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Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star, 1910-1919
Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star
Explorer's Guides to Yukon Communities
1910
January
- January 7, 1910: Battling for nearly a month, and so reduced in resource that he had to live for days on his moccasins and muck lucks and the fibre of his snow shoes is
the remarkuble experience of Bishop I. O. Stringer of the Church of England, who arrived here from Fort MacPherson yesterday. With him during the trying trip and suffering the
same privation was Charles F. Johnson, a missionary of the Mackenzie valley.
- January 7, 1910: Richard Crawford is in St. Mary's hospital suffering from a bad attack of typhoid fever. He took his drinking water from the Yukon River at a location where the water is known to be impure. Dr. Thompson warns people to go well out into the stream there to get pure water.
- January 7, 1910: While somewhat intoxicated, Miss Osie Hopkins, member of the Skagway demi-monde, drank the contents of a small bottle of carbolic acid last Saturday night. Only prompt medical attention saved her life.
- January 14, 1910: "Swiftwater Bill" turns up in the Andes mountains in Peru where he is examining a placer mine.
- January 14, 1910: Haines, Alaska is incorporated after a favourable plebiscite.
- January 14, 1910: George Black and Frank McDougal of Dawson are admitted to the bar in Vancouver, B.C. on December 16. They both plan to return to Dawson.
- January 14, 1910: John C. Ross, old time Dawson man, has been throwing money away in Victoria, by the thousands of dollars daily, and is now being held for insanity.
- January 21, 1910: From present indications, there will be renewed activity in quartz mining in the Wheaton District, and more particularly on the Porter group of
claims or what is generally known as Carbon Hill.
- January 21, 1910: Lost for sixteen days in the Koyukuk valley, with the temperature 54 to 60 degrees below zero, without food, matches, ax or knife, Vernon Brewster, an old-time prospector and miner, was forced to kill three of his dogs to eat in order to escape destruction in the frozen wilderness.
- January 21, 1910: Mrs B. A. Rockefeller of San Francisco died in Fairbanks today as the result of exposure while coming in from Valdez on the stage. The bodies of Joe King and Frank Giebel, lost on the Valdez trail in the recent blizzard, were found today, frozen stiff. Signal corps men are searching for others who are missing.
- January 28, 1910: English and American capitalists are at present perfecting plans to build a railway from Winnipeg to the Yukon.
- January 28, 1910: W. S. (Fred) Whitman, who since 1905 has been foreman of various mines in the Conrad district and is also well known in Whitehorse, is going to the head of Portland canal to look over some gold quartz properties.
- January 28, 1910: There are a great many placer miners, prospectors and others who are planning on going to the newly discovered Iditarod country early in the spring,
and for those who contemplate such a trip, the carefully prepared information we are giving below will prove beneficial in many ways.
- January 28, 1910: In Victoria on January 7th, for the first time in the history of Canada, Chief Justice Hunter granted an order in application for leave to presume death in the case of Angus McKinnon, timber cruiser, who disappeared in the
Skeena river country two years ago.
February
- February 4, 1910: At a well-attended meeting last Saturday, Eli Hume was elected Fire Chief. He received 52 votes, while the other candidate, Denny O'Connor, received 25.
- February 4, 1910: The greatest battle between a man and the ferocious beasts which inhabit the wilds of interior Yukon, took place on the headwaters of Stewart river
October 26th last. James M. Christie, a passenger arriving on Tuesday's stage, survived to relate his thrilling experience with a bear.
- February 4, 1910: Just to let the people of Whitehorse koow that he has not gone out of business, the dog poisoner added two more victims to his already long list. Teddy, the fox terrier belonging to Mrs R. Kelsey, and an unknown dog were handed the knockout drops this time.
- February 11, 1910: Thomas Kendrick, an old section man employed at the summit of the White Pass, met his death last Saturday morning by being run down by the rotary snow plow when he was unable to climb out from the high snow banks lining the track. Read the entire article here.
- February 11, 1910: Sometime during last Saturday night or Sunday a big slide occurred on the line of the White Pass at a point on Lake Bennett about three miles north
of Bennett station. Thousands of tons of snow, ice and rock crashed down the steep mountain side and slid half way across the lake on the ice. For a distance of one
thousand feet the railroad track is buried beneath several feet of rock and ice.
- February 11, 1910: The dog poisoner came very near adding to his list a human
life. On Tuesday night a dog belonging to some Indians picked up a piece of poisoned meat and carried it to the Indian camp north of town. The dog after devouring the meat commenced frothing at the mouth, and an Indian baby playing around the floor of the
shack into which the dog had made its way in some manner got some of the saliva from the dog's mouth on its hands and in turn was also poisoned. The child was taken to the Police Barracks and through the efforts of Dr. Pare its life was saved.
- February 18, 1910: C. E. Burch the ice automobile inventer who is now at Carcross is busy getting his crate together and expects to make some fast runs on the lake and through the country in the near future. This is Mr. Burch's third winter at Carcross on the same enterprise, and during the past year be has made numerous alterations and improvements in his machine.
- February 18, 1910: Forty two head of horses arrived on Saturday's train for the stage service at the White Pass & Yukon Route and will be distributed to the different posts along the line between here and Dawson. These horses were purchased in Alberta
by Dr. Coots. Heretofore the W. P. & Y. R. has always bought its horses in Oregon and Washington, and this shipment of forty two head is the first to come from the Northwest Territories. On the next trip of the SS Jefferson twenty head more will arrive.
- February 18, 1910: The work of installing the new steam power plant at the Venus mine is progressing rapidly and satisfactorily. The plant when completed will be
utilized for compressing air to run the machines at the Venus mine in the winter time, or at such times when there is not sufficient water power available to perform this work.
- February 25, 1910: The Ice Carnival held in Whitehorse on February 18th was a big success.
- February 25, 1910: Harry Waugh the well known Klondike miner and his partner Oscar Nuhn arrived in Whitehorse on last Thursday's stage and left for the outside
Saturday morning. They have just completed a long overland trip, having come from the MacKenzie river country in the vicinity of Herschel Island, Fort McPherson and the head of the Porcupine river.
- February 25, 1910: H. W. Vance, general manager of the Conrad Mines, was a visitor in town last Friday and Saturday. Mr. Vance stated that the force of men at the Big Thing mine would be increased just as soon as the weather conditions permitted, and that the probabilities are that the Big Thing mine within the next few months would be shipping considerable ore. Two teams are now hauling ore to Carcross.
March
- March 4, 1910: Word comes from Ottawa that J. T. Lithgow, Comptroller at Dawson, will in all probability not return to the Yukon. The Government has proffered
Mr. Lithgow a splendid position, that of organizing the accounting system for the proposed navy.
- March 4, 1910: Dr. R. B. Coutts, veterinary for the White Pass company, accompanied by Mrs. Coutts, arrived on Saturday's train. Dr Coutts brought north a shipment of eighteen head of horses purchased for the company in Eastern Washington to be used on the stage line between here and Dawson. After spending a few days in Whitehorse Dr. and Mrs. Coutts will proceed to their home at Dawson.
- March 4, 1910: Robert Jones was suddenly aroused from his morning sleep on Monday to find his cabin on fire. The flames had already caught his bedclothes, and the knob of the door was so hot that when he grasped it he burned his hand severely. The cabin and contents were consumed in a few minutes.
- March 11, 1910: On March 3, an explosion at the 1,100-foot level of the Mexican mine on Douglas Island killed 39 miners and injured about a dozen others, some severely. Read the entire article here.
- March 11, 1910: A report from Circle City, Alaska, dated Feb. 26, states that Frank White, formerly of Dawson, shot and killed Mrs. Stade and then shot himself. Both died instantly. Mrs. Stade was the wife of H. A. Stade, proprietor of the Jump Off roadhouse, 22 miles from Circle. Stade and his wife separated last fall, when she came to Circle and bought a laundry. White frequently called on the woman, but the cause of the murder is unknown. White is said to have been sober at the time he committed the rash act.
- March 11, 1910: Several teams were busy Tuesday and Wednesday of this week moving a cottage purchased by Mr. H G. Macpherson to the lot just west of the Shadwell residence. When completed it will make cosy little home for someone.
- March 18, 1910: The warm winds since Sunday has rapidly melted the snow. The streets around town and the roads leading out of town are one mass of slush and great
pools of water here and there, as the ground has not thawed sufficiently to allow the water to seep through. In a great many places on this end of the Dawson trail there is absolutely no snow and if the present warm spell continues it will be a question of but a few days until the entire trail will be rendered impassible for sleighs and wheels will take the place of runners.
- March 18, 1910: Effective Tuesday March 15th the passenger fare via stage from Whitehorse to Dawson was advanced from $80.00 to $100.00.
- March 18, 1910: Work has been resumed on the Government wagon bridge at Carcross. This bridge when completed will prove a valuable asset to the town.
- March 25, 1910: The White Pass & Yukon railroad will complete the spur track to the Pueblo mine by building four miles of new road this summer at a cost of not
less than $200,000. The work on the new track will begin on April 1st when a steam whovel, two work trains, about twenty teams of horses and over a hundred men will commence its construction. The number of men will be doubled a little later in the season.
- March 25, 1910: The blowing of the whistle on Monday morning announced to the people of Whitehorse that another season's activity at the B. Y. N. shipyards had begun. Fifty three men are now employed in fitting and preparing the steamers and barges for their summer's work.
- March 25, 1910: Tom Lloyd and his party reached a point 12,000 feet up the side of Mt. McKinley and established a camp there on February 18. Conditions are so favourable they intend to make a dash for the summit, and hope to reach the "top of the continent" by about March 20.
April
- April 1, 1910: After preparatory work, active building operations on the White Pass & Yukon Route railroad spur into the Whitehorse copper belt began today. About 30 labourers from Skagway got off the train at Ear Lake and took two W. P. & Y. sleighs to the new Grafter Camp near the Grafter Mine.
- April 1, 1910: Chas. Pugsley left yesterday morning to commence work on the Valerie mine for M. Palmer. He will have several men in his employ. The Valerie is one of the most promising mines of the copper belt. It lies near the spur, a good deal of money has been spent on the development work, and a considerable quantity of ore is blocked out for shipment.
- April 1, 1910: Colonel John Howard Conrad was married to Miss Nellie Elizabeth Robertson at Muscatine, Iowa on the 15th of March.
- April 8, 1910: A. Gusfield has built an ice boat for the double purpose of giving his friends a spin through space at a breath-taking-away velocity, and to prove to all those who are from Missouri on the question that an ice boat will outstrip the wind in its tremendous speed.
- April 8, 1910: The installation of a quartz mill on the Lone Star group late last summer marked an epoch in the Klondike - the passing from placer to quartz that has
taken place in other rich mining camps. Generally it follows the exhaustion of the placer gold, but the Klondike auriferous gravels will not be exhausted in another twenty years, with all the dredges and great hydraulic works that can be employed.
- April 8, 1910: Mr J. Stewart has been engaged in moving a building from Bennett to Carcross, where he proposes to start in the storekeeping business.
- April 15, 1910: Work on the mammoth power undertaking backed by A. N. C. Treadgold is well under way for the season. The first work is to be near the mouth of
the North Fork of the Klondike river, which is to be tapped with a ditch six to eight miles long. The water is to be conveyed along an old channel, and given a long fall into
the main Klondike. The power will be used to pump water to placer hills on various creeks, to include Hunker, Last Chance and others.
- April 15, 1910: Unquestionably the biggest mining investment made by Spokane people for years is the purchase of the entire holdings of the Yukon-Pueblo Mining company at Whitehorse, for $500,000 cash, by the Atlas Mining company, a close corporation organized under the laws of West Virginia for that purpose. As the vendors of the property are Byron N. White and his associates, the bulk of the purchase money will remain in
Spokane.
- April 15, 1910: Sergeant Joy and Constable McVicker of the N.W.M.P. left for New Westminster, having in custody Sam Volovich, the Slav, who stabbed a woman of the underworld at Dawson about four months ago, and who has been sentenced to serve eleven years in the penitentiary for his dastardly crime.
- April 22, 1910: That Whitehorse has lived almost wholly on Faith for the past several years is well known to all and especially has it been painfully apparent to the people of Whitehorse themselves. But that the faith that was in them was justified is now being proven by current events. For years the vast mineral wealth of this community has lain as Nature left it - in undisturbed repose. But now it is to be mined and to that end steps are now being rapidly taken.
- April 22, 1910: The year 1909 will be marked in the calendar as a red letter year in the history of the crusade against consumption. Never since the organization of the Canadian Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis has there been such activity displayed in Canada in this fight for life.
- April 22, 1910: Mrs. O'Connor was assaulted at her home last Saturday morning by Mrs. Salvatore in a rather vicious manner. The same day the latter was hauled before Magistrate Taylor on the charge of assault with the intent to do bodily harm. She was given the alternative of paying a fine of $100 or going to jail for six months. As the woman is the mother of four little children, it was not thought right by the citizens of the town that she should be incarcerated and the result was that, as she had no money, a public subscription was taken up and the fine paid.
- April 29, 1910: While Supt. Hahn is sparing nothing which will serve to hasten the completion of the railroad spur to the Pueblo mine, the continued cold weather is very materially holding back the work as in many places it is still necessary to shovel snow from the right of way before the ground can thaw sufficiently to permit of the work of grading being carried on. But little rock work remains to be done, all the heavy excavations being on that portion of the road which was constructed two years ago. Something over 100 men are now employed and all comers will be taken on as soon as the frost is out of the ground. A large number of ore cars for use on mine sidings were received early this week. Indications are that the road will be completed to the Pueblo mine early in July.
- April 29, 1910: Jack M. Stewart of Carcross last week moved from Bennett the Vendome hotel which, in the palmy days of the latter town, was its best lodging hostelery, to Carcross via Lake Bennett, a distance of 30 miles. The building was loaded on bobs, one under each corner, and six horses "yanked" it down the ice the same as though it had been a sleighing party. Mr. Stewart will use the building for a store at Carcross.
- April 29, 1910: James Richards (Buzzsaw Jimmy), with that spirit of enterprise which has ever characterized him, has secured a new sawmill and has the same ready for operation oo the vacant lot in the rear of Lowe's blacksmith shop.
May
- May 6, 1910: On Wednesday Dan Gillis made a trip in his gasoline boat down the river in quest of ducks until he reached the Big Bend five miles below town where he found a mighty ice jam. It is said to have broken since and by the first of the week it is believed the head of Lake Lebarge can be reached in small boats. While considerable open water is reported between here and Dawson, the ice is still solid at many places but it
is believed it will break all along within very few hours, three days at the outside.
- May 6, 1910: Samuel May who for several years past has been working his claim, 98 on Burwash creek, arrived in town Tuesday. He reports spring as being very backward in that country this year and when he left Burwash not a drop of water had started in any of the creeks of that district. He says the Jacquots are taking out a big dump and will be in line for a good cleanup as soon as water begins to run. Henry Arp and associates on Burwash also have out a goodsized dump and will keep adding to it until there is water
sufficient for sluicing. Mr. May and B. J. MeGee are partners in several claims on Burwash.
- May 6, 1910: E. H. Thurston, principal stockholder and manager of the Northern Light and Power Company, has 2125 tons here and at Skagway for a mammoth power plant at Coal Creek. The machinery is for a ten thousand horsepower generator, the biggest thing of the kind ever shipped to the northland. The light and power plant now located at Dawson will be moved to Coal Creek, the new owners being of the opinion that they can transmit light and power cheaper than they can transport coal from their mines to Dawson.
- May 6, 1910: A very sad occurence took place on the Cottage City last Friday evening when little Carolyn Cochran died after an illness of less than one day. Read that article and much more about the family here.
- May 13, 1910: Last Friday night, May 6th at shortly after 9 o'clock, London time (2:18 p. m., local time) Edward the VII, King of Great Britain, passed to his reward at the royal palace, London. The immediate cause of his death was heart trouble caused by an attack of pneumonia which produced choking. His condition was not considered alarming until a few hours before his death. His oldest living son, George, Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and York, took the oath of office on Saturday, the 7th, and is now King of Great Britain.
