A Guide to Bennett, British Columbia

• Arctic Restaurant and Hotel (Bennett): 1899-1900
  - Wikipedia: "In July 1897 after hearing of the Klondike Gold Rush, Frederick (Friedrich) Trump, grandfather of American businessman Donald Trump, ... in April 1898 [incorrect - should be April 1899] moved to Bennett, British Columbia, running the Arctic Restaurant and Hotel, which offered fine dining and lodging in a sea of tents. The Arctic was originally housed in a tent itself, but demand for the hotel and restaurant grew until it occupied a two-story building. When describing the Arctic in a letter to the Yukon Sun newspaper, Trump wrote: 'For single men the Arctic has excellent accommodations as well as the best restaurant in Bennett, but I would not advise respectable women to go there to sleep as they are liable to hear that which would be repugnant to their feelings - and uttered, too, by the depraved of their own sex'. The Arctic House was one of the largest and most decadent restaurants in that region of the Klondike, offering fresh fruit and ptarmigan in addition to the staple of horsemeat."
  - opened May 1899 on the main street, in a tent with a wooden false front.
  - late 1899, a 2-storey wooden building was constructed.
  - December 1899, advertising "Fresh Oysters in Every Style. Elegantly Furnished Private Boxes for Ladies and Parties."
  - in the summer of 1900, the building was floated to a new site near the railway station.
  - January 1901, J. L. Gage prop. (Whitehorse Star, Jan. 2)
  - January 1901, Mrs. Gage was complimented for her hospitality by the passengers of a WP&YR train which was held up at Bennett from Sunday afternoon until Tuesday afternoon due to heavy snow (once the train left Bennett, it still took 18 hours to reach Skagway) (White Horse Tribune)
  - March 1902, still operating (White Horse Tribune, March 8)

• John Barrett (Bennett): 1899
  - May 1899, operating a wholesale liquor business. He was also a partner in the new Yukon Hotel being built.

• Bartlett Bros. Hotel (Bennett): 1898 ?
  - Photo #6457 at the Yukon Archives shows the hotel in the background. It is captioned as 1898, though it may be later.

• Bennett Bakery & Restaurant (Bennett): 1900
  - 1900, owned by Ritchie & Neilson.
  - May 5, 1900, Yukon Archives photo #3579 by Mizony shows business in a tent on the eastern side of the lake.

• The Bennett Kitchen (Bennett): 1899
  - May 1899, owned by Mrs. H. Simpson.

• The Bennett Bottling Works (Bennett): 1899
  - located at the springs near the White Pass depot.
  - May 1899, managed by J.H.Falconer.

• Bennett City Hotel (Bennett): 1898
  - operating in April 1898.

• Dawson Hotel (Bennett): 1898-1901
  - 1898-1901, owned by Hume & Co.
  - May (?) 1898, a tent; a corner shows in a photo by E.A.Hegg in Berton (b),p.108-109.
  - September 1898, charging $4 per day for a bunk in the tent, and $1 for each meal (Ben Craig diary; Gaffin,Yukon News Sept.20, 1995).
  - June 1899 "The Only Fire Proof Hotel in Bennett; Private Apartments for Ladies; All Modern Improvements"
  - May 18 1899, Yukon Archives photo #3585 by H.C.Barley shows 2-storey frame building with "Hume & Co. Props" on upper front.
  - 1899, Yukon Archives photo #1184 by Asahel Curtis.
  - July 1900 "First Class in Every Respect; Pioneer Hotel of Bennett"
  - April 1900, Grace Bartsch describes the place as being near the far end of Bennett's only street; the street was a jumble, as "some buildings faced it squarely, others cornered it and some were built with their sides to it, while others were actually astride of it." Coming to the hotel, "we entered and found ourselves in a large room. One end was the bar-room. In the other was a large heater with several old chairs clustered around it. The chairs were occupied by men who had obviously spent too much time and money at the bar. There was also a large desk in this room, which told us it was also the office. The only entrance was through this strange office. ...[The clerk] found he had one vacant room. We followed him up a narrow, crooked, rickety flight of steps, with no light. We had to feel our way. When we reached the room, the clerk tried the door and to his dismay found the room occupied by Jim. He seemed to be much provoked and said he could have the room ready for us in a minute ..." [Chris and Grace went to the Palace Grand instead]
  - September 14, 1901, reported that it is being moved to the Big Salmon district (The Alaskan - Sitka)

