Ed Labelle was a gold prospector and all around thief, claim jumper and murderer during the Klondike Gold Rush between 1896 and 1899.  A Canadian-born wilderness man from the woods of Caribou, Ontario, he lived a rough life.  Always looking to make a quick dollar, he'd kill Natives/First People, hunt game for furs and hides and prospect rivers and creeks for copper, silver and gold.  In his journeys, Ed picked up the nickname "Cheatin' Ed" for cheating people out of their fair share of what they'd earned teaming with Ed.  Most of the disputes ended in Ed killing the other party and taking his things.  As such, Ed's reputation in Ontario quickly led to the Mounted Police to track him down and arrest him.  Taking the hint, Ed left Ontario and made his way west.

​

By 1895, Ed made his way to a town called Skagway up in the Alaskan panhandle region in a disputed territory claimed by both the United States and Canada at that time.  There, Ed found his calling - lying, cheating, swindling and killing.  Under the leadership of the town's most powerful con-man, Jefferson "Soapy" Smith, Ed became one of Soapy Smith's lieutenants, leading thieves and ruffians from Smith's self-created Skaguay Military Company. At about the same time, prospectors came down from the mountains with loads of gold.  By 1896, raids of prospectors, over 100,000 of them, were making their way to the Klondike in search of gold.  Skagway by that time was considered even by the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) as 'little better than Hell on Earth".  Ed worked the region between Skagway and another town a few hundred miles closer to the gold boom area known as Dawson City.  During that time, Ed was claim jumping people's rightfully purchased claims by ensuring the claim's owners couldn't make it back to their properties in three day's time, which was considered a rule in those parts that any claim left unattended for 3 days was available for others to take over. As such, Ed soon had others working his 'claims', raking in thousands of dollars a day, however, his profits and claims were not told to Soapy Smith, who eventually found out about Ed's actions and decided to take him out and 'claim' Ed's claims for himself.

​

In October of 1897, Ed's luck finally turned bad on him. Ed came across a local Husan Native Indian whom Ed enjoyed belittling.  In a drunken stupor, Ed demanded the Husan Native to give him his most valuable item he owned or Ed would kill him on the spot (all said as Ed pointed his gun to the Indian's head). Ed figuring the native would hand over either gold, money or his wife, but instead, the native reluctantly handed him a pouch with an ancient wooden totem carving.  Ed, disgusted by the totem, shot the native dead anyway. Ed took the totem from its pouch, threw the pouch onto the muddied street and pocketed the wooden totem. Ed took off to a new claim he'd jumped; a claim not far from where he had his two barrels filled with gold nuggets and hundreds of bags of gold dust buried; tens of thousands of dollars in gold (worth several million dollars today), all of which he'd 'acquired' from his various 'jumped claims' he had others working for his to mine and prospect at. Ed, still drunk and believing he was about to become the richest man in the Yukon (rich enough to shoot Soapy Smith dead and take over the Skaguay Military Company, in his thoughts), let his guard down for the first time in months. Sitting on a rock, next to a firepit on the edge of his new jumped claim in the middle of nowhere, the drunken 'Cheatin' Ed' was about to experience his last night of any form of a normal life ever again.

 

That night, Soapy Smith and his 'military company' tracked the drunken Cheatin' Ed and shot him dead on site. As Ed lay dying he grabbed the wooden totem from his pocket and looked at it, all the while considering the irony of what he'd done earlier to the Indian and that on the cusp of cashing in on his ill-gotten fortune, he'd die with only an old worthless wooden Indian idol in his possession instead.  Almost immediately, as Ed died, a massive snowstorm rolled into the camp.  Soapy Smith and his men barely found shelter before the two-day-long storm covered the area in over 20 feet of snow.  Unable to determine where Ed's claim was now, Soapy Smith left, expecting to return in the spring and claim all of Ed's jumped claims as his own.  Soapy, however, didn't survive until the spring, being killed in a shootout not long after he'd killed Ed.

​

In a relatively associated strange turn of events, one of the prospectors that had been paid (poorly) by Edward Labelle to work one of the 'appropriated' claims that Labelle gained, soon realized 'Cheatin' Ed' wasn't showing up or paying him anymore (because Ed had just been killed, but of course, no one knew that). As such, this prospector killed the other workers on Ed's 'jumped' claim site and took on Labelle 's name so that he could now acquire all of Labelle 's claims and riches.  This 'fake' Labelle fired all the existing prospectors at each of Labelle's claim sites and hired new ones (an easy task thanks to the inundated influx of people coming to the Yukon for its 'gold rush'), and in time, 'became' the new Ed Labelle, all the while raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars at the claim sites.