- May 13, 1910: The American Boundary Survey party, 88 men and 25 horses, arrived here on Saturday's train, the party being under the guidance of Thos. Riggs,
Jr., of Washington, D. C. From Champagne Landing the party will secure 50 additional horses which have been wintered at that place by "Shorty" Chambers. Mr. Craig, in charge of the Canadian Boundary Survey, arrived on Tuesday's train with a number of men, other men with 35 horses having come on ahead of him.
- May 13, 1910: John Mocine, manager of the Atlas Mining Company, arrived from Spokane Tuesday accompanied by 11 mechanics who are now at work putting up buildings at the Pueblo mine preparatory to inaugurating the actual work of mining in about two weeks by which time a number of hardrock miners will have been engaged.
- May 20, 1910: Although freighting over Lake Lebarge was carried on for several days after it became what the teamsters considered highly dangerous, there was
several tons of freight left at the head of the lake when work in that line was suspended. It will be picked up and carried to its destination when the lake opens. The steamer Casca got away from Hootalinqua last Saturday at 1 o'clock in the afternoon.
- May 20, 1910: Six placer mining claims have been recorded here, which are located on the right limit of the right fork of the Nestling river which is a tributary
of the Donjek which, in turn, empties into the White. The location of the new find is about 50 miles west of Tantalus which is on the Yukon river about half way between Whitehorse and Dawson, being about 25 miles this side of Yukon Crossing.
- May 20, 1910: The working force on the railroad spur, while of a very migratory class, is being fairly well kept up and the work is progressing satisfactorily.
While many of the laborers have quit lately to go down the river, newcomers arrive almost daily and the positions are kept well filled. No better weather for railroad construction could be desired than that of the present time.
- May 27, 1910: The committee in charge of the mosquito question have been enabled to raise money enough to purchase a good supply of heavy crude oil which will be properly distributed over the surface of all the stagnant ponds within a radius of a mile of Whitehorse and it is believed that this will keep down the annual heavy crop of mosquitoes.
- May 27, 1910: Richard Lewis and E. J. Edwards have purchased the Commercial Cafe business from Greig Neilson and are continuing at the old stand. Mr. Lewis is an experienced buyer and caterer and Mr. Edwards is reputed to be one of the very best cooks in the territory, having been employed in that capacity at the barracks for a long time.
- May 27, 1910: Several members of the local police force have decided to become private citizens and are buying their discharges. Constable Stewart severed his connection two weeks ago and Constables Garlick, Blackburn and Palfrey will follow suit in the next few days.
June
- June 3, 1910: Henry Phillips, for a long time employed in the Star office but for the past two years totempole editor of the Skagway Alaskan, was among the distinguished guests of Whitehorse Saturday, with his new bride. Henry is the only native
printer in the north and what he knows about the business would fill a World's almanac.
- June 3, 1910: At present there are not to exceed 50 people here awaiting the opening of navigation but there are several hundred at Skagway and all the steamers due from below for the next three or four weeks are fully sold and it is expected that several thousand people will pass through here enroute down river within the next few weeks.
- June 3, 1910: Charles Watson who has resided in Southern Yukon for the past ten years, nearly the past five of which were spent at Conrad where owned and conducted the Windy Arm hotel, locked up that hostelery last Friday, came to Whitehorse and attended the celebration and left that evening for Skagway where he took the steamer for Prince
Rupert where he will stop a few days before joining his family in Vancouver.
- June 10, 1910: Even as a Phoenix rising from the ashes, so the little town of Carcross assumes once more an urban appearance. The new depot of the White Pass Company has been placed somewhat nearer to the wharf and freight sheds, and is consequently in closer proximity to the landing stage of the lake steamer, the Gleaner. Read the entire article here.
- June 10, 1910: J. R. Alguire has closed his store in Whitehorse and moved his stock of tobacco, cigars, fruit, candy and confectionery to the Pueblo mine where he has
reopened business and will cater to the trade of that locality,
- June 10, 1910: Iditarod-Bound Pilgrims Hold Fast to Their Dough. Never in the history of Whitehorse has such a well-behaved bunch of people passed through here for the interior, as is going in this spring. With the exception of a few who quit work on the spur some weeks ago and celebrated before leaving for down river in small boats, there has not been a drunken stranger seen in town for a month.
- June 17, 1910: Navigation for the season of 1910 is fully open and all the river and lake boats of the Yukon are now in active commission. The first boat, the White Horse, got away Wednesday of last week with 220 passengers. The Dawson followed Friday with 180 and the Selkirk 24 hours later with an equal number.
- June 17, 1910: A party of nine strangers bound for the Iditarod sailed down from Bennett the latter part of last week, reaching the head of the canyon Sunday morning. Six of them walked around the raging waters and the remaining three came through the canyon and rapids in the boat, making the trip, despite the very low water, without mishap.
- June 17, 1910: Geological Surveyor D. D. Cairnes arrived from Ottawa Tuesday evening and left Wednesday for the Atlin country where he will be engaged in geological work during the season. In former years Mr. Cairnes has had but two professional assistants but this season he has four and the result will be that more will be accomplished this year than ever before. With flagmen and cooks, he will have eight or ten men in his party.
- June 24, 1910: The Casca bumped into a rock and sank in seven feet of water in the Thirty-mile river on June 22. Foreman Al. Henderson has had a crew of six men at work, and on Wednesday they succeeded in raising her stern out of the water.
- June 24, 1910: Robby, the eldest son of John Ryan, became ill on Tuesday and Dr. Clark diagnosed the cause of the illness as being scarlet fever. The boy is being carefully nursed by his aunt, Miss Kate Ryan, but the seriousness of the attack cannot be determined yet for several days. The school has been disinfected and was closed for a day.
- June 24, 1910: Messrs. W. G. Blackwell and C. C. Brett, two promising appearing young men who arrived the latter part of last week from Ontario in response to a
call issued by Bishop L O. Stringer of the Yukon diocese, Church of England, for young men to engage in mission work in the North, will be ordained in the ministry as deacons by Bishop Stringer at Christ Church at 11 o'clock Sunday morning.
July
- July 1, 1910: The steamer Casca which struck a rock in the Thirtymile river when on the way to Dawson from this place on the morning of June 15th, was safely
landed at this place early Wednesday morning and has since been hauled out on the ways at the shipyards. The Casca is very badly damaged and it is not yet known just what will be done toward repairing her. It is said that it will cost almost as much to repair the damage to her hull as it will to build a new one.
- July 1, 1910: W. J. Graves has leased the Breese property in the north part of town and converted it into a skating pavilion and shooting gallery. He has just received 60 pairs of the latest in roller skates, and is out with a most generous offer to the public in that all who so desire can skate from 9 to 11 o'clock each forenoon free of charge by way of practice. The floor is in firstclass condition and good, vigorous and health-giving sport may be anticipated.
- July 1, 1910: There was a big land and rock slide on the railroad between Bennett and Pennington sometime Tuesday night which delayed traffic until yesterday. The slide brought down from the mountainside earth and rocks which covered the track for a distance of about 80 feet and to a depth of from five to twenty feet. Forty laborers
were taken from the spur to the scene of the slide Wednesday morning to assist in clearing the track, which required about 18 hours steady work.
- July 8, 1910: A party of millionaires and their servants arrived at Skagway by chartered steamer, then continued on to Whitehorse by chartered train on Wednesday. Locals were deeply offended that they brought their own food, cooks and waiters, and the galley crew of the steamer White Horse threatened to walk off. The servants were left here and the steamer left for Dawson with its standard crew.
- July 8, 1910: The excursion train to Skagway last Saturday, the occasion of that town's annual Fourth of July celebration, carried about 135 people. Except in supplying a fair part of the crowd, Whitehorse had but little hand in the celebration as she had no bowling teams and no baseball team.
- July 8, 1910: Mrs. Percy Reid of Carcross and two little sons returned Saturday from California to which place they went several months ago for Mrs. Reid's health, She returned greatly improved.
- July 15, 1910: Charles Ward, one of the pioneer prospectors of this place, sold his interest, which was one third, in the Anaconda quartz claim Friday of last week to E. A. Dixon, one of the other owners of the property, for $4000 cash.
- July 15, 1910: At the recent session of the Yukon council an appropriation of $1000 was made for the purpose of building an addition to the General hospital of this
place, the annex to be 18 by 24 and to used as an office and labratory. The hospital board has given a contract for the work to Eli Hume and he would have already been started on the structure were it not for the typhoid patient, Henry Meyers, in the hospital.
- July 15, 1910: The Atlas Mining people moved into their new home at the Pueblo Wednesday of this week and they now occupy what is probably the finest miners quarters in the Dominion. The building has accomodations for 66 men and is provided with all modern conveniences. A music machine which cost $350 was taken out from town Wednesday.
- July 22, 1910: On Monday, train Engineer "Billy" Williams and Fireman "Bob" Foster, were injured when their locomotive, the tender and three gravel cars jumped the tracks on the spur. The men are in the hospital, Mr. Williams with a broken hip and Mr. Foster badly bruised shoulder and hip.
- July 22, 1910: The largest gold-saving dredge in the world is now being shipped into the Yukon from Marion, Ohio, where it was manufactured, by Joseph W. Boyle, owner of what is probably the richest dredging concession on the face of the earth, one dredge being already in operation on the property and yielding phenominally rich returns.
- July 22, 1910: Last Sunday, Charley Johnston of the Regina, and E. G. Morley
of the bank, cut down a tree with an eagle's nest and captured the only occupant of the nest, a fine young eagle of either the Bald or Golden variety. The bird closed on the hand of "Chawles" and that member is now worn in a sling. The eagle is on exhibition at the Regina. The owners are thinking of securing a tent and going on the road.
- July 29, 1910: Never before in the history of this portion of the country has such havoc been worked by the elements as that wrought by the recent heavy rains- veritable cloudbursts in many places. Dry gulches and ravines became raging torrents which swept road grades before them and left desolation in their wakes. Damage will amount to
not less than $25,000.
- July 29, 1910: Theodore Sweet who is employed on the Big Thing mine in the Conrad district, one of the properties which is principaliy owned by Colonel John H.
Conrad, was in town a couple of days lately and stated that ore taken from the seven hundred foot level of the Big Thing mine assays as high as $800 to the ton. General Manager Vance is working a crew of 15 men on the Big Thing and the proverty is developing into what is probably the greatest silver and gold mine in the North.
- July 29, 1910: After being on the ways for four weeks, during which time she was practically rebuilt, the steamer Casca was launched at the shipyards Sunday evening and dispatched Monday night for down river points. The Casca replaces the Bonanza King
which was badly damaged on her last trip down the river by coming in contact with one of the rocks in Five Fingers.
August
- August 5, 1910: Captain Tom Smith, owner and master of the launch Frontiersman, arrived from Teslin Monday and left again for that place Wednesday evening, taking a cargo of merchandise for a trading post which he is opening at that place.
- August 5, 1910: R. K. Neill of Spokane, Wash., president of the Atlas Mining company which lately invested upward of $500,000 in the Pueblo mine which is located
near this place, arrived here Thursday evening of last week and was met at the depot by W. D. Greenough, general manager for the company, himself being a heavy stockholder. Mr. Neill was greatly disappointed on reaching here to be informed that the Canadian government is charging 2½% per cent royalty on the gross output of copper. He says that royalty makes mining prohibitive.
- August 5, 1910: The families of Judge Taylor and T. L. McRae spent several days lately at Ear Lake where a tent town is springing up. Sunday was visitors day at
the lake and upward of 30 people were there. Owing to the recent heavy rains the lake is fully ten feet higher than ever before known.
- August 12, 1910: The annual union Sunday school excursion and picnic was held Tuesday when everybody who could get away joined the throng and spent the day on
classic Lake Lebarge. The flag ship White Horse was secured for the outing and at 10 o'clock it pulled out for down river with upward of 150 people on board.
- August 12, 1910: Fred Pare, one of the best known and most popular young men of Whitehorse, died in Montreal Monday morning after a manly struggle with that dread disease, tuberculosis. For several years he had been employed by the White Pass Railway Company, first as express messenger and baggageman, and later as telegraph operator.
- August 12, 1910: A party of young ladies and gentlemen chaperoned by Mrs. H. E. Porter went to the mouth of the Tahkini river last Saturday afternoon in the B. Y. N.
launch Pelican. A picnic supper was enjoyed on the river bank and the party returned home at 10:30 at night.
- August 19, 1910: The White Pass has decided to build a new passenger steamer to operate between this place and Dawson. While the new craft will be 169 feet
in length, six feet shorter than the White Horse, present flagship of the fleet, it will be four feet wider than the last mentioned boat, which extra width will enable her to have a full third deck of staterooms, giving her about one third more carrying capacity
than the White Horse. The Star is offering a cash prize of $25 to the person proposing the most suitable name for the new steamer.
- August 19, 1910: Never before in the history of the territory have so many hunters of big game been here in one season as at present, no less than five parties having arrived here, outfitted and struck out into the "uncut" within the past few days.
- August 19, 1910: News of a copper strike of phenomenal richness on the Peel river is brought by the officers of the steamer Pauline, which arrived this morning
from Mayo. A. E. McKay, the discoverer, brought the news to Mayo, and told the story to Hill Barrington and others of the Pauline.
- August 26, 1910: Beginning last Saturday when thirteen cars containing 245 tons of ore from the Pueblo mine were shipped to Skagway by the Atlas Mining company,
daily shipments have since been made and will be continued indefinitely.
- August 26, 1910: Colonel J. H. Conrad, managing owner of the various mining properties on Little Windy Arm, arrived from the outside about ten days ago, visited his
hydraulic interests in the Porcupine and came on to Yukon the latter part of last week, visiting his Yukon home in Carcross and his property on Windy Arm.
- August 26, 1910: Number 1, volume 1 of the Iditarod Pioneer has reached our exchange table. The new publication is owned and "perpetrated" by George M. Arbuckle who first became known to fame as the "Hired Man" of the Bennett News eleven years ago. The
Pioneer is a healthy appearing, seven column, four page paper and is replete in news and live ads of the new camp.
September
- September 2, 1910: Taylor & Drury is building a new steamer, named Kluahne. Although the Kluahne will do a general steamboat business in the way of carrying both freight and passengers, she was constructed by her owners primarily for their own use in carrying supplies to their outlying trading posts, one at Teslin, another at Little Salmon
and still another 250 miles up from the Yukon on the Pelly river. The Kluahne is 55 feet long with a breadth of beam of 13 feet.
- September 2, 1910: Skagway is to lose one of its pioneer institutions, the branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce which has operated at that place for between 11 and 12 years and which has ever been popular and obliging. The remaining accounts of the bank will be transferred to the branch of the same institution at this place immediately after the date of its closing, September 30th.
- September 2, 1910: Over one hundred cases of whooping cough are reported at Dawson. We know how to sympathize as we had ours last winter. The only consolation we can offer Dawson is that, barring backsets, those afflicted will recover - in about four months.
- September 9, 1910: A shipment of cattle comprising 221 head arrived by Tuesday's train on the way to Fairbanks. This was the last cattle shipment of the season for lower Alaska but there are about 400 head to pass through here for Dawson within the next few days. The cattle which arrived Tuesday night were from Montana ranges and will be worth, when delivered in Fairbanks, from $500 to $600 per head.
- September 9, 1910: W. O. Oppenhoff, president of the Tutshi Lake Mining company which is operated about five miles east of Bennett station, was here last Friday on his way to Bennett from Dawson where he has been for several years and where he is still interested in mining property. Several men have been at work on the company property
near Bennett for the past several months and the showings made are such as warrant the purchase and installation of machinery at once. The ore carries both gold and silver.
- September 9, 1910: Last Sunday, the six or seven year-old son of Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph Horsfall was killed at Selkirk. The child was playing with matches in the rear of the house when his clothes became ignited and before help could arrive he was so badly burned that death resulted within a few minutes.
- September 16, 1910: Gold to the value of $75,000 mysteriously disappears while in transit from Fairbanks to Seattle - express and mail both robbed, $57,500 from former and $27,500 from latter. The express box was emptied of gold and filled with lead.
