Stampede John and Doris McMurphy — Atlin, BC
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Dunbar Loop
N 59° 34.556 W 133° 42.852
8V E 572631 N 6604888
Stampede John Stenbraten, an adventurous Yukon prospector, and Doris McMurphy, a respected Whitehorse teacher, married in 1961, cherishing their Atlin Lake cabin and leaving a lasting legacy through the Yukon Foundation.
Waymark Code: WM1CGHV
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 08/20/2025
Views: 0
Stampede John, a true northern prospector, began gold seeking at age fifteen and rushed to strikes from Mexico to Siberia. In 1906 John became an Atlin miner, although the Yukon would become his home.
Doris McMurphy came to Whitehorse from Manitoba in 1950 to teach high school English and Latin, John, one of her first friends, became her husband in 1961. Doris shared John's love for Atlin and they spent some of their happiest days in a small log cabin John built on this spot.
John Stenbraten — 1887-1971
Doris McMurphy Stenbraten — 1910-1999
Stampede John Stenbraten was a prospector whose restless spirit carried him from Norway to North Dakota farms and then on to goldfields from Mexico to Siberia before he settled in the Yukon in 1904. Known for staking claims across the territory, he earned a reputation as a tough, adventurous miner who travelled mostly on foot, and even claimed to have crossed the Bering Strait alone.
In Whitehorse he met Doris McMurphy, a Winnipeg-born teacher who had arrived in 1950 to teach English and Latin. Sharp-witted and dedicated, she left a deep impression on her students, remembered for instilling both discipline and a love of literature.
John and Doris married in 1961, and together they cherished their log cabin at Atlin Lake. After John’s death in 1971 and Doris’s in 1999, their estate was left to the Yukon Foundation, ensuring their legacy reached beyond the places they loved most.
Source: Northwords – Livingstone Creek History
Source: Remembering Miss McMurphy