• Dawson Hotel (Lindeman): 1898
  - operating in a large pair of tents on Main Street in the summer of 1898. “It was a very large place, and down the centre and reaching up to the slant of the roof was a big structure with four double sections of four tiers of bunks, these bunks being formed by canvas stretched from side to side. Along one side was another half section, making in all forty-eight sleeping-places, all of which were occupied except the two we had just secured. In one corner of this bunk-room was the kitchen, or rather a place where cooking went on, and alongside it three or four iron basins on a narrow shelf represented the toilet accommodation. Beyond the kitchen was the dining-room, with a sort of high counter like one sees in the cheapest workingmen’s eating-houses in England. Over the filthy floor round the bunks were scattered boots in all stages of wear, whilst on the woodwork hung dirty garments that would have in most cases reflected discredit on an average coal-heaver in London. … in all my varied experiences of roughing it all over the world, I never struck anything so utterly repellent as this Linderman bunk-house. I learned afterwards it was perhaps a shade better than the average of these places, and which are the sole hotels of the country at present. … we paid [the proprietor] the fifty cents each he asked, and in return got two doubtful-looking blankets apiece. To climb up and throw ourselves into our bunks without troubling even to undress was the work of a few seconds, so tired were we, and almost instantly we were in the land of sleep. … [in the morning] we had a sort of a “lick and promise” wash, for the towels were on a par with the rest of the establishment, and it was impossible to get others even by paying for them. The proprietor, in fact, seemed annoyed and surprised at my suggesting they were not quite so clean as they ought to be, mentioning somewhat testily that I was the first of his lodgers to complain, and adding, as though to convince me of the injustice of my demand, that over thirty people had already used them.” (Julius Price, From Euston to Klondike).

• Grand Palace Hotel (Bennett): 1899-1900
  - September 1 1899, opened by Mrs. M. J. Taylor and Mrs. Lane.
  - 1900, Taylor moved to Whitehorse and, with Mr. Baxter, built the Savoy Hotel; put her son H. W. Taylor in charge of the Savoy.
  - April 1900, Grace Bartsch went to the "Palace Grand" after finding the Dawson Hotel unsuitable. " ... so in we went. This time not through the bar-room. The rooms were small but clean and comfortable." (Yukon Archives: Bartsch, MSS 08, #82/149).

• The Home Roadhouse (Lake Bennett): 1899-1900
  - originally called Middle Lake Bennett Roadhouse in 1898-1899
  - operating in February 1900; photo only (by E. A. Hegg, February 13, 1900: Yukon Archives #2461)

• Lake Bennett Hotel (Bennett): 1898
  - operating in 1898; photo only (by T. R. Lane: Yukon Archives #1353)

• Lake View Hotel and Restaurant (Bennett): 1899-1901
  - May 1899, owned by H.McKay; "Everything first-class. Elegant Furnished Rooms..." (Skagway Daily Alaskan, Sept.9).
  - 1901, still owned by Mr.McKay.

• Lindeman Hotel & Saloon (Lindeman): 1899
  - operating in 1899; photos only (ie Anton Vogee, Yukon Archives #131).

• Middle Lake Bennett Roadhouse (Lake Bennett): 1898-1899
  - operating as The Home Roadhouse by February 1900

• New Arctic (Bennett): 1900
  - July 1900, operated on the lakefront near the WP&YR depot, by Rand & Harwood
  - July 1900, apparently bought by Fred Trump and Ernest Levin; "Newest, Neatest and Best Equipped North of Vancouver"

• The Hotel Northern (Bennett): 1899-1900
  - May 1899, owned by Eda Bostrom and Ethel LaRange (The Bennett Sun, May 31).