- September 16, 1910: The Canadian Railroad Commission, which has been in session at Vancouver since Sept. 5, has ordered the White Pass and Yukon Route to lower its freight rate on ore, and to immediately file with the commission a new schedule of freight rates covering general commodities.
- September 16, 1910: A group of copper claims in the Rainy Hollow country has just been bonded for $490,000, the money to be paid by the first of January. The property lies inland from Haines, Alaska, and is a big proposition.
- September 23, 1910: William R. Hulbert, the aged gardener for the B. Y. N. company, was stricken with paralysis Tuesday evening about 5 o'clock and died that night at 11:30 without regaining consciousness. Read the entire article here.
- September 23, 1910: Hallock C. Bundy, newspaper man and writer of San Francisco, arrived here from Dawson on the White Horse last Friday on his way out to Vancouver where he will open a publicity office on behalf of Yukon, the object being to advertise the territory with the view of inducing tourists to come here next summer and during succeeding years. Residents of Dawson raised $1500 to further his proposition, but residents of Whitehorse declined, as tourists are invariably rushed from train to steamer with no time here.
- September 23, 1910: Foreman William Donnenworth and the men with him from this place returned Monday from Livingstone to which place they repaired and constructed considerable new road leading in frorn Mason's Landing. The miners of that district now have the best road they have ever had. About $5,000 in labor was expended on it by the government.
- September 30, 1910: Through the representation of Bishop Stringer, the Dominion government devotes $30,000 to the erection of a territorial mission school for Indians at Carcross.
- September 30, 1910: Owing to the fact that Skagway has no bank as of October 1, the White Pass & Yukon Route make arrangements to establish their own accommodation bank.
- September 30, 1910: The first fatality of the season occurred on the river at about 2 o'clock last Saturday morning when Ernest Blythe, second mate of the steamer
Selkirk, lost his life at a point in the Thirtymile about six miles above Hootalinqua. Read the entire article here.
October
- October 7, 1910: Dan G. Snure, miner, merchant and hotelman of Livingstone, arrived in town on one of his semi-annual visits with news of the discovery of rich pay on
the hillside of the property owned by the Livingstone Creek Syndicate of which Jack Blick is general manager. In one week $780, clear of all expense, was washed out by five men. The pay is located only four feet from the surface.
- October 7, 1910: On a late trip of the steamer Susie up the lower river to Dawson and while an attempt was being made to pull the steamer offa bar a steel cable being operated on a capstan parted and the recoil struck Chas. H. Arends, breaking his leg. Blood poison set in and, while all was done for the unfortunate man possible by his fellow passengers, death resulted within three days.
- October 7, 1910: Rev. Edwin H. Burgess arrived last Friday evening from the outside, having been sent here by the Presbyterian mission board to fill the pulpit of that church here, taking the place of Rev. Arthur Ross who accepted a call to Dawson.
- October 14, 1910: Word has been received here of the death at San Francisco Tuesday morning at 7:30 o'clock of Michael J. Heney, the well known builder of railroads in the North. Mr. Heney's first work in the North was started on the morning of the 24th of May, 1898, when the first shovelful of dirt was thrown on the White Pass & Yukon railroad at Skagway.
- October 14, 1910: The Canadian and Dawson have completed their last trips and are laid up for the winter. The others, White Horse, Casca and Selkirk, all due before Sunday, will be put on the ways immediately after their arrival. The independent steamer Lafrance will make another trip to Dawson and will winter at the foot of the lake where her sister, the Pauline, is already in winter quarters. All the steamers arriving within the past week have carried full loads of passengers.
- October 14, 1910: Sergeant Darling of the R. N. W. M. P., with two constables, arrived in Atlin on Wednesday with a dozen horses. They made the trip from Edmonton, and as they have been on the journey since about the beginning of May, over a pretty hard trail, they were uncommonly glad to get back once more to the comforts of civilization. They are en route for Whitehorse.
- October 21, 1910: The Lafrance is the last steamer of the season, leaving from Dawson October 20 and arriving in Whitehorse October 25.
- October 21, 1910: Another robbery of gold was added to the already long list of similar operation of the present season. When the mail sacks from the steamer Selkirk were trucked over from the boat to the baggage room, it was discovered that one of eight sacks, each containing $15,000 in gold bricks, had been ripped open and three bricks, valued at $1,000 each, extracted.
- October 21, 1910: From the White Pass company on October 15th: "The untimely death of our late friend Michael J. Heney, is a matter of profound regret to all who knew him. As an evidence of our esteem for the man whose genius was so largely responsible for making possible the White Pass & Yukon Route, a silent tribute will be paid his memory by a complete suspension of all operations while he is being laid to rest. The funeral will take place in Seattle at 10 a. m., Tuesday, the 18th."
- October 28, 1910: Last Friday night marked a red letter page in the history of the town of Carcross, that being the occasion of the first railroad excursion ever run to that point and the cause was the dedication of the new Caribou hotel, lately completed and furnished by E. W. Gideon at a cost of about $14,000.
- October 28, 1910: Supt. Wheeler, of the mail department of the W. P. & Y. R., has received a new automobile, a Winton No. 6, which he will test on the Whitehorse-Dawson trail as a means of transporting mail, express and passengers between the two points.
- October 28, 1910: Rev. Father Rivet, who has been in charge of the Catholic church of this place since early the present year, left Wednesday of this week for Prince Rupert, his future field of usefulness.
November
- November 18, 1910: The government wagon bridge across Caribou arm at Carcross was completed and the first team crossed it on November 14th.
- November 18, 1910: The Atlas Mining Company which early last spring purchased from Byron N. White of Spokane, the Pueblo mine located six miles from this place, which
property has since been continuously worked, has suspended all operations, let all the men go, packed and stored everything movable about the mine, nailed up the buildings and left the property without even a watchman. Supt. Mocine left on yesterday's train for Skagway,
enroute to his home and the company's headquarters at Spokane. No explanation has been given for the closure.
- November 18, 1910: William Chantler, the well known local mechanic, has a force of men at work installing a sawmill near the Tenmile roadhouse on the Dawson trail.
The mill is the one shipped into this country some years ago by the W. L. Breese outfit and has never been used. A year ago it was brought in from Bullion creek in the Kluane district where it was taken by Breese.
December
- December 2, 1910: After much pulsating, throbbing and other evidence of unrest, the bosom of old Yukon is at rest and will remain so for several months to come. Ice jams caused another flood a few days ago, however.
- December 2, 1910: The masquerade skating carnival at the Club rink Friday night, the first of the season, was largely attended, no less than sixty skaters being in costume. The ice was in splendid condition and the weather was just right for skating but rather chilly for the members of the band, playing in the open in winter in Yukon being fraught with more difficulty than is apparent to the un-"toot"-ered.
- December 2, 1910: H. E. Porter is ready to leave with an outfit to establish a trading post in the Ibex country but is detained by the poor condition of the trails, there being too much snow for wheels and not enough for runners. The Ibex is a great fur-producing country and Porter's intentions are to trade with Indians.
- December 9, 1910: That large Winton 6 automobile that is to revolutionize travel "betwixt" this place and Dawson, left here last Sunday with a cargo of mail for the
purpose of going through to Dawson for the first time. All went swimmingly until Little River was reached when something went wrong with the dasherdictus which is located just between the bubellicus and the dickerdasher, being abaft of the mollydunk and on the haw side of the tiddlewhacker. The mail was recovered Tuesday morning by a reliable stage and four.
- December 9, 1910: The announcement in this paper that McRae & Lucier, haberdashers, clothiers and tailors, are to quit Whitehorse will come us a surprise to everybody. The senior partner has been in business here ever since the town had a place
on the map and Mr. Lucier has been here five years, the present firm being in existence over three years.
- December 9, 1910: Mr. and Mrs. John Scott left Carcrosss for the outside early the present year. On November 24th, Winifred, their three year old daughter, died
at the hospital in Kamloops. She and her twin brother were taken ill from ptomaine poisoning from eating canned peas, and while her brother recovered she died trom the effects.
- December 16, 1910: This part of the country has certainly seen all kinds of weather in the past few days. On Monday morning it was 47 below but yesterday morning it was 35 above zero and a few drops of rain fell, a most unusual thing for December.
- December 16, 1910: The annual report that Dr. P. F. Scharschmidt will not return as superintendent of the White Pass fleet of steamers is now current and it is said
that this time the report is true - that "Doc" has a better and more lucrative position that will keep him where he can go to moving picture shows instead of in this country where vexation of spirit is rampant. "Doc" was one of the first residents of Whitehorse, and was the original owner of this great family paper.
- December 16, 1910: Indications now point to the busiest spring in the matter of freighting to the foot of Lake Lebarge ever known here. Three lower river steamers are
tied up at the foot of the lake, the Evelyn, Tana and White Seal and are intending to get away with the opening of navigation below the lake for the lower Yukon country, Fairbanks and the Iditarod, with general cargoes, all of which will be freighted over the ice from this place to the foot of the lake.
1911
January
- January 6, 1911: Attorney R. L. Ashbaugh, dean of the Dawson bar and member of the Yukon council, for the Bonanza district, died on January 3rd.
- January 13, 1911: The Princess Adelaide is the name of a new steamer lately received at Vancouver by the C. P. R. company for use in western waters. She will likely
be placed on the Skagway run for a few trips each fall to catch those returning from the North. The Adelaide is said to be the finest and fastest steamer now on the coast.
- January 20, 1911: An agreement is reached between Canada and the U.S. to create an international railroad commission to control the border railways.
March
- March 10, 1911: The police patrol from Fort Macpherson is overdue. More than a month later, the bodies of these four members of the R.N.W.M.P. winter patrol on their way from Fort MacPherson to Dawson are found near the mouth of the Mackenzie river (April 21). The bodies were found by a relief party which left Dawson February 28 to seek for the missing patrol which at that time was six weeks overdue.
- March 17, 1911: Captain Syd C. Barrington, who is manager of the Side Streams Navigation company, will operate two steamers this season, the Lafrance and a new and larger boat which he and a crew of of 23 men will construct at the foot of the lake, the York Barrington, named for his little son. The new boat will have practically new
boilers which were in the steamer Vidette when she was purchased last fall but her engines are brand new and of the latest model.
- March 24, 1911: Harry "Snowslide" Esquigge, who obtained his cognomen from sliding down a mountain side in an avalanche of several thousand tons of snow and lived to relate the experience of the trip, and Alex. Fisher, who has been mining on Sheep Creek for the past several years, reached town Monday. Esquigge has been mining on Fourth of July for several years.
- March 24, 1911: Mr. Robert W. Service, whose latest book "The Trail of Ninety-eight" has met with much favour, is taking a well-earned rest at his mother's ranch
some sixty miles out of Edmonton, Alberta. It is his purpose to remain there for several months and, as he says, enjoy the simple life.
April
- April 7, 1911: The White Pass caterpillar traction engine was started to the lake yesterday morning on a trailbreaking mission and incidentally she hauled sixteen tons freight, barge lumber, behind her, plowing her way through snow two feet deep in some places with apparent ease, a plow having been rigged up that crowds to the sides the snow, no matter how hard the latter is crusted.
- April 7, 1911: James Richards received a carload of saw logs on Tuesdays train from Robinson for his mill at this place. The logs are quite large and practically free from knots, something unusual in Yukon timber.
- April 7, 1911: Chief Isaac of Moosehide blew in today to announce that there will be doings in society in Moosehide next month. Last winter Commissioner Henderson gave the chief a great deal of food last Christmas, and he is now going to host a potlatch to give away blankets and food and much more.
- April 14, 1911: D. Detherage, the young man who served six months in jail here for robbery committed last September, has now been charged with an assault on George Withrow at Fort Selkirk, with an axe. He seems to be a moral degenerate for whom there is little or no hope.
- April 14, 1911: The city of Iditarod, Alaska, was destroyed by fire on April 4th. The loss is estimated at one hundred thousand dollars, and would have been larger except for the fact that the fire proceeded slowly, and the merchants were enabled to save most of their stocks.
- April 14, 1911: On Monday's train from Skagway there were between sixty and seventy persons bound for Atlin, many of them mine operators who had spent the winter on the outside. Principal among the returning operators was J. M. Ruffner who was accompanied by his wife and between thirty and forty employes, twenty eight of the latter being Japanese.
- April 21, 1911: The bodies of four members of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police which composed the winter patrol party which was to come to Dawson from Fort Macpherson, near the mouth of the Mackenzie river, have been found. On December 22, Inspector Fitzgerald, in charge of the party, Constables Carter, Taylor and Kinuey with an Indian guide left Fort Macpherson for Dawson, a distance of approximately 550 miles. They had three teams of five dogs each and expected to reach Dawson about the middle of January, having with them provisions sufficient to last from 28 to 25 days, the length of time it was supposed would be consumed in making the journey.
- April 21, 1911: Five members of the Royal N. W. M. P. left Whitehorse Wednesday morning on the way to London, England, where they will represent that military organization for this territory in the coronation exercises of King George. The party was composed of Corporal Scott and Constables Lean and Walters of Dawson, and Constables Haigh and Mansfield of the Whitehorse division.
- April 21, 1911: An American consular report dated March 17 mentions that Carl W. Faulk of Carcross captured a litter of black fox puppies, and decided to raise them for breeding purposes. Offers as high as $1500 have been made for the pelt of one of the black males, and he has sold pelts of silver foxes as high as $1200 each.
- April 28, 1911: Arnold L. Berdoe, general manager of the White Pass & Yukon Route leaves the company after 5 years on the job. On May 12th, vice president Dickeson was appointed the new general manager.
- April 28, 1911: Crews and passengers of all boats leaving Seattle for Alaska must now either show that they have been vaccinated or submit to that ordeal. The steamboat people and Alaskans are up in arms over the rule and steps are being taken to have it waived, otherwise, the tourist travel northward this season will be very light as people will prefer to stay away rather than submit to forced vaccination.
- April 28, 1911: John Owen "Jack" Williams, employed at the B. Y. N. shipyards, died at the General hospital Tuesday morning at 3:30 o'clock after being unconscious from about 2 p. m. of Sunday. The cause was determined to be tuberculosis of the brain. He was about 42 years of age. Read the entire article here.
May
- May 5, 1911: Frederick Sargent, aged 93 years, died at Kodiak, Alaska, on March 15. He is survived by a wife and seven children. Mr. Sargent was undoubtedly the oldest white man in Alaska at the time of his death. We have reproduced this and several other articles from this issue - see them here.
- May 5, 1911: Last Friday there arrived in Whitehorse a man and woman who, except for a distance of 20 miles, from the Summit to Bennett where the mountain zephyrs toy with the snow until it drifts to a depth (or height, rather) of several feet, walked the railroad from Skagway to this place.
- May 5, 1911: The question of Female Suffrage was debated in the Presbyterian church of this place Tuesday night when opinion as to the merits of the discussion was so evenly divided as to result in a tie when a vote was taken, the chairman, Fred Maclennan, gallantly deciding in favour of the advocates of equal suffrage. Strange to say, the majority of the votes for the negative were cast by the ladies.
- May 12, 1911: One of the biggest mining deals in the history of the Yukon has closed whereby Daniel Guggenheim takes over the entire holdings of the National Trust Company of Toronto in the Yukon Territory. These include the richest portion of Gold Creek and a concession on Dominion.
- May 12, 1911: A distressing accident occured on Taku Arm about fifty miles out from Carcross last Saturday evening when a loaded stage drawn by four horses in charge of McDonald and Dixon broke through the ice, the entire outfit, owned by Louis Schultz of Atlin, sinking beneath the icy water.
- May 12, 1911: The ice went out of the river in front of Whitehorse at 8:05 o'clock Sunday morning, May 7th. At Dawson the ice went out a few hours later of the same
day, the first time in history when this place was not from a week to twelve days ahead of Dawson in the matter of shipping her ice down river.