 

Sadly, this name-stealing prospector, while trying to find LaBelle's last claim (the one where the real Labelle died at), was caught by the NWMP and hanged in 1903 for murder (and a lengthy list of other crimes committed by the 'real' Ed Labelle). This capture resulted from when the 'fake' Ed Labelle and his new partner, Victor Fournier, were discovered to have robbed and killed three men. Fournier got away and made it to Nevada before he was caught, returned to Dawson City and hanged, however, the 'fake' Ed Labelle was caught in Dawson City. Even as he was being hung, the 'fake' Labelle never proclaimed he wasn't the real Cheatin' Ed'. He did state, at the hanging, that he was 'sorry for all he'd done'. As far as the world was concerned, Edward 'Cheatin' Ed' LaBelle was hanged until dead in 1903 at Fort Herchmer.

 

Ironically, this fake 'Ed', along with a dozen or so other murderers and claim jumpers like Fournier that were caught and hung by the NWMP would be the ones who helped create the legend of the NWMP and its motto, 'The Mounties ALWAYS get their man'. The NWMP, as a result of its bold motto, eventually went on to become the famous Royal Mounted Canadian Police (RCMP) of today's renown.

​

For nearly the next 94 years, Ed Labelle's real (but dead) remains, the claim and the land around the claim remained in a perpetual snow-covered state.  Even when the spring thawed the grounds, the area that Ed died met with freak snow storms, keeping the area covered in dozens of feet of snow even throughout the summer period.  Most locals considered the land cursed and stayed away from it, even when the land became available once again for purchase.

​

In 2010, years after the people of Earth had driven back the invading alien Soltan Star Empire invaders, a survey team alighted upon the site where Ed had actually been gunned down. The Survey Team, not looking for Ed's body obviously, were looking for evidence if the Soltans had left any bases in the region.  Instead, they discovered the snow-covered remains of Ed's claims and Ed's corpse.  Historical archaeologists descended upon the site and began uncovering it.  Even with intense freak snow storms raging, the archaeologists continued to excavate the site's secrets.  That's when they found Ed...but not the Ed we all just read about and hated...

​

The archaeologists found Ed's dead body encased from head to toe in a super-dense series of hardened ice layers that they couldn't cut through.  Using lasers, jackhammers, chisels and ice picks, the archaeologists weren't able to penetrate the ice; whenever the ice was pierced, it simply reformed around the damaged area much like a scab to a skin cut, but at a cosmically accelerated rate. Finally, a brave (or stupid) archaeologist decided to try and cut away the wooden totem seen in Ed's dead hands.  With lasers on full, they finally pierced enough icy layers that the laser came drastically close to the idol's wooden surface.  At that moment, Ed, in his new, massive icy-armored form, came to life.  He killed all the archaeologist on the site by simply bashing them with his powerful ice-laden fists and a self-fashioned ice hammer he'd created from water vapor and ice on his new monstrous icy-armored body.  After killing the dozen or so archaeologists, Ed began to take in what had happened to him.  Ed ran into the woods to try and distance himself from all that had and was happening.

​

After a few days, Ed realized that Soapy Smith had shot Ed dead, but somehow, thanks to the ancient totem, Ed was reanimated as a powerful ice creature.  With no idea how much time had passed, he went back to the site where he'd killed the archaeologists and rifled through their belongings, only to find the year to be 2010. Ed dug around his old claim site and pulled out the bags of gold he'd hidden that night before he was murdered.  In his day, the gold was valued at over $70,000, however that same gold was now worth well over several million dollars today.  Ed strode over the hills with his two old wooden casks of gold, hoping somehow he'd be able to cash them in and figure out what was happening to him.  Instead, as he came over the last hill to the river below, he saw several 'horseless carriages' with flashing lights and what seemed to be futuristic NWMPs pointing guns at him.  Before Ed was able to say anything, the police opened fire on the 'ice creature', blasting away at Ed's icy armored frame.  Ed dropped the barrels of gold and attacked the police, brushing the vehicles with enough strength to send one sailing nearly 300 yards away.  The police continued to fire at the advancing icy Ed creature, but the bullets simply bounced off of Ed's new self.  Ed killed the policemen with impunity, roaring as he did so.  It wasn't until moments later that one of Canada's premiere superheroes, Commander Canada himself, arrived on the scene and began to fight Ed.  Overwhelmed and shocked with Commander Canada's futuristic powersuit, energy beams, flight and technology, Ed ran back into the woods without his gold filled barrels, only realizing he'd dropped them later that night dozens of miles into the snowy wilderness.  Commander Canada did not give pursuit, but instead, he took the barrels of gold and had the police force claim if for the families of those the creature had killed, all several million dollars worth of gold.

