Old Yukon Jack Whisky Ads (70s)

[MargaretAnne]

I've seen a lot of Yukon Jack ads with excerpts from the poems of Robert Service. He didn't really call his writing poetry--rather verse. He died in 1958.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_W._Service

I wondered why whiskey is also spelled whisky. I found this:

To make a long explanation short, whiskey (with an 'e') refers to grain spirits distilled in Ireland and the United States. Whisky (with no 'e') refers to Scottish, Canadian, or Japanese grain spirits.

I saw the ad for Yukon Jack Whisky from a newspaper clipping close to 50 years ago. Someone had brought it to my attention, mostly because of the excerpt from a poem by Robert Service (also the artwork). I opened a storage box not long ago and came across the clipping, still looking pristine after so many years. The excerpt in the Yukon Jack Canadian Whisky ad is from a poem titled, "The Heart of the Sourdough" by Robert Service. The quote in one of the images on the web is barely readable on my phone. It reads as follows:

I have clinched and closed with the naked North, I have learned to defy and defend; Shoulder to shoulder we have fought it out--yet the Wild must win in the end.

Yukon Jack Ads

Another Yukon Jack ad with equally beautiful artwork used an excerpt from the same poem I mentioned. I have put brackets around the lines that were left out in the ad. Of course, the entire poem can be easily found on the web. I thought this was a brilliant way to advertise their product.

I have flouted the Wild. I have followed its lure, fearless, familiar, alone;
[By all that the battle means and makes I claim that land for mine own;]
Yet the Wild must win, and a day will come when I shall be overthrown.

The Heart of the Sourdough

One of the Yukon Jack ads used the first four lines from "The Men That Don't Fit In." I tried to find the artist and Ron Lesser has one of the paintings used in the ads on his website but I can't confirm the artist(s) that did the artwork for the others.

There's a race of men that don't fit in,
A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.

The Men That Don't Fit In