- May 19, 1911: The launch Christine, a 15 horse power gasoline craft with five tons of provisions, mostly vegetables and fruit, was wrecked in the Thirtymile river on Thursday the 11th, the two men who owned and manned her, J. J. Hovd and Fred F. Hess, both of Tacoma, Wash., barely escaping with their lives.
- May 19, 1911: The home of Roland Ryder, his daughter Miss Daisy, and son George, was almost entirely destroyed by fire last Sunday evening about 8 o'clock. As none of the family was at home, it being the church hour, the contents of the house were practically destroyed before the fire was seen from the exterior. There was no insurance and the loss will total from $500 to $700.
- May 19, 1911: While hunting ducks on the Klondike river a short distance below the North fork last Saturday, Joseph Shipman, chief mechanic on the big Bear creek dredge, was mistaken for a bear and shot and killed by Gustave Lendall, a prospector. Realizing what he had done, Lendall turned the gun on himself and put a bullet through his own brain, death being instantaneous.
- May 26, 1911: Two Seattle aviators, Fred Weisman and Charles L. Young, are anxious to come to Whitehorse and give a flying exhibition. Read the entire article here.
- May 26, 1911: River Disasters Very Numerous. The Steamer Lafrance, owned by Captain Syd Barrington, burned to the waterline after striking a rock in the Thirtymile, two barges were wrecked below Hootalinqua, and the steamer Pauline had a slight accident.
- May 26, 1911: Prospectors Louis Belney and "Ernie" Johnson lately made a trip into the Aishihik lake country and, in a conversation with the latter, the Star was given to believe that there is a great future to that district as a placer mining field.
June
- June 2, 1911: Due to continued cold weather, the water in the river at Whitehorse is still 6 inches too low to allow for any steamers to leave. The White Horse, Dawson, and Selkirk will be the first to go.
- June 2, 1911: Territorial Secretary David R. Macfarlane has hired foremen for road-building projects: Simon Feindel for the road leading from Carcross to the Big Thing Mine; William McAdam for the Robinson-Watson-Wheaton road; William Donnenwerth and "Web" Webster for the Whitehorse-Yukon Crossing road. They will hire their own men and start work next week.
- June 2, 1911: A cabin about a mile south of Ear Lake was recently robbed of about $30 worth of clothes, bedding and eatables, the property of E. J. Hamacher who had a wood camp there last winter.
- June 16, 1911: Civil engineer H. L. Robbins arrived at Haines on the Dolphin to set up an office for the Alaska Midland Railroad project. A great deal of development and construction work will soon be done.
- June 23, 1911: Seldom has Whitehorse been so shocked as on last Saturday evening when, shortly after 5 o'clock, the news hastily spread over town that Mrs.
Roberts, wife of Captain James Roberts of the lake steamer Gleaner, had been found dead in her bed at her home on Second street. Read the entire lengthy article here.
- June 23, 1911: One of the saddest tragedies in the history of Southern Yukon occurred about 5 o'clock Saturday evening, June 17, when William Keely Fitzgerald fell into the raging waters of Miles Canyon and was bourne rapidly away in the rushing torrent. The body has not been recovered.
- June 23, 1911: Byron N. White, owner of the Pueblo mine near this place, accompanied by Mrs. White, arrived from Spokane Thursday evening of last week and has
since made almost daily visits to the Pueblo which is located about five miles northeast of town.
- June 30, 1911: There are 20 cases of smallpox at Dawson. Whitehorse has been unsuccessful in getting a quarantine established, and 25 refugees from Dawson were allowed to land on June 28th.
July
- July 28, 1911: It is expected that when Parliament reconvenes on Tuesday, the Minister of Justice will recommend that a resolution be adopted to the effect that two of the three present Yukon judges be at liberty to take indefinite leave of absence, the option of acceptance to be given to the judges in order of seniority. This would save the $5,000 living allowance given to each of the judges.
- July 28, 1911: Pioneer Bob Henderson, the man who first discovered gold on
Hunker creek and who was later defrauded of his location by ways that are dark and tricks that are vain, may be about to come into his own after many years. The government has apparently passed special legislation granting to him the privilege of staking a mile of any unstaked property he desired.
- July 28, 1911: Theo. Sweet, who left here two weeks or more ago for Vancouver, was assaulted in his room on the steamer Princess May the first night out from Skagway by an Australian flunky who had concealed himself in Sweet's room. Although Mr. Sweet required 6 stitches to close a wound on his head, the other fellow was put in irons and turned over to police.
August
- August 4, 1911: Major A.E. Snyder, commander of the Yukon division of the R.N.W.M.P., leaves the north.
- August 4, 1911: J. D, Craig, director of the Canadian Boundary Survey, wired Commissioner Wilson last night that smallpox had broken out at Rampart house and the telegram requested that members of the Royal N. W. M. P. be sent to establish a quarantine, as there were fully 100 Indians in that vicinity. A doctor with the American survey party has been placed in charge of the situation, but vaccine points were requested from this place, also a trained nurse.
- August 4, 1911: Lumber for the construction of new sidewalk has been delivered around town within the past few days and many improvements will be made in consequence. Among other sections to be put down, a walk will be laid from the one now on Front street down as far as the barns of the B. Y. N. company. Jack French is in charge of the work.
- August 11, 1911: The new steamer Casca under construction at the B.Y.N. shipyards since fall 1910, was launched August 5. The Casca is entirely new from stern to stern with the exception of her boilers which were used for a short time in the old Casca.
- August 11, 1911: Joe Lamb, prospector, hunter and trapper, lost his life on Friday, July 28th, by drowning in the icy water of Lake Kluane near Silver City. His body was recovered and buried on the hill overlooking Silver City. Read the entire article here.
- August 11, 1911: If the White Pass railroad carries out its announced intention of raising the rate on ore from Carcross to Skagway from $1.75 to $2.75 per ton on September 1st, Colonel J. H. Conrad, principal owner of the Big Thing mine which has been shipping ore regularly for the past several months, says that mine will close down all operations at the end of the present month. Read the entire article here.
- August 18, 1911: An excursion train arrived from Skagway Sunday afternoon,
carrying twenty-four passengers, all but two of whom returned on the same train as far as
Carcross where the majority of them them took the steamer Gleaner for Atlin. Among the visitors on Sunday were several men who are well known in the financial world, among them R. E. Olds of Milwaukee, Wis., manufacturer of the famous Oldsmobile.
- August 18, 1911: General Scott of Rosedale, Mississippi, who has made a vast fortune in the great staple product of the South, cotton, Sah, arrived last Saturday with
four men and sixteen horses on an extensive hunting trip along the boundary which separates Alaska from Yukon in the vicinity of the head of the White river.
- August 18, 1911: Rev. W. G. Blackwell returned on the steamer Dawson last Sunday morning. With Archdeacon Canham of Carcross and Rev. Brett of Champagne Landing, he went to Dawson two weeks previous for the purpose of attending a session of the Anglican Synod of Yukon, presided over by the Rt. Rev. Bishop I. O. Stringer.
- August 25, 1911: For the first time in the history of Whitehorse music was furnished in one of her churches, the church of England, last Sunday morning by a fully vested choir of young boys. Rev. Blackwell has organized a good choir and is justifiably proud of the results.
- August 25, 1911: Having taken retirement discharge from the service of the Royal N. W. M. P., Dr. L. A. Pare, after a residence of twelve years in the territory, all but one of which was spent in Whitehorse, left Wednesday morning for Fort McLeod, Alberta, where he will visit relatives for a few weeks, after which he will make an extended visit to Paris and other European points of interest. Read the entire article here.
- August 25, 1911: The Midland Railroad. The party which left Haines, Alaska, a month ago for the purpose of meandering the route of the railroad it is proposed to build from salt water at Haines to Fairbanks by way of the Porcupine, the Kluane, the head of the White river and down the Tanana, completed the trip to the head of the Tanana last week. Read the entire article here.
September
- September 29, 1911: Frederick Tennyson Congdon, Liberal, and Dr. Alfred Thompson, Conservative, are nominated for the Yukon Council. Dr. Alfred Thompson won the October 23rd election.
October
- October 27, 1911: The Yukon Gold company's two new gold dredges, 7½ cubic foot machines built by Bucyrus, have been working for a few days at the former site of Grand Forks and on No. 7 Eldorado.
- October 27, 1911: The steamer Kluahne, owned by Taylor & Drury and operated by them in connection with their various outlying trading posts, finished the season last week and has been pulled out on the ways below town for the winter.
- October 27, 1911: The rate war recently reported from Dawson proved a boon to travelers the past week. The rate on the independent steamer Vidette, owned and operated by Captain Syd Barrington, from Dawson to this place was $20 first and $10 second class, while the Prospector which left about the same time carried travelers at $10 first and $5 second class.
November
- November 3, 1911: Contractor Eli Hume returned from Carcross Monday evening, having completed the Indian school building he has been engaged on since early in the summer.
- November 3, 1911: The fellow-employes and friends of the late John Owen Williams, who died suddenly here five months ago, have shown their respect for his memory by arranging for an imposing monument which will be erected at his grave in the Whitehorse cemetery early next spring. See the monument here.
- November 3, 1911: Dr. Alfred Thompson, member-elect of Parliament for Yukon, left Dawson by fast stage yesterday and should arrive here on Wednesday of next week, being on his way to take his seat in the house of commons.
December
- December 1, 1911: Bishop Stringer is endeavoring to interest the authorities at Ottawa in experimenting with reinder in Yukon.
- December 1, 1911: The Star is but voicing the wish of the leaders of the party in power in Yukon, as well as every oldtimer in the territory, when it says the next commissioner of Yukon should be a Yukoner and not a stranger from some other part of the Dominion. Yukon has already. had too many "carpetbag" commissioners for her own good.
- December 1, 1911: Henry T. Kamayama, the Japanese boy who for a long time was cook at the Government telegraph messhouse and later cook at the bank mess, returned last Friday from a trip to Victoria and other points oh the outside. He brought back with him a dainty bride, a new arrival from the land of the Mikado.
1912
January
- January 5, 1912: "Mrs. Idelle Cochran, wife of Howard Cochran, who, with his partner, Theo. Becker, is operating the Whirlwind mine in the Wheaton district, died on Wednesday, December 27th, four hours after giving birth to a girl baby." Although she was buried in Whitehorse, there is no record of her. See more about Howard & Idelle Cochran and daughters.
- January 26, 1912: George Armstrong is mourning the loss of one of his domesticated foxes, the black one, which escaped from its environment nearly two weeks ago by gnawing a hole in the wire netting which formed the enclosure. As it was the black fox of the pair, the loss to Mr. Armstrong is quite heavy as the skin would have brought him a very fancy price - anywhere from $400 to $750. Read that article and much more in The History of Fox Farming in the Yukon Territory.
February
- February 2, 1912: George Black is appointed Commissioner of the Yukon.
- February 2, 1912: The big Caterpillar traction engine being used to haul wood
across Lake Bennett to the power plant of the Big Thing Mining company at the mouth of McDonald Creek went through the ice near the mouth of the Watson River. The machine, which was owned by Frank Asam, weighed 16 tons and cost $15,000. It is in over 80 feet of water, and it is not believed that the machine can be recovered.
- February 2, 1912: Skagway has become aroused to the fact that, to fortify her claim to be the gateway to the interior, a wagon road from that place to the Summit to connect with a Canadian trunk line extending northward as far as Dawson, is the one thing needful.
- February 9, 1912: A human skeleton wrapped in canvas, found on the shore of Wolf Lake, about 70 miles east of Teslin Post, is thought to be that of J. M. Danielson. Neither he nor his brother have been seen since the Fall of 1910.
- February 9, 1912: E. L. Thoms, keeper of a roadhouse at Indian river, complained to the police several days ago that he had been robbed of about $280. He stated that he left the money in his trousers pocket on going to bed, and, on getting up and dressing the next morning, found the money missing. K. Q. Ayer and T. W. P. Smith, who left here last week for Matson creek to erect quarters for a roadhouse, have been arrested.
- February 9, 1912: Archie and Cam Smith, both renowned for their creative genius, are experimenting on a machine for use on the ice that may revolutionize winter freighting in the North. A motor-engine-propelled air wheel operates the conveyance. A demonstration on the glare ice on the river, last Sunday developed a speed of eight miles per hour. The boys have proven to their own satisfaction that their invention will move heavy loads down hill, provided the hill is sufficiciently steep.
- February 16, 1912: The winter freight and mail division of the W. P .& Y. R. received 44 horses on the train which arrived in Whitehorse on February 14th.
- February 16, 1912: T. D. Macfarlane, government mining inspector, has just returned from a tour of the new creeks in the Sixtymile district. During the several days he was absent one hundred men filed their applications for claims on the various creeks.
Mr. Macfarlane reports many still staking on the tributaries of Matson, and says that seventy-five stalwart miners are right in the district, building cabins and preparing to do genuine prospecting.
- February 16, 1912: Jacob T. Snyder arrived from Dawson on a bicycle Wednesday evening, having pedaled in from Nordenskiold, a distance of 74 miles that day. He kept
pace all day with the stage which arrived the same evening and did not appear to be particularly fatigued after his strenuous day's work.
- February 23, 1912: Mrs. Kelsey who has just returned from a visit to the outside, has resumed the work of cleaning and repairing and is ready for all orders in that line. She is in her former quarters, the Raymond house. Mrs. Kelsey has taken a lease on the Dominion hotel which she has re-opened as a lodging house and which she will conduct as a home for the homeless.
- February 23, 1912: Sixty persons availed themselves of the opportunity for visiting the neighboring town of Carcross last Friday night, the occasion being an excursion over the White Pass road, and the purpose two-fold - inspecting the Indian school in the new government building, and attending a dance at the Caribou hotel.
- February 23, 1912: English Relatives Seek Man Lost in Yukon. Robert Ferguson
Bryson, a remittance man whose home was in Liverpool, England, has by all appearances been swallowed up by the land of snow. Bryson was wealthy and didn't need the money, but the lure was too strong for him. On Christmas day, 1909, he hit the trail with three companions and since then nothing has been heard of him.
March
- March 1, 1912: It is charged in a grand jury indictment at Juneau that the North Pacific Wharves & Trading company, the Pacific & Arctic Railway & Navigation company, the Pacific Coast Coal company, the Pacific Coast Steamship company, the Alaska Steamship company and the Canadian Pacific Railway company formed a combination in restraint of trade and in violation of the Sherman anti-trust law to monopolize the transportation facilities at Skagway.
- March 1, 1912: David J. Cochran was burned to death in his cabin at Iditarod City December 24. He was about 58 or 60 years of age and had been in the North for ten
or twelve years, locating first at Atlin. The spring of '06 he removed to Conrad where he resided two years, coming from there to this place and leaving here for Iditarod two years ago. He leaves a wife and several grown children in New Brunswick.
- March 1, 1912: Tuesday forenoon Dr. H. C. Davis, assisted by Dr. F. W. Cane, amputated most of the fingers from the right hand of Howard McMillan, the young telegraph operator who narrowly escaped freezing to death on the Whitehorse-Dawson trail early in January while taking a spin with a fast dog team, he being thrown from the sled and rendered unconscious and badly frozen before being picked up by a freighter named Brown.
- March 8, 1912: C. E. S. Burch, inventor and builder of the Burch Auto sleigh, took a party out for a trial spin at Carcross a few days ago when the machine proved to be a great success.
- March 8, 1912: There is enough activity by various miners in the Whitehorse copper belt that The Tyee Copper Company smelter at Ladysmith, BC, is running a display ad noting that they "Pay the Best Price for Copper, Gold and Silver Ores."
- March 8, 1912: The 11-acre Holland ranch, at Sunnydale near Dawson, has been sold by the public administrator to John Whiteside and Mr. Harrod of Sunnydale, for an average of $400 an acre. The price shows that Yukon has land that is highly valuable for farming purposes. Few lands devoted to such purposes bring better values anywhere.
- March 15, 1912: The October decision against the White Pass railroad by the Railroad Commission has been rescinded by Chairman Mabee, who stated that the company would be threatened with bankruptcy if such a Wholesale cut was made and, therefore, no alteraticn in the present rates would be ordered in view of the fact that the company had volunteered to make certain reductions.
