(1861-6 Aug.1899), businessman and prospector, from the Maxville area, GC. The Christie family farm was just east of Maxville. John P. Christie, who had spent some years in Wisconsin and Minnesota, set out in 1898 for the Peace River country in company of John McDonald, a native of the Greenfield area in GC. They left Edmonton in April 1898 with a party of other men and with supplies sufficient for 2 years. After prospecting unsuccessfully on the Peace River and separating from the other men, Christie and McDonald continued to about a hundred miles north of the Liard River, which is on the British Columbia-Yukon boundary. “From this place they wrote the last letters their friends ever received from them. In order to send those letters they had to engage Indians to take them over eighty miles to a trading post from where they could be sent out. These letters were written in April 1899, and arrived at their destination late in the summer of that year.”

     In June of 1900 a rumour that Christie was dead reached the Christie family by way of Dawson City. It appeared from subsequent enquiries that Christie and McDonald had been joined by a second McDonald, this one from Prince Edward Island. Christie became seriously ill, probably from appendicitis. By this time the party was on the way south. Eventually Christie became “unable to carry his supplies, and each of the McDonalds took turns in carrying them. Finally Christie became so weak that he could not travel without assistance. The McDonalds then would take the baggage on some distance and return for Christie, thus travelling over the ground three times.” Christie died at Summit Lake, on the headwaters of the Finlay River in B.C. “The McDonalds dug a grave on a hillside and buried him.” The McDonalds went by boat down the Finlay River towards Fort Graham but appear to have drowned in an accident on the river. A veterinary surgeon whose name is given as Henry S. Conroy, of Edmonton, a former vet at Maxville (presumably Dr H. A. Conroy), was among those who assisted the Christies in the enquiries about their relative. Christie was said to have been “financially well to do.” He does not rank as one of the great Glengarrians of his day but his story is a poignant survival from the great age of the Glengarry prospectors and miners. The Maxville Cemetery has an inscription for “John P. Christie died in the Yukon Aug. 6, 1899 ae. 39 y’s,” but he is presumably not buried at Maxville.

Story of the death of Christie and McDonald, repr. from Montreal Witness in Glengarry News 26 Oct. 1900 (QF) * Maxville (1991) 508-509