legend of bear rock

This story was told to me by my grandfather Johnny Yakeleya when I was eight or nine years old. He would sit on a wooden bench overlooking the Mackenzie River. I remember one day when I sat with him, he pointed out the three red circles on Bear Rock and told me that a great man of our People, named Yamoria, killed these three beavers. He said that these giant beavers were hunting the people and killing them. He said that these beavers came from Great Bear Lake and that they created the rapids on the Bear Rivers. Yamoria was the Dene Law Giver, who was sent by the Creator to make things right between man and animal. Yamoria was sent to bring order in a time of chaos. Yamoria killed these three beavers in Tulita (formerly Fort Norman), my home town. Their hides were nailed and stretched on Bear Rock Mountain for everyone to see. Yamoria made a fire to cook these three beavers and their fat burns today at the smokes. These smokes are located a few miles up the Mackenzie River. It is said if you see the fire in the smokes, you will live a long time. Yamoria then went on top of Bear Rock Mountain and shot two arrows into the Mackenzie River where they can still be seen to this day.

I have seen all of this and as my Grandfather said “they are reminders to all of our people of the great work that Yamoria had done in trying to make things correct in our relations between man and animal. This legend and story is known by all of the five Dene tribes of the Northwest Territories and ties us all together as a one nation, one people”.