- March 15, 1912: K. Q. Ayers of Dawson, who was recently arrested on the charge of stealing $210 from a roadhouse man named Thoms while they were on their way to Sixtymile, was convicted last week and sentenced by Judge Macaulay to three years in the
penitentiary at hard labor.
- March 15, 1912: The White Pass has ordered a motor truck to try on the overland mail service. Already the company has an automobile and two caterpillar engines, none of which have given entire satisfaction. The auto has made several good runs over parts of the trail, but has never been taken through to Dawson.
- March 22, 1912: Commissioner George Black is on his first official visit to the Yukon from Ottawa. Accompanied by Mrs. Black and two sons, Donald and Lyman, he arrived Thursday of last week in the private railroad car "200."
- March 22, 1912: W. J. Fleming of Chicago, owner of the Porter group of mineral claims on Carbon Hill, has instructed his agent, A. Wood and foreman, W. S. Whitman, to resume operations at that place, work having been suspended in January after being carried on for nearly a year.
- March 22, 1912: J. E. Peters, the well-known Livingstone creek mining operator, arrived in town by horse Tuesday and is now relaying a freight shipment on the way back. He is taking in about three tons of a spring and summer outfit, mostly provisions. He says everybody is busy in the Livingstone country, but that there is no particular news to report.
- March 29, 1912: Monday was a great day at Carcross and, for that matter, all over Southern Yukon, the cause for rejoicing being that the ore ledge in the Big Thing mine, which has been persistently sought for many months, was struck Sunday night after driving upward of twenty-three hundred feet of tunnels.
- March 29, 1912: The magazine section of the Chicago Sunday Tribune of March 3rd contains a most interesting account of the sudden rise to eminence and affluence of a young man who began at the bottom round of the ladder of fame - President O L. Dickeson, of the White Pass & Yukon railway, the youngest railroad president in the world.
- March 29, 1912: Never in the history of the country did the spring break-up come so suddenly as this season. Up to last Saturday the skating and curling rinks were both in fine condition for use. By Monday they had evoluted from solid ice to reservoirs filled with water.
April
- April 5, 1912: Last Sunday evening at 7 o'clock it was discovered that the whole interior of Ed Marcotte's barber shop on Front street was a mass of flames. The shop and its contents were totally destroyed but the fire was kept from adjoining buildings.
- April 5, 1912: Lowe's teams have moved ninety tons of freight from this point to the foot of Lake Lebarge this week and Wednesday morning White Pass teams left with sixty tons. The condition of the river and lake is so good that one team of two small horses can readily take twelve tons of freight.
- April 5, 1912: Alexander Watson, who had followed shipbuilding in Victoria since 1863, died very suddenly at that place recently. In the early rush to Yukon Mr. Watson superintended the construction of the steamer Yukoner at St. Michael and later came up the river, stopping at Bennett where he built the Zealandian, both of which steamers now lie in the "boneyard" at this place.
- April 12, 1912: E. C. Hawkins, the first general manager of the White Pass & Yukon Route, died in New York on April 9th following an operation. He was 52 years of age.
- April 12, 1912: Major Snyder has quit the Royal N.W.M.P. after 27 years service, the last ten of which were in the Yukon. He is building a residence at East Vancouver Heights.
- April 12, 1912: On April 8 a number of the leading copper properties at Whitehorse heid under option by Robert Lowe, including War Eagle, Leroy, Grafter, Valerie, also the Pueblo and Best Chance, were transferred to the New Atlas Mining Company of Chicago, financed by Close Brothers, W. D. Greenough and London capital. Forty-five miners, with diamond drills and other equipment, will leave Vancouver for Whitehorse on April 17.
- April 19, 1912: The greatest disaster in marine history occurred Monday morning at 3 o'clock off the Banks of New Foundland when the White Star liner Titanic collided with an iceberg and sank within three hours, carrying with her to the bottom thirteen hundred and fifty people.
- April 19, 1912: Three candidates, William Drury, Captain P. Martin and Willard Leroy Phelps have been nominated for the Yukon Council election, Whitehorse district.
- April 19, 1912: A sixty-five hundred pound piece of machinery which was taken by teams from this place for the Joe Boyle dredge outfit at Dawson has arrived safely. The trip from Yukon Crossing to Dawson was made on the river ice. Twenty-two days were required to make the trip.
- April 26, 1912: Civilized World Mourns Disaster. Loss of Life on Steamer Titanic Greater Than First Reported - Total Number Drowned 1577 - Of 2340 Aboard When Steamer Left England 1448 Were Passengers and 892 Crew Number of Survivors 763 - When Survivers Landed at New York 70.000 People Gathered at Dock Silently Wept.
- April 26, 1912: The steamer Evelyn under steam churned the waters of Thirtymile river on April 21. The steamers Delta and Evelyn with their barges are afloat and have most of their freight on board ready for their initial voyage down the Yukon river. The crews are now busy painting and fitting up the boats.
- April 26, 1912: The Arctic Brotherhood of Dawson has planned for a monster exposition to be held August 14th and 17th inclusive to terminate with a grand Discovery Day Celebration, the 17th being the 16th anniversary of that day. The celebration of Discovery Day will be under the auspices of the Order of Yukon Pioneers.
May
- May 10, 1912: "The work of establishing the international boundary line between Alaska and Yukon will be completed this year in time to permit of the survey parties getting out by the latter part of September."
- May 10, 1912: In the election for 2 members to represent Whitehorse district on the board of the Yukon council, Captain P. Martin receives 153 votes, W. L. Phelps 112 votes and W. Drury 99 votes.
- May 10, 1912: With the Yukon River open from Lower Lebarge to Dawson, when small boats from Whitehorse reached the frozen lake, "forty to fifty Indians with dog teams were waiting on the edge of the lake ice to transport the passengers and freight across the lake. Several amusing stories are told of how contracts were made and broken by the Indians."
- May 17, 1912: "Yukon's Greatest Need Is An Overland Trail", starting with a "Passable Automobile Road from Whitehorse to Carmacks"
- May 17, 1912: An epidemic of measles at Dawson is a great threat to Indians in particular, as they are particularly susceptible to the disease.
June
- June 7, 1912: Scores of Alaskans have been duped in Florida land purchases that turned out to be worthless land in the Everglades.
- June 14, 1912: Reports are being received of the violent eruption of the
Katmai volcano, leading to fears for the inhabitants to the westward. The steamship Dora arrived at Seward, and her decks were covered with one and one-half feet of volcanic ash. Ash is falling in parts of the Yukon.
- June 14, 1912: Work is being carried on at the Best Chance, Grafter, Valerie, and Pueblo copper mines, and every train to Skagway is carrying all the ore it can handle.
- June 14, 1912: Reports have been received of possible drownings at both Lake Lebarge and Five Finger rapids, but neither has been confirmed.
- June 21, 1912: Taylor & Drury, the well-known firm of merchants and general traders, have taken over the Carmacks trading post, including the merchandise and roadhouse business, which concerns have been run since last fall by W. H. Shaw and C. B. Rowlinson and previous to that time by Seymour Rowlinson, who is now engaged in the stationery business in Victoria.
July
- July 26, 1912: On July 21, a barge being pushed by the steamer Dawson hit the bank of the Thirtymile River. Two wagons carrying parts for a Caterpillar to be used in building the Scroggie Creek road were thrown into the river and lost.
- July 26, 1912: Warren Eugene Coman, 13 years of age, drowned while swimming in a small lake just north of town. Read the lengthy article here.
- July 26, 1912: The busiest place in Southern Yukon and the scene of the most extensive quartz operations north of Treadwell is the Pueblo mine where the Atlas Mining Company is now employing from ninety to one hundred men - some mining, some mucking, others constructing ore bins and chutes - all steadily at work, either taking out ore or preparing the way whereby more ore will be taken out in the future.
August
- August 16, 1912: Major John D. Moody, accompanied by his wife, arrived Friday on the way from Regina, headquarters of the Royal N. W. M. P., to Dawson, where he will relieve Major Fitz J. Horrigan as chief officer of the force in Yukon. Major Moody was in Yukon in 1898, coming in via the Edmonton route for the purpose of demonstrating the "All Canadian route" which failed to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the average argonaut. On turning over the office to Maj. Moody, Maj. Horrigan will leave for the outside after twelve years residence in Yukon.
- August 16, 1912: One morning at the depot recently while a search for gold dust was being conducted by the police a concealed weapon in the shape of a thirty-eight calibre revolver was found on the person of Joseph Tiano, an Italian who had only arrived from Dawson on the way outside. The fellow was taken into custody and later brought before
Police Magistrate Taylor, where he was given an option of paying a stiff fine or going to jail for thirty days. He 'came across' with the money and went his way, the weapon being confiscated to the crown.
- August 16, 1912: Charles Nassack, better known as John Nassack, was drowned at the Chilcoot cannery yesterday noon. Three natives were in the canoe when it capsized, but Nassack was too old and feeble to make shore with the other occupants.
- August 30, 1912: Some History of Local Copper Belt. Read the entire article here.
1913
January
- January 3, 1913: The trail of a huge sulphur-smelling serpent monster was followed for several miles by a party of trappers and hunters east of Marsh Lake. The trail of a similar beast was followed in that area 3 years before, and Indian legends tell of one at Miles Canyon that destroyed a village and ate many people 300 years ago. Read the entire article here.
- January 3, 1913: The skating rink is in excellent condition, and now that the holidays are past, appreciation of Proprietor Bellmaine's efforts should be shown and all who skate should patronize the rink. It is no easy task to keepa skating rink in condition in this country.
- January 3, 1913: Jennie McKenzie, the native daughter who spent Christmas in the "skookum house" for having cultivated a red plush jag, was dismissed when arraigned in police court Friday, but "Shorty" Gardner, the man who provided her with the "plush," was fined $50 and costs.
- January 10, 1913: $5,250,000 is the output in 1912 of the gold-bearing creeks around Dawson. This is an increase of almost one million dollars compared to 1911.
- January 10, 1913: Robert W. Service, Yukon's noted writer, who left here last summer for the outside, and got away from New York in October for the scene of the Balkan-Turko war, went via Naples.
- January 10, 1913: Dr. L. S. Sugden and S. Tanner arrived from Dawson Wednesday afternoon, fourteen days on the trail, having left the metropolis the day after Christmas. They came by dog team, six strong animals, the best team seen here for many winters. Their sled is of the style used on the lower Yukon by mail carriers, being of basket make, fully a foot high and ten feet long.
- January 17, 1913: Commissioner Black returned to Dawson New Year's eve from an automobile trip to Whitehorse with C. A. Thomas, resident manager of the Yukon Gold
company. The journey was made to determine and demonstrate the feasibility of winter travel by motor in Yukon, especially on the overland trail between Whitehorse and Dawson.
- January 17, 1913: Corporal Hill, who left here on the White Pass stage, goes to bring to Dawson Peter Allen, who is being returned to the Yukon Territory from Alaska under extradition proceedings. Allen disappeared last summer with a poke of gold taken from the cleanup on a Glacier creek claim where he was working.
- January 17, 1913: Miss Lilly Taylor, the young colored woman who has been in the hospital since early in the fall with rheumatism, is now at her cabin. Her case is a particularly sad one. She has no relatives in Lhis country.
- January 24, 1913: William Dibble, one of the pioneer residents of Whitehorse, died at the General hospital here Monday morning [January 20] at 6:30 o'clock after being ill less than a week. Read the entire article here.
- January 24, 1913: Although the temperature has dropped below fifty below zero several times during the past week, as yet there has been no blue snow. Ice worms have
been known to incubate at 58 below, but it must be from 64 to 70 below before they do well or attain any considerable size. At from70 to 75 they grow rapidly and are as succulent and juicy as stall-fed oysters.
- January 24, 1913: Gus Sandberg, a trapper in the country between Atlin and Teslin, was frozen to death one day last week while endeavoring to reach Silver creek, southeast of Teslin lake, where a discovery of gold was recently made. Sandberg was accompanied by his partner, Joe Redmond, who will probably lose one of his feet as a result of the freezing.
- January 31, 1913: "Three Persons Found Cold in Death at Black Hills Stage Post on Whitehorse-Dawson Road." Read two articles about the double murder and suicide here.
- January 31, 1913: The semi-seldom winter train service is certainly a hummer. Wednesday's train left Skagway at 9:30. The Princess May arrived thirty minutes later. We may get her mail this evening and we may not get it before Saturday morning. It all depends on what sort of time the train makes today. Speaking of goats.
- January 31, 1913: A party of eight miners arrived on Monday's train from the outside and all have been put to work by the Atlas Mining Company at the Pueblo. The force will be further increased as rapidly as good men can be obtained.
February
- February 14, 1913: White Pass & Yukon Route announces they will build two new steamers for use on the lower Yukon river (Dawson - Fairbanks).
- February 21, 1913: The King's Cafe is opened in Whitehorse February 16.
March
- March 7, 1913: Work for the season started at the B. Y. N. shipyards Monday morning, March 8rd, earlier than for many years. While the crew at work is not large at present, it will be greatly increased by the middle of next week and from that time on, perhaps until fall, the yards will be the busiest place in Southern Yukon, with two new steamers being built for the lower Yukon run.
- March 7, 1913: Adam Dickson, lineman for the Dominion Telegraph at Tagish, arrived on Sunday's train and went at once to the hospital where parts of two toes were amputated by Dr. Clarke. Dickson had his toes frozen while out on the line during the severe weather of January and had been doctoring them himself until he realized that they were beyond saving. He will be out in about three weeks.
- March 14, 1913: Bill Drury reports that the stampede to Silver Creek, 30 miles back from the east end of Teslin Lake, is not justified - he neither saw nor heard any valid reports of any gold being found.
- March 21, 1913: Despite Bill Drury's report last week, the headline today is "Teslin Stampede Is Of Big Proportions".
- March 21, 1913: The United States law pertaining to private drinking cups in railway trains is now in force on the White Pass road and those germ-laden distributors of disease are cached away when the train crosses the line from Canada into the domain of Uncle Sam. There is no law, however, against raising a car window and grabbing a handful of snow to allay the craving of a parched tongue following a night of revelry.
April
- April 18, 1913: The steamship Princess Sophia went ashore on Sentinel Island about two o'clock on the morning of April 13th, where she remained fast for two hours, floating again at high tide and making port at Juneau that morning at 8 o'clock. This is the same island upon which the Princess May went ashore about three years ago.
- April 18, 1913: The work on the construction of the two new steamers, Alaska and Yukon, at the shipyards is going ahead very rapidly, one of them being almost enclosed. It is expected to have both ready for launching shortly after the ice goes out of the river.
- April 18, 1913: The Alaska Steamship company which operates the steamers Jefferson and Dolphin on the Puget Sound-Skagway route, is greatly increasing the service by having its large ocean-going steamers, the Northwestern, Alameda and Mariposa which ply on the Western Alaska run, call at Skagway on the way to the westward, and after May 18 these same steamers will call at Skagway both to and from the westward.
May
- May 2, 1913: Over 200 men are at work at the B.Y.N. shipyards, many of them building 2 new steamers, the Alaska and the Yukon.
- May 2, 1913: Flamboyant former Yukoner Charles Eugene "Count" Carbonneau has again been arrested for fraud, this time in Paris.
- May 2, 1913: G. P. Colwell, of St. Johns, New Brunswick, representing the Fundy Fox Farming Co., after spending several weeks in Skagway and Southern Yukon, has decided to locate here where a fox farm will be arranged for and conducted. Read that article and much more in The History of Fox Farming in the Yukon Territory.
- May 30, 1913: Whitehorse druggist H.G. Macpherson was among the people who staked claims on Meander Creek, east of the Hootalinqua River, as the result of a gold discovery.
- May 30, 1913: Carl Faulk, pioneer fox farmer in the Yukon, having begun about 5 years ago, has returned from the Canyon area on the Kluane trail with 16 fox puppies for his operation at Carcross.
- May 30, 1913: Mrs. Ruth Kelsey died on May 28 as the result of burns sustained when a bottle of gasoline exploded at her Dominion Hotel on May 17. The hotel was destroyed in the fire. Read several articles here.
