Dempster.

© James Dempster 1997