• Pack Train Inn (Bennett): 1898-1900
  - owned by George L. Rice & Co.; George Rice, David Hastie and John P. Quinn.
  - 1898, Yukon Archives photo #493 in Coutts Collection #86/15, PHO259 shows the hotel just south of the Bartlett Bros.Hotel, on the east side of town. It was a 2-storey log bldg, with annexes on both sides.
  - 1899-1900, head clerk is William Merritt (The Bennett Sun, Jan. 20).

• Palace Hotel (Bennett): 1899-1905
  - located south of the Dawson Hotel.
  - May 1899, owned by Mrs. Lane and Mrs. M. J. Taylor.
  - September 1899, Lane and Taylor opened the new Grand Palace Hotel in Bennett; not certain whether the Palace was sold or leased.
  - July 1900 "Newly Furnished Throughout; Best $2 House in City; Baggage Free of Charge". Bar run by John A. McNeil.
  - August 1905, bought by Louis N. Markle, floated to Whitehorse on a scow (may have been disassembled). On September 11, Markle arrived at the head of the canyon with the barge Dan McDonald, on which was loaded the Palace hotel. "Markle will float the barge through the canyon and rapids [on the 13th] but it is not fully decided to what use he will put the Palace hotel." (Whitehorse Star, Sept. 12).

• Pioneer Hotel (Bennett): 1901
  - J. E. Smart, proprietor.

• Hotel Portland (Bennett): 1899-1900
  - one of the first permanent hotels at Bennett, May 1899
  - 1899, operated by J.D.Puter and Mr.Palmer; "The Family Hotel of the City; First Class; Everything Neat and Clean" (The Bennett Sun, December 9)
  - July 1900, has closed and N.C.Judd is selling off furniture

• Simpson Hotel (Bennett): 1900
  - located on Main Street near the WP&YR Depot, operated by Mrs. Henrietta Simpson.
  - July 1900, "Everything New; Neat, Warm"

• Hotel Smith (Lindeman): 1898
  - operating in a huge 1898 on Main Street; photos only (ie Yukon Archives Frank Charman collection #89/64, PHO 390, #8B, seen to the right).

• Vendome Hotel (Bennett): 1900-1909
  - 1900-1909, owned by William A. Anderson
  - sold to Jack Stewart for $150 after the December 24, 1909 fire in Carcross; he towed it to Carcross and set up a store, which in 1911 became Matthew Watson's Store, the main part of which still stands.

• Hotel Victoria (Bennett): 1897-1899
  - ca. 1897, in a tent located on the east shore of the Lindeman River, near the point where it flows into Lake Bennett (photo by W&S in Berton (b), p.100)

• J. West & Co. (Bennett): 1899
  - May 1899, John West is operating as a retail and wholesale liquor and general merchant on Front Street.
  - August 1899, moving from a tent on Front Street to a large 2-storey building across the street (The Bennett Sun, Aug. 5).
  - early 1901, moved to White Horse; see Commercial Hotel.

• Yukon Hotel (Bennett): 1898-1901
  - operating in a tent beside the Dawson Hotel (photo only)
  - May 1899, a new hotel is being built for Turner & Company, "the pioneer hotel owners of [Bennett]." The building is 2 stories, with 25 "apartments", all with "baths, lavatories, etc." There is to be "a very extensive barroom", and card rooms. The building is at least partially clad in corrugated iron. Plumbing was done by Thomas Geiger, one of the owners (The Bennett Sun, May 31).
  - May 5 1900, photo #3579 by Mizony.
  - operated by Turner & Co. (John Barrett & Frank Turner, who built the Grand Hotel in Whitehorse 1900)
  - bought by William A. Anderson in May 1901, planned to move it to Carcross or Whitehorse. Anderson had a "finely furnished hotel" for sale in November 1901; may have become the Anderson Hotel at Carcross, October 1902

Northern Roadhouses - An Introduction

List of Proprietors and Managers of Historic Yukon & Alaska Hotels, Roadhouses, Saloons & Cafes