August
- August 1, 1913: The richest discovery of placer in the North in the last years has been reported recently, on creeks tributary to the Tanana River, called Sushana, Bonanza, Eldorado and Flat, the three latter being tributary to the former.
- August 1, 1913: Frank Wilson went to Carcross yesterday for the purpose of superintending the construction of a draw in the Government bridge which crosses the lake just above the railroad bridge. The draw will lift rather than swing around. Mr. Wilson expects most of the coming two months will be required to complete the work.
- August 1, 1913: W. S. "Fred" Whitman, the well-known mining man, was brought fromSelkirk on the steamer Dawson last Friday morning and, on arriving here, was taken at once to the hospital where he is at present, suffering from both physical and mental ailments, the latter being the result of the former.
- August 8, 1913: There was a good meeting of the business men of Whitehorse and Kluane held at the hall last Saturday night for the purpose of discussing ways and
means of diverting travel between outside points and the Shushana country by Whitehorse and either the Kluane or Coffee creek routes.
- August 8, 1913: H. H. Draper, Skagway photographer and a pioneer resident of that town, died Tuesday of this week after a prolonged illness, although it was thought
until shortly before his death that he would recover. He had closed out his business and expected to leave with his wife for Idaho in a few days. The immediate cause of death was heart disease.
- August 8, 1913: H. E. Sargent arrived Tuesday evening from Chicago on his way to and beyond the Kluane country in quest of big game. He was met here by Chas. Baxter and "Gene" Jacquot who will have charge of him while on the trip. The same guides expect another party of hunters to arrive here next week. Sargent's outfit will start for Kluane today.
- August 15, 1913: Most of the front page consists of articles about the new Shushana (Chisana) gold fields.
- August 15, 1913: Bishop I. O. Stringer, accompanied by Mrs. Stringer and their five children, one daughter and four sons, arrived from Dawson last Friday and, after remaining here until Tuesday, left for Kincardine, Ontario, where they will visit a short time with friends, the bishop and Mrs. Stringer going from there to England where the former has important church work which will keep him busy most of the winter.
- August 15, 1913: The big store buildings of the T. D. P. Co. have lately been treated to a new coat of white paint which adds greatly to their appearance. New signs have also been painted on the buildings.
- August 22, 1913: K. "Henry" Kojimoto, the pioneer Japanese resident of Whitehorse and proprietor of the Golden Eagle hotel, died last Friday afternoon after a brief illness. Read the entire article here.
- August 22, 1913: J. R. Alguire is erecting a fine new store building at his place near the Pueblo mine, his mercantile business there having expanded until such outlay became necessary, C. A. Gain is now in charge of Mr. Alguire's business at the mine, the latter being busy around his hotel in town.
- August 22, 1913: Captain Acland went to Skagway last week where he met eight new members of the Royal N. W. M. P. who were sent out from headquarters, Regina, for the purpose of augmenting the force in Yukon. Some of the new men will remain here and others will go on to Dawson. In the event of the Shushana turning out as expected, police stations will be established on the various trails leading to the border and a number of
additional men will be required.
- August 29, 1913: C. W. S. Barwell, who passed through where Whitehorse now stands in June of 1897 on the way to Dawson, came to town from Carmacks Tuesday with Herb. Wheeler and Al Henderson, he being employed with the road building forces in establishing grades and running lines where changes are necessary.
- August 29, 1913: Thursday of last week Miss Mary Curtis of this place received from Governor Strong of Alaska, a telegram offering her a position as teacher in the school at Council, thirty or forty miles out from Nome, the salary being $1,500 for a term of nine months. Being a true daughter of the North, Miss Mary wired her acceptance of the offer and will leave today for Nome by way of Dawson and St. Michael.
- August 29, 1913: Cam Smith's automobile is resting these days pending repairs after attempting to climb a tree near the Nine-mile roadhouse on Monday. The machine was towed to town by a team of the those ever-reliable horses.
September
- September 5, 1913: The White river route to the Chisana has claimed its first victim, Constable M. J. Fitzgerald, Royal N. W. M. P., having been struck by a sweep and
knocked from the barge Melozi which was being shoved up the river by the steamer Vidette. Although only in the water five minutes, and still alive when rescued, Fitzgerald did not regain consciousness and died in a few minutes. He was buried in the Mounted Police Cemetery at Dawson City.
- September 5, 1913: Supt. Wheeler has decided to construct a set of steamer ways at Hootalinqua rather than Carmacks as previously announced, on account of the better bank grade offered at the latter place. The ways will be on an island about a mile below Hootalinqua post.
- September 5, 1913: Captain Acland, commanding officer of the Royal N. W. M. P. at this place, accompanied by Mrs. Acland and Constable Butler, lately stationed at Carcross, left yesterday for Kluane where the old police post will be reopened and
Constable Butler left in charge, the travel to Chisana via the Kluane making the reopening of the post necessary. They took a four horse load of provisions with them, sufficient to supply the post for several months.
- September 12, 1913: That reports from the Chisana country are weekly becoming more encouraging is apparent here since a number of local people have returned after visiting the scene of operations.
- September 12, 1913: There will be an excursion given by the White Pass railway today to Skagway, the occasion being the Second Annual Horticultural Fair of the city by
the sea. Tickets will be sold for $5, good returning on Monday.
- September 12, 1913: A rousing meeting was held Wednesday night by the new Whitehorse Lodge No. 1380 Loyal Order of Moose, and the ninetieth application for membership was received. The Staff will go out to the mine tonight and hold initiation for the benefit of about 15 applicants working there.
- September 19, 1913: The police are confident that they now have in the local jail the party who robbed the store of Taylor, Drury, Pedlar & Co, at Carmacks of something like three hundred dollars in gold dust early in July. The name of the suspect is Walter Fuerst, originally from Switzerland.
- September 19, 1913: Miss Flora Boyle, the charming daughter of J. W. Boyle, the dredge king of the Yukon, arrived from Dawson Wednesday on the White Horse and left yesterday for Vancouver, where she will join Miss Burkholder, matron of the Good Samaritan hospital at Dawson who went outside a week ago, for a trip around the world, sailing from
Vancouver to Japan. Miss Boyle expects to reach London in time to join her father there in January or February.
- September 19, 1913: Messrs. Hull and Miller of the department of public works, have been on the river between here and Dawson for the past ten days or more for the purpose of sizeing up the situation which they will report to their superior officers, the object being to provide for deepening and improving the river channel where needed and to otherwise improve navigation on the river.
- September 26, 1913: Guide Morley Bones arrived in town Monday morning with Mr. and Mrs. Dale Bumstead and son of Chicago, a hunting party which he met at McCarthy, the interior terminus of the Cordova and Northwestern railroad, on the first day of August and which he has since had in charge, guiding them to the big game haunts which he knows
so well. The hunters had splendid luck, securing seven fine sheep and three caribou; also, a monster bear.
- September 26, 1913: We were informed today by President O. L. Dickeson of the W. P. & Y. Route that he had authorized the expenditure of $22,000 for additidnal horses on the Chisana trail. It is also his intention to. make a good permanent trail with first class road houses from the mouth of the Donjek river to Chisana.
- September 26, 1913: "Kid" Harrison, a young colored man of this place, is now defending himself in police court against the charge of living from the avails of prostitution.
October
- October 3, 1913: "Masked Highwaymen Hold Up, Bind and Gag Two Men in Charge of Guggenheim Hydraulic Plant on Lovett Gulch at Midnight Sunday." Read the article plus the RNWMP report here.
- October 3, 1913: Under such headings as "Mad Rush for Gold," "Death-Strewn Trails" etc., weird stories are being published in the outside press cencerning the new gold strike in the Chisana.
- October 3, 1913: A new town is developing at the mouth of the White River. A telegraph office has been opened and at least 2 warehouses are being built. The steamer Nasutlin leaves here today with the first heavy consignment for that place.
- October 10, 1913: Issue not online.
- October 17, 1913: New placer discovery near Wolf Creek - staked to the base of Golden Horn Mountain. Read the entire article here.
- October 17, 1913: Louis Schultz of Atlin arrived Wednesday evening from Vancouver with 36 head of new horses for the White Pass stage lines - Whitehorse and Dawson and Whitehorse and Chisana. Instead of keeping a regular horse buyer as formerly, the company is now awarding contracts for horses, which system is found to be more satisfactory than the old one.
- October 17, 1913: Last Boats of Season Plowing Through Yukon Ice. The White Pass steamer Casca left Dawson Wednesday with a full load of passengers for this place and the two steamers of the Side-streams line, Norcom and Vidette, left the same day, both loaded to their full capacity.
- October 24, 1913: In a letter to the editor of the Star James E. Geary of Livingstone creek writes that conditions there are more promising than for several years.
Nothing is doing on the creek between Livingstone and the Hootalinqua river which was stampeded last spring and which the veteran Hank Summers said would be a second Klondike.
- October 24, 1913: The body of James A. Lindberg, aged thirty years, a member of the Eagles at Dillon, Montana, was found below the Canyon on White river a few days ago. Lindberg was enroute to the Chisana in August and was drowned while attempting to ford the river with horses.
- October 24, 1913: Percy Reid, the last of the large staff of mining inspectors employed in the the territory in its earlier history, is soon to leave Yukon for Ottawa where he will accept a position in the immigration department, being transferred from his present position of mining recorder at Carcross to an equally remunerative one at the Dominion capital. Mr. Reid came to Yukon fifteen years ago last March to seek his fortune as did many others.
- October 31, 1913: Consternation prevailed here last Saturday evening and Sunday forenoon when indications were that 11 men had all been lost by the wrecking of the big launch Sibilla on Lake Lebarge. They were all found safe, however. Read the entire article here.
- October 31, 1913: A new order relative to operating the railroad states that there will be but two trains each way a week until spring, Tuesdays and Fridays being chosen as the days to be thus honored. All this means that when a steamer with mail arrives at Skagway after the train leaves Friday morning, the mail will not arrive in Whitehorse until the following Tuesday evening and answers to such mail cannot be dispatched until
the following Friday.
- October 31, 1913: Wolf creek, ten miles south of Whitehorse, on which in the neighborhood of one hundred placer claims were recently staked, is prospecting in a manner
which is very encouraging to the various stakers. On claim No. 6 below discovery a number of the early stakers already have a hole down to a depth of eighteen feet. From the surface colors were obtained in every pan washed, but as depth is attained, the colors are much more numerous and coarser.
November
- November 7, 1913: John Burke, member of the Yukon Order of Pioneers and veteran of Fortymile, Circle, Dawson and other camps in the Yukon valley, died near Vancouver, B, C., September 28. Mr. Burke left Dawson this summer in poor health. In fact, his health became quite poor months before he went outside.
- November 7, 1913: On October 31st, Senator John Walter Smith of Maryland introduced a resolution in the United States Senate, in which the president is requested to open negotiations with Great Britain and the Dominion of Canada for the exchange of Southeastern Alaska for a cash consideration or a piece of British territory of like area.
- November 7, 1913: During the winter there will only be two regular passenger trains per week each way between Whitehorse and Skagway. If you want to go anywhere you will have to get up early as the mode of conveyance between this place and the sea-port town leaves at8:15 a.m.
December
- December 19, 1913: Much of the front page consists of news of the new Chisana placer area.
- December 19, 1913: A stage left here on Sunday morning for Dawson with 2300 pounds of mail. Ernie Burwash was the driver. Bill Donnenwerth got away with the stage on Tuesday morning. He carried 990 pounds of mail for Dawson. A stage leaves today for Dawson with 2400 pounds of mail.
- December 19, 1913: Reports received in Ottawa from the mounted police patrol on the Arctic coast give out the information that Stefansson has been deserted by huis associates. The only cause assigned to their action was that they were dissatisfied with the food furnished on board the Karluk, one of the ships of the expedition.
- December 26, 1913: One of the most delightful and pleasant dinners ever held in the Yukon took place in the B. Y. N. Company's mess house last Thursday evening under the auspices of the Whitehorse Curling club. About sixty gentlemen all told sat down to the splendid repast.
- December 26, 1913: An old prospector by the name of George Lough who has been around town for a short period had not been feeling well for some time and on Friday he went to the hospital and thirty minutes from the time he entered he had breathed his last. Read the entire article here.
- December 26, 1913: Jack Tremblay, the sourdough miner, left yesterday for the Sixtymile, where he has several claims in the group where the pay was located several months ago, below the mouth of Glacier.
1914
January
- January 2, 1914: "Practically all the adult population of Whitehorse" attends the Grand Ball given by the lodge of the Loyal Order of Moose.
- January 30, 1914: The steamship Princess Sophia runs once again ashore, this time at Alert Bay. Passengers are all transferred to the steamship Alki.
- January 30, 1914: The U.S. Senate passes the Alaska railroad bill. The new bill contains a number of amendments, among others concerning the lease of the railroad and injured employees
- January 30, 1914: Sir Richard McBride, premier of British Columbia, expresses his opinion in favour of annexing the Yukon.
February
- February 13, 1914: The rate war which was waged on the river last season by the Sidestreams Navigation company and Northern Navigation company on one side and the British Yukon Navigation and Alaska Yukon Navigation companies on the other, will be resumed this season with the opening of navigation according to Captain Sid Barrington, manager of the Sidestreams company.
- February 13, 1914: A rich strike has been made on O'Donnell creek which is about twenty five miles from Atlin. According to Prof. L.C. Read, some portions of O'Donnell creek are as rich as the best claims ever worked in the Dawson neighborhood.
- February 13, 1914: E.J. White, editor of The Star, spent some time in Victoria with his family in November, and a long list of former Yukoners now living there is printed. Read the entire article here.
- February 20, 1914: Reverend John Hawsksley, rector of the Church of England at Dawson, is appointed Indian superintendent for the Yukon Territory, effective March 1.
- February 20, 1914: The Southern Yukon Conservative Association, founded in Whitehorse in 1913, grows rapidly. It has 81 members and is at that time the largest club of the kind in the history of Whitehorse and Southern Yukon.
March
- March 6, 1914: The real estate building on Front Street known as the Captain H.F. Siewerd property, is purchased by E.J. Hamacher who will occupy the building as a photograph gallery and art studio.
April
- April 10, 1914: The Yukon Council sends a memorial to Ottawa emphasizing the importance of road between Skagway and Whitehorse. The Council receives support from the Southern Yukon Conservative Association.
- April 24, 1914: Whitehorse, from present indications, gives promise of becoming the center of one of the biggest industries of the present age, that of fox breeding and raising. Already one company has been formed, backed by a number of the most prominent men in the territory, and arrangements are under way for the formation of another which will likely be followed by others in the future. Read that article and much more in The History of Fox Farming in the Yukon Territory.
May
- May 1, 1914: Announcement of the sale by the Northern Navigation Company of all its 30 steamers, 40 barges and terminal facilities on the Yukon river in Alaska and the Yukon territory, to the American Yukon Navigation Company was made yesterday in this city by Leon Sloss, president of the selling corporation.
- May 1, 1914: F. F. W. Lowle, general agent for the C. P. R. at Skagway, says his company is now catering to excursion travel more than ever before and will later have the elegant steamer Princess Charlotte, one of the finest on the Pacific coast, plying
between lower points and Skagway.
- May 1, 1914: The immigration officer at the Summit has lately turned back several females who were heading this way over the railroad. Of those who were refused entrance to Yukon, three claimed to be barbers. The immigration officer, however, did not deem it necessary to test them as to their professed trade to convince himself that they were shamming.
- May 22, 1914: The first steamers from the foot of Lake Laberge have reached Dawson. The steamer Vidette, Captain Sid C. Barrington, left the lake at an early hour last Saturday morning and made the run to Dawson by 9:45 Sunday evening, having no diffi-
culty from either ice, or low water. The White Pass steamer Nasutlin also left the foot of the lake on Saturday.
- May 22, 1914: Ore is now being shipped regularly six days in the week by the Atlas Mining Company from the Pueblo mine to the Tacoma smelter, the daily shipments being in the neighborhood of 240 tons. Some of the ore is from the 200 and some from the 400 foot levels.