​

Over the next few days, Ed learned about the 21st century by peering into the windows of houses in the region and watching their TVs or reading dispensed newspapers in the local trash dumpsters.  He was in shock at how the world had progressed, and here he was, a powerful ice monster with no idea how to become Ed again, if it was even possible to be Ed again. Ed still had the totem with him, however, it seemed 'depowered' and spent, as if it didn't have an ju-ju (magic) left in it for Ed to try and use to change back. Instead, Ed grew angrier over all that was happening to him. One night, while watching TV through a family's house window, Ed saw the news story about the fight between him and the man now identified as Commander Canada.  In the news report, he saw Commander Canada giving away the two barrels of Ed's gold to the police.

​

Ed roared with primal fury.

​

He ran back to the town he'd encountered Commander Canada in and began destroying the town, destroying buildings, tossing cars around like Frisbees, and most notably, demolishing the town's police station while looking for his gold, which was nowhere to be found. Instead, Commander Canada arrived once again almost 1/2 hour into Ed's destruction of the town. Ed demanded his gold back, only for Commander Canada to state it was forfeit due to the murders the 'creature' had committed.  Ed instead went into a rant about him being the best killer in the Yukon, claiming that the word 'Yukon' best described him, since the word was a native word meaning 'the best'. 

​

With his speech done (caught on live TV by the local news station), 'Yukon' commenced defeating Commander Canada.

 

Severely.

 

In the end, Commander Canada had to be hospitalized for nearly a year as a result of his encounter with Ed. Ed, realizing there was nothing left for him to destroy in the town, left again for the wilderness to contemplate his next move.  Luckily for him, it wasn't long before fate found Ed.

 

In the interim, the media alternated on calling him either the 'Yukon monster' or 'Yukon', but eventually simplified his name to just 'Yukon'. His defeat of Commander Canada, all caught on live TV, left Canadians scared and fearful. It didn't take long before the media imprinted Yukon's monstrous presence into the psyches of all Canadians, making Yukon out to be Canada's official 'boogey man'. Children had nightmares; Canadians slept with guns and knives under the pillows; pets were brought indoors at night...and as such, the legend of Yukon exploded into every daily news article, TV news spot and/or town gossip.

​

After weeks of wandering the Yukon hills, Ed was finally tracked down by a helicopter. The pilot, using a loudspeaker, told Yukon that someone wanted to talk to him and that they didn't want to hurt or capture him at all; they wanted to come, instead, as a friend.  Although leery of intentions, Ed motioned the helicopter to come down and talk with him.  From the helicopter emerged a previous Canadian military special forces leader, dressed in a garish red-and-black suit and helmet, calling himself Colonel Chanteau.  Chanteau, using his charm and his ability to 'stretch the truth', fired up a dialog with Ed, finding out who and what he was.

 

After several hours of discussion around a makeshift firepit, Chanteau offered to try and help Ed get his original body back, but in the mean time, Chanteau wanted to 'recruit' Ed to help him 'recreate' Canada and the United States into their own image; an image wherein a 'United Canadian Empire (UCE)' would exist, and that Ed, being one of the empire's liberators, if so desiring, would become the Viceroy of the Yukon Region, wherein he'd live like a king, most likely, back in his original body, surrounded by beautiful women, wealth, opulence and power.

 

Ed was not a dumb man, and knew a con-man when he saw one.  However, rather than kill Chanteau on the spot or decline the offer, Ed agreed to Chanteau's offer, knowing that if he was to ever to find a way to revert back to his own body or figure out how to live in this century, he'd need to learn all there was about all of that first and foremost.

​

With that, Ed, now officially called "Yukon", became a founding member of Chanteau's forces, calling the super-powered team the UCE Enforcers. With Ed feeling a bit of deja-vu over what was happening much to the same degree of how things went with Soapy Smith, Ed decided to play along until he saw an opening that would one day make himself his own "Emperor of the North".

​

Since then, Yukon has learned to master his new ice-based powers and has had several dozen deadly encounters with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, the Canadian and United States militaries, and of course...more superheroes. Ed's lack of morals coupled with his easy desire to indiscriminately kill has made him an extremely dangerous powerhouse unto himself.

 

Today, Yukon follows Chanteau, now being called Emperor North, and is still a member of the UCE Enforcers. It's only a matter of time until Ed makes his next fateful and profitable move for himself, and when he does, he most likely will be 'jumping the claim' for leadership and control of the UCE...no matter who has to die to make it happen.

​