- May 22, 1914: Michael F. Hays, Englishman, aged 34 years, was drowned near the left shore of the upper end of Lake Lebarge Thursday May 14, when he and his sled dog team went through the ice. His body and the bodies of the 4 of his 5 dogs that also went into the water, has not been recovered.
- May 29, 1914: Most of the business section of Atlin was destroyed by a fire on May 24.
June
- June 5, 1914: The fifty Russians who had been here for two weeks previous to Monday preparing for a prospecting trip up the White river, got away in their three wonderfully designed and constructed boats Monday evening at 8:30 o'clock when the son of Manager Mischenko who had the misfortune to fire a bullet through his right foot a week previous, was sufficiently recovered to accompany them.
- June 5, 1914: The worst marine disaster since wreck of the Titanic two years ago occurred last Friday morning in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Quebec, when the C. P. R. steamer Empress of Ireland was rammed amidships by the Danish collier Storstadt during a dense fog. The Empress sank in fourteen minutes after the collision and according to latest report, nine hundred and sixty nine lives were lost.
- June 5, 1914: Navigation and the fox season are both open, the former scoring one day in advance of the latter. The B.Y.N. steamer Canadian passed through the lake the evening and night of May 31, arriving at Whitehorse at 2:30 a. m. of the 1st June, the earliest, except the year 1902, a steamer has ever crossed Lake Lebarge.
- June 12, 1914: Captain M. B. Raymond is back and brought with him from Vancouver four ship carpenters and material for a steamer which will be 100 feet in length and of twenty feet breadth of beam. Work has been already started on the new craft, which will be called the Chisana.
- June 12, 1914: Two sourdough Dawsonites who require chaperones have passed through town on the way Outside. They are Edward "Gasoline Kid" Fahey, who has a weakness for automobiles, and "Teddy" Carpenter, the master designer and decorator of the Yukon.
- June 12, 1914: Six Ford autos passed through here this week for Dawson at which place Yukon Councillor Dr. A. J. Gillis has the Ford agency.
- June 19, 1914: The body of a man was found afloat in the river at this place Thursday of last week, such a thing not being unusual in this country where so many people travel by small boat. This man, however, was the victim of a brutal murder. Read the lengthy story here.
- June 19, 1914: Govt. Road Superintendent Isaac Lusk returned yesterday from a trip to Kluane, making the fine time for the round trip of seven days. He found the road in good condition after leaving Tahkini. Mr. Lusk will probably select the site for the new assay building today.
- June 19, 1914: Louis Jacquot who arrived in town from Burwash creek last Sunday evening, brings news of the success he and his brother Eugene are having in their
horse-raising experiments. He says they are learning from experience and expect to meet
with increased success with each succeeding year.
- June 26, 1914: Accompanied by Captain P. Martin, J. R. Alguire made the trip from here to Champagne last Saturday in his Ford car, the first ever seen in that part of the country. Owing to the deep cuts in the road in many places, it was necessary to do considerable filling to prevent the body of the car dragging.
- June 26, 1914: It is said that the two prisoners, Caesari and Ganley, arrested at Dawson a week ago in connection with the murder of Dominico Melis at this place early in February, are on the steamer Casca, due today from Dawson.
- June 26, 1914: Selwood Tanner left Saturday for Kluane lake where he and Morley Bones have purchased what remains of the Bullion Hydraulic plant, a lot of machinery taken there several years ago by William Lawrence Breese. It will be used to work property which they own on Bullion and which gives promise of being rich in placer gold.
July
- July 10, 1914: A terrible tragedy took place early last Saturday morning, July 4th, when a gasoline launch, the Superb, capsized three miles below Skagway, throwing all her passengers into the icy waters from which only eight escaped, the other twelve all being drowned. Read the entire article here.
- July 10, 1914: Mrs. Nellie Piper Rosenberg, 20 years old, died at her home on July 8th, her trouble being diabetes. Read the entire article here.
- July 10, 1914: Albert, the eldest child of Captain and Mrs. George McMaster, died at Dawson, presumably Tuesday night or Wednesday. Captain McMaster is master of the steamer Selkirk. Albert was between twelve and fourteen years of age and was a fine, manly lad. The home of the family is at Wenatchee, Wash., but they always come north during the season of navigation when the captain is employed on the river.
August
- August 7, 1914: Since England has become involved in the European war, many loyal subjects have come voluntarily to the front and offered their services to aid in maintaining the honor and integrity of the British Empire. Among those in Whitehorse who have offered their services are nine of the twelve members of the local Royal N. W. M. P. detachment, Captain Acland being the first to volunteer.
- August 7, 1914: A party of Shriners from Victoria and Vancouver were here the latter part of last week enroute to Dawson where a large class of "novitiates," among them Governor George Black, would ride the mystic goat which was taken in specially groomed for the occasion.
- August 7, 1914: The first northern lights of the season were visible Sunday night shortly after midnight. Although not as gorgeously colored as on some occasions,
the aurora borealis was extremely active.
- August 14, 1914: Five hundred ex-members of Mounted Police will be re-engaged for one years service under following conditions: Age not exceeding forty five, pass medical examination, any discharge not involving moral turpitude will be accepted, those holding "Fair" discharge or better to be accepted at once, present police pay and standard as far as possible. Men re-engaging will be given rank held on discharge.
- August 14, 1914: Miss Zella Goodman, the pretty and talented singer who was here accompanied by her mother a few weeks ago and who has since given entertainments
at Fairbanks and Dawson, was married at the latter place a few days ago to Tip Oneel, an actor who is operating the Auditorium theater at Dawson. The marriage was somewhat sudden and Mrs. Goodman wrote to cancel a Whitehorse concert as a result.
- August 14, 1914: E. W. Davies of Pipestone, Minnesota, one of the executors of the estate of the late A. G. Preston who at one time owned a large part of the townsite of Whitehorse and who owned a number of lots here at the time of his death, arrived on the train Tuesday evening and has since gone on to Carmacks where the Preston estate has holdings in the Five Fingers Coal Co.
- August 21, 1914: Dr. Alfred Thompson, Yukon MP, leaves Dawson to go to war. He will serve as physician and surgeon in the British army.
- August 21, 1914: A Letter to the Editor by Ed Benson suggests creation of a park in the Kluane district. Read the entire letter here.
- August 21, 1914: Tuesday and Wednesday of this week were field days in the local police court and all on account of belligerancy due, possibly, to the war spirit with which the very air seems to be permeated, but more probably to too frequent libations of that which has made both Scotland and Kentucky famous - stark naked booze.
- August 28, 1914: John H. Hull of the Public Works department of the Dominion Government, was here this week measuring the current and volume of the river at this place with the view, it is said, oF reporting to the government which is contemplating the construction of a dam either at the head of Miles Canyon or at the head of the Thirtymile river (the lower end of Lake Lebarge) for the purpose of aiding navigation in the early and late portions of the season when more water is needed at the head of Lake Lebarge.
- August 28, 1914: The steamship Admiral Sampson of the Pacific Alaska
Navigation Company, was run down and sunk by the steamer Princess Victoria of the Canadian Pacific Ry. Company, near Seattle at 6 o'clock this morning, the former going down within five minutes. Eleven lives were lost, including Mrs. Ruby Banbury, wife of the agent of the Admiral Line at Skagway. She was on the way up to join her husband who was sent to Skagway only three weeks ago.
- August 28, 1914: As a precaution against fall sickness, Dr. W. B. Clarke, medical health officer for Whitehorse, advises that water used for drinking purposes be first boiled. At the present season of the year there are more or less impure substances in the river from whence the local water supply is obtained.
September
- September 18, 1914: John Nala was instantly killed at the Pueblo mine last Saturday and Fred Runda was so seriously injured that he died in the hospital in this place Monday night. Read the entire article here.
- September 18, 1914: Skagway's Third Annual Horticultural Fair was held last Saturday and was the unqualified success it has always been since the first in 1912. The display of garden products was a marvel in detail, every department being filled with as fine, fresh and well-developed vegetables as are grown any place on earth.
- September 18, 1914: Barney McGee has disposed of his interest in the Commercial hotel to Frank X. Dumontier who has taken possession and is now steadily on the job.
- September 25, 1914: Matthew Watson, owner of the store in Carcross, married Miss McLaren in Dawson on September 14th.
October
- October 9, 1914: George J. Milton, general manager of the Five Fingers Coal Company at Tantalus, reports a very successful season, with new machinery installed and the quality of coal increasing with depth.
- October 9, 1914: A lodge of the Yukon Order of Pioneers is formed at Whitehorse on October 2. The officers elected were: President, W. A. Puckett; Vice President, E. J. White; Secretary, W. W. Dickenson; Treasurer, W. C. Sime; Warden, C. H. Johnston; Chaplain, Isaac Taylor; Guard, Captain P. Martin.
- October 16, 1914: "The steamer Lightning, with the Boyle Yukon contingent on board, is due here from Dawson tomorrow night. The company has not yet been mobilized nor will it be until the men reach Victoria. There are forty of them on the steamer."
November
- November 6, 1914: O. L. Dickeson, president of the White Pass & Yukon Railway, announced today that he has resigned, to take effect the first of the year. He stated that he was resigning for the purpose of entering into other business, but did not state what kind of business.
- November 6, 1914: Louis Belney, who, with W. A. Lamb, left three weeks ago for the scene of the late placer discovery on Big Horn creek west from Burwash creek, returned yesterday and Lamb was due last night. Both men staked claims and will later return to prospect them.
- November 6, 1914: A Primary Chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire (I. O. D. E.) has lately been organized here. The object of the order is to promote the best interests of the Empire and especially during the present turbulent period. Hon. Regent is Mrs. Geo. Black and Regent is Mrs. W. L. Phelps.
- November 13, 1914: Harold Newton, for several years employed in the T. D. P. & Co. stores, who left in August determined to go to the front to fight for his country, he being an Englishman, tells of his experience after reaching Vancouver in a letter received by Isaac Taylor.
- November 13, 1914: Tom Oka, the Japanese who recently attempted hari-kari with a long, keen-edged knife, having recovered from the injury inflicted on himself, was arraigned before Police Magistrate Taylor Tuesday charged with attempting self-destruction. He was given suspended sentence and permitted to leave the country.
- November 13, 1914: The European war has destroyed the fur market, since the great fur markets of the world are London, Paris and Berlin. The recent big annual fur sale held in San Francisco early this month resulted in absolute failure. No bids were received for the furs offered and the dealers were obliged to pack them and return the furs to cold storage, where they must be carried indefinitely, or sold at heavy sacrifice.
- November 20, 1914: Thousands of caribou are now on the Glacier trail 30 miles west of Dawson. Governor Black and all the other Nimrods are out with guns and hundreds of the animals are being killed.
- November 20, 1914: After taking the matter up with the authorities at Ottawa, Dr. A. P. Hawes, V.S., had the ban which had been placed on American poultry, eggs and
milk removed and such products will continue to come from Skagway without molestation
- November 20, 1914: The main line of the Alaska railroad will run from a point on tidewater either at Seward or Portage Bay, up the Susitna Valley, with branch lines running through the Matanuska coal fields and connecting with the Copper River & Northwestern railroad, which runs from Cordova, north to Kennecott, where the Bonanza
copper mine is located, and to Chitina.
- November 27, 1914: On Friday, November 20th, Alfred Spreadbury, cold in death, was found leaning against a tree in the woods about a mile north of town and west of the old steamer Monarch. He had committed suicide with a shotgun. Read the entire article here.
- November 27, 1914: The potlatch which was being conducted by Big Salmon Jim in the village above Whitehorse was terminated Friday night and the majority of those in attendance have since departed with their various pappooses, divers dogs and sundry aromas for the seperate homes.
- November 27, 1914: Channels through Weynton passage and Blackey passage have been found equally as good as Broughton Straits for the use of Alaska steamers. Hereafter all of the steamers running to Alaska which desire to keep on the inside passage can take one or the other of the channels. This precludes the necessity of any of the larger steamers taking the outside passage.
December
- December 18, 1914: The most disastrous fire in Skagway since the town was founded in 1897 occurred on December 12th. Moore's Wharf and several buildings were burned to the ground.
1915
January
- January 1, 1915: Whitehorse-Kluane Stage Line. The Royal Mail Stage leaves
Whitehorse the fourth of every month for Kluane and way points and also on the seventeenth of every month for Champagne. Passengers & Freight Solicited. H. Chambers, Prop.
February
- February 19, 1915: Both parties - Conservatives and Liberals nominate their candidates for the Yukon Council. The Conservatives nominate Dr. J.O. Lachappelle and Howard Pearse (North Dawson), W.G. Radford and Dr. A.J. Gillis (South Dawson), G.N. Williams and J. Turner (Bonanza), Archie Martin and John F. McCrimmon (Klondike). The Liberals nominate Paul Guite and W.J. O'Brien (North Dawson), Captain L.G. Bennett and N. Watt (South Dawson), F. Hales and D. Robertson (Bonanza), R.W. Fraser and M. Landreville (Klondike). On March 4, 1915, Edward A. Dixon (Conservative) and Willard L. Phelps (Liberal) are elected as Southern Yukon representatives for the Yukon Council. They defeat Patrick Martin. O'Brien and Guite win in North Dawson. South Dawson is won by Radford and Watt. Fraser and McCrimmon win the Klondike riding, Robinson and Williams the Bonanza riding.
March
- March 5, 1915: At 3 o'clock today the last of the twenty Kluanite mushers arrived here. They have all made a very creditable showing in their record breaking trek to Whitehorse which was made for the purpose of exercising their franchise at the next Yukon council election to be held at Whitehorse on March 4th, 1915. Read the entire article here.
- March 5, 1915: In the election held yesterday in the Southern Yukon for selecting two members of the Yukon Council, Edward A. Dixon received 184 votes and Willard L. Phelps received 174. Patrick Martin was a distant third, with 75 votes.
- March 5, 1915: Capt. James Alexander, owner of the famous Engineer mine in the Atlin country, declared yesterday that the development of the Engineer was steadily being pushed. The main tunnel has been driven a distance of 200 feet during the past year, making it now 350 feet long. In one pocket $6,000 in free milling gold was recovered.
- March 12, 1915: The Southern Yukon Mining and Industrial Association is formed March 5.
- March 12, 1915: New Councillor-elect Edward A. Dixon is a pioneer resident of the Yukon, having arrived with the North West Mounted Police in 1897. Read the entire article here.
April
- April 9, 1915: The Yukon sees the earliest breaking up of the ice on the Yukon, on March 6th.
- April 16, 1915: Whitehorse gets an additional grant of $18,000 for the new hospital.
- April 16, 1915: Whitehorse man J.H. Sherman completes his invention of a new block system for railroads. The present system of "blocking" trains has one small light to signal danger ahead. By the Sherman invention from three to six distinct electric bell signals, in addition to the light, are given.
June
- June 11, 1915: A. E. Acland, inspector of the R. N. W. M. P., is transferred to Winnipeg.
August
- August 20, 1915: Major R. L. Knight with Mrs. Knight and their two children, was here the latter part of last week en route to Dawson to relieve Major J. D. Moodie as commandant of the Royal N. W. M. P. in Yukon. Accompanying him were 11 new members of the force who will be added to the Yukon compliment.
- August 20, 1915: It is reported that a deal for the antimony claims in the Wheaton district owned by Duncan Berback, Howard Cochran and Theo. Becker has been put through by which the property passes into the hands of a Vancouver syndicate which was represented by Mr. Whitfield of the latter place, formerly an oldtime Yukoner, who has
been at Carcross for the past several weeks.
- August 20, 1915: Mrs. Jack Mercer, after a most valiant fight for life, succumbed to the ravages of typhoid fever at the hospital at about noon on Monday despite the fact that everything known in medical science was done to save her. Read that story here.
September
- September 17, 1915: Byron N. White, owner of several copper properties in the Whitehorse area, died on September 12th.
October
- October 1, 1915: Whitehorse experienced the greatest shock of her existence
yesterday afternoon at 1:30 o'clock when it became known that four men of the five comprising the section crew of the White Pass railroad at this place had been murdered on the railroad three miles east of town, the news of the tragedy being brought to town by the murderer himself, Alex Gagoff, a Russian. Read this article and others about the murders here.
- October 1, 1915: George Armstrong, manager of the operations at the Grafter mine, accompanied by Frank Ramsey and Claire Williams, left Wednesday for McDonald creek four miles south of Carcross, where they would secure a large boiler formerly used in the Big Thing power house, which they will bring down and install at the Grafter mine, the boiler used there having gone out of commission several days ago.
- October 1, 1915: Buzz Saw Jimmy is advertising: "A New Sawing
Machine. I've got a new machine trimmed in blue. 'Why don't you ran her' so I do. Always working when I can. Must keep ahead of 'tother man. I Respectfully Solicit Your Trade."
- October 22, 1915: All Whitehorse was shocked yesterday morning when the news was passed around that Judge Geo. L. Taylor had died at home a few minutes after midnight. Read the entire article here.
- October 22, 1915: Supt. C. W. Cash of the winter mail service returned Monday by auto from Montague where the company is erecting a new roadhouse to replace the one
which was owned by Mrs. Niles and which was destroyed by fire in August when forest fires were raging over that country.
- October 22, 1915: On October 20th, Mr. Justice Macauley of the Territorial Court of Yukon sentenced Alexander Gagoff to death by hanging for the murder of Henry Cook 20 days prior. The sentence is to be carried out in Whitehorse on March 10, 1916.
November
- November 12, 1915: Henry and John Henderson, sons of Pioneer "Bob" Henderson to whom belongs the honor of finding the first gold on Hunker creek in the Klondike district, arrived in town last Sunday, having walked out from over the trail from Dawson in twelve days.
- November 12, 1915: During the period which will intervene until there is sufficient snow for good sleighing two stages each way will be operated by the White Pass Company weekly between Whitehorse and Dawson. Even should there be sufficient snow for operating sleigns, Supt. Cash will not inaugurate the tri-weekly schedule until all the river crossings are frozen over.
- November 12, 1915: A bunch of Indians arrived in town Tuesday evening of this week with a big consignment of moose and mountain sheep meat. The former is being sold around town at 15 and the latter at 25 cents per pound. Some of the meat brought in by Indians has the appearance of having been towed a la drag from where it was killed.
December
- December 3, 1915: J. Langlois Bell has been appointed to the position of police that capacity before Judge Black of the Yukon territorial court. He will leave for Whitehorse November 27, and Mrs. Bell and Miss Bell will proceed there after the closing of Yukon Crossing.
- December 3, 1915: George Black wired his resignation as head of the Yukon government to Prime Minister Robert L. Borden from San Francisco on November 26th, preparatory to his acceptance of a commission as captain in Canadian expeditionary forces
to be sent to France in the spring.
- December 3, 1915: L. A. Flint who came from Denver,
Colorado with the rush in '97 and who has been with the country ever since, accompanied by his partner, J. McDonald, arrived in town from Burwash in the Kluane district last Sunday. For the past three years they have been operating on upper Burwash with indifferent success.
- December 10, 1915: The new Government hospital which has been under way at this place for several months past is now practically completed, and when the furniture is installed will be ready to occupy. The new hospital is a credit to the Yukon government, an asset to Whitehorse, and a monument to the architectural and mechanical skill of Superintendent W. H. Simpson and those in his employ.
- December 10, 1915: A negro woman, Florence Anderson, who has been an inmate of
one of the cribs in the North End for a couple of years or more, last week married Marion Robinson, about 22 years old and thought to be a deserter from the U.S. Army. The new Mrs. Robinson was sentenced on December 8th to a year in jail for paying for $208 worth of jewelry with a cheque that was dishonored. Her husband was ordered to leave the country, and left for Skagway this morning.
- December 10, 1915: Captains William Turnbull and Jack Green, both masters of ships operated by the W. P. & Y. R., arrived here on their way outside from Rude creek where they have been since the close of navigation nearly two months ago. Rude creek is
in the new field discovered last summer twenty miles back from the Yukon about 100 miles south of Dawson and 300 miles north of Whitehorse.
1916
January
- January 7, 1916: Details are given of the death of Ginger Stewart of Whitehorse in the trenches of France on November 23, 1915.
February
- February 18, 1916: Martha Black is elected a life member of the national chapter of the Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire of Canada.
March
- March 10, 1916: "The Stroller", E. J. White, announces in his column that he is going to be leaving the Yukon after nearly 12 years in Whitehorse and a total of 16½ years in the territory.
- March 17, 1916: A. M. Rousseau is now editor of The Weekly Star - the March 17th edition is the final one compiled by E. J. White.
April
- April 14, 1916: F. F. W. Lowle, the general agent of the C. P. R. at Skagway, returned recently from a visit to points between there and Seattle and stated the coming season is now assured as a bumper one as far as tourists are concerned. All the Eastern tourist agencies are boosting the Alaska trip, partly on account of better and more correct knowledge of the country and partly on account of the glowing stories taken back
by the visitors of past seasons.
- April 14, 1916: Mr. and Mrs. Frank G. Wilson of this place have just received word that Frank, Jr., 18 years of age and the younger of their two sons, for the past two years a student in the University of British Columbia at Vancouver, had enlisted for overseas service in the 196th Western University Battalion of the University of B. C.
- April 21, 1916: In anticipation of the large tourist travel expected during the coming summer as well as the promised increase in both passenger and freight traffic owing to the building of the railroad in Alaska, Foreman Al. Henderson of the B. Y. N. shipyards of Whitehorse is now busily engaged with a large force of ship carpenters, painters and decorators in remodeling, repairing, changing and putting in all the modern conveniences in the comany's boats.
- April 21, 1916: Victor Wisti, the Finnish miner who was injured so badly at the Pueblo mine on the afternoon of April 6th, passed away at the General hospital early
Monday morning, April 17th. Read the entire article here.
- April 21, 1916: From "Happy" Burnside, one of the partners interested in the Tallyho group of gold-silver-lead quartz claims in the Wheaton district, who is now in Whitehorse, we learn that a renewal of development work is contemplated on these valuable properties at an early date, the intrease in the price of lead to 8½c. per pound making this desirable result possible.
May
- May 5, 1916: Immediately after the adjournment of the annual meeting of the General Hospital board at the N. S. A. A. hall on Saturday night an informa! discussion was taken up by those who remained regarding the advisability of obserying Victoria Day this year in the same quiet manner that the program was carried out last year. It was agreed that it would be the proper thing to do.
- May 5, 1916: Sunnyside Dairy of Skagway, A. J. Baker, proprietor, is shipping fresh milk and cream daily to all points on the White Pass Railway.
- May 5, 1916: On Sunday, May 7, the Yukon Cafe will serve a turkey dinner at the usual dinner hour in the evening. None but the best white help is employed in this
model establishment while polite and prompt service are also features that commend the Yukon Cafe to its patrons.
June
- June 16, 1916: Albert E. "Buster" Browne, who joined the staff of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1912 and was stationed at different timesin Vancouver, New Westminster, Victoria, Whitehorse and Dawson, has written a letter to Mrs. W. L. Phelps, and a portion of it was printed. Mr. Browne enlisted with the Boyle contingent in Dawson in 1914 but later transferred to an English regiment in order that he might go to the front.
- June 16, 1916: The steamship Princess Ena of the C. P. R. Line, reached Skagway last Tuesday with 79 head of cattle, 155 hogs, 40 tons of powder and 170 tons of freight for interior points.
- June 16, 1916: Miss Cassie Henderson, daughter of Robert Henderson, discoverer of the Klondike, was married on the evening of June 8th on the steamer Casca when 12 miles above Dawson. The groom was Irvine Growther, employed with the Yukon Gold on one of the dredges on Bonanza.
July
- July 7, 1916: Driver Webster after handling the ribbons on a mail stage between here and Dawson all winter is now busily engaged in enlarging, repairing and fitting up the B. Y. N. Co. stables, over which is located the harness shop of the company, run under the skilled workmanship and efficient management of Jack Cole.
- July 7, 1916: The funeral of E. W. Achison, the Skagway pioneer who was drowned on Wednesday afternoon of last week in the river about four miles above that place, was held there Sunday afternoon and was attended by a large number of people. The deceased was a highly respected citizen of that town, where he had lived since 1898. He leaves a widow and nine children to mourn his loss.
- July 7, 1916: Superintendent of Indian Affairs John Hawksley returned from Carcroas Monday where he had been for several days inspecting the Chooutla Indian school, which is located about two miles from that place and is under the superintendency of Rev. W. T. Townsend, who is assisted in his work by Mr. Johnson. There are now 34 pupils at Chooutla who are clothed and fed by a federal appropriation amounting to about $200 each annually.
August
- August 4, 1916: The Lakinaw and Tagish Mines Co. has bonded what is known as the Conrad properties on Little Windy Arm, about twelve miles northeast of Carcross, and for the past month or more have had a crew of fourteen men employed in putting the Venus mine in shape for work and thereafter in getting out about 50 tons of gold-silver-lead ore for shipment to the Tacoma Smelter. The bond also covers Venus No. 2, the M. & M, and several other adjoining claims and what is known as the Montana group.
- August 4, 1916: The flagship Vidette of the Side Streams fleet returned to Dawson on July 24th from a trip to the celebrated scenic resort of Fraser Falls, at the head of the Stewart river. Among those who made the round trip were twelve sight-seers and Dr. and Mrs. Norman E. Culbertson, who went on their honeymoon.
- August 4, 1916: Two miners named Olson and Brown met death Sunday by asphyxiation at the Ruby Silver and Silver Queen mine, located near Pavey on Lake Bennett. The fatality occurred at early hour in the morning and was the result of the men entering the tunnel too soon after the discharge of a blast and being overcome by the gas generated therefrom.
- August 11, 1916: Chas. McConnell, owner of the Robinson roadhouse, was married at Carcross last week to Miss Florence Parvin, of London, England, Archdeacon Canham officiating. Mr. McConnell is a pioneer in Southern Yukon, while the bride formerly acted as stenographer for James Powell, late manager of the Howe & Powell interests in the Wheaton mining district.
- August 11, 1916: Manager J. C. Newmarch and Paying Teller V. Hughes of the Canadian Bank of Commerce went to Champagne Landing Saturday afternoon in the former's auto, making the 65 mile run in about five hours. The road is said to be in excellent condition all the way.
- August 11, 1916: Tom Dickson, game warden in the Kluane lake region, declares that coyotes are getting so numerous in that section that unless something is immediately done to exterminate them they will, within the next three years, either kill or run out of the country all the game as well as many of the fur bearing animals that now range in the valleys, hills and mountains.
September
- September 1, 1916: The Conservatives win the prohibition plebiscite on August 30, in an extreme close election. The majority of 3 votes is contested by the Liberals. A recount is refused.
- September 1, 1916: Shortly after 9 o'clock Friday morning of last week Roy W. Eaton was instantly killed while working in the pipe shaft of the Pueblo mine, with his head and shoulders projecting through a small opening into the main shaft, upon which
he was making some repairs. He was struck by an ascending cage. Read the entire lengthy article here.
- September 1, 1916: Considerable grading has been done within the past few days on the streets enclosing the block on which is situated the new General hospital. The appearance of that part of town has been greatly improved thereby.
- September 8, 1916: Thomas W. O'Brien of Dawson, one of the pioneers of Yukon and during his 29 years residence in the Territory one of its most progressive and influential citizens, passed away at St. Mary's hospital in Dawson, on the night of
August 24 after an illness of several weeks, from liver trouble. His birth place was Barrie, Simcoe county, Ontario, and at the time of his death he was 54 years of age.
- September 15, 1916: There is an epidemic of measles among the inhabitants of the Indian village just north of Whitehorse and out of the dozen or more afflicted with the disease two have died and there are others in precarious condition.
- September 15, 1916: On Saturday afternoon, William Martin was killed at the Pueblo mine while being hoisted in a bucket after quitting work for the day. Read the entire lengthy article here.
- September 15, 1916: Miss Margaret McCarter, eldest daughter of Postmaster and Mrs. Alexander McCarter of Dawson, arrived in Whitehorse on the Casca Tuesday morning. She is on her way to England to marry Charles K. Thornback, formerly a member of the R.N.W.M.P. at Dawson.
- September 22, 1916: The new high school addition to the public school building is now completed with the exception of the furnace. The structure is 24x30 feet, with 12 foot ceiling, and is finished on the inside with dressed natural Douglas fir in alternating perpendicular and diagonal panels, which produce an attractive and artistic effect.
October
- October 27, 1916: George Norris Williams is appointed administrator for the Yukon Territory, with the power and authority of the commissioner. Captain George Black still remains commissioner during his war service overseas.
- October 27, 1916: The last river boats, The Dawson and Nasutlin, arrived in Whitehorse on October 23rd, closing the navigation season.
November
- November 3, 1916: Capt. Bailey of the stenmer Nasutlin took that vessel down to Lower Lebarge last week where he placed her on the ways for the winter, While there he also hauled the Vidette out of water and put two barges belonging to the White Pass in an eddy, where they will be safe from destruction during the run of ice this fall and next spring.
December
- December 15, 1916: The 1916 mining season has been greater in the Atlin district than any other year since the big rush in 1898.
1917
January
- January 5, 1917: During 1916 the exports from Southern Yukon amount to approximately $1,000,000, $94,000 being raw furs and the other $906,000 copper and other ores. All of the furs and about 50 per cent of the ores were exported to the U.S. and the remainder of the ores to smelters in British Columbia.
- January 12, 1917: White Pass & Yukon Route announces December 20, 1916 the construction of two new steamers to take care of its increasing tourist traffic between Caribou and Taku and on Atlin lake.
- January 26, 1917: The Boyle Yukon Motor Machine Gun Battery, recruited in Dawson, is awarded a military cross and military medals.
February
- February 23, 1917: A fire that broke out in the Yukonia hotel in Dawson on February 21st destroyed an entire block of business houses. Among the burned building are the Yukonia, Pioneer, Bonanza and Cronin hotels, Sales' jewelry store and Pinska's clothing store.
March
- March 5, 1917: A Leter to the Editor by C. Swanson comments on the many graves in the cemetery that are unmarked. "A nameless grave in the hills is one thing, a nameless grave in a recognized burying ground is quite another."
- March 5, 1917:
- March 5, 1917:
- March 16, 1917: While in Whitehorse last week, testing the ores from the Conrad district, H. W. Newton, the oil flotation expert for the Lakinaw & Tagish Mines Co., made the statement to a prominent copper mine owner of the Whitehorse district, that
an oil flotation plant, with a capacity of 100 tons of ore per day, could be put in here at an approximate cost of $20,000, and that such a plant could be placed in operation
within 90 days from the time of the commencement of work.
June
- June 15, 1917: The B.Y.N. steamer Tutshi is launched at Carcross, June 12, christened by Mazie Cochran.
July
- July 6, 1917: Katherine Ryan, representing Whitehorse, takes the part of "Miss Canada" at a celebration in Skagway.
August
- August 3, 1917: Constable Pavely of the R. N. W. M. P., and Mr. Jack Parker left Sunday onthe steamer Dawson for Gold Point, on the Yukon river five miles below Big Salmon, and returned on the steamer White Horse Tuesday afternoon having in charge Mrs. Olaf Olsen, against whom a complaint had been laid alleging that she was suffering from dementia and had made threats against the lives of different people living in the vicinity of her home.
- August 3, 1917: John Jacobsen, for some time past in charge of Martin & Cathro's fox farm near Macrea, resigned his position on the 20th and departed with his wife to Carcross, where they will make their home for a time.
- August 3, 1917: Sunday morning at 2 o'clock a party composed of Fred Gray, Charlie French, J. D. Durie and Harry Athow, under the guidance of Robert Reddick, crossed the river at Whitehorse and struck off over the trail through the woods to the head of Macaulay creek, where Reddick claimed he had found rich placer ground.
- August 10, 1917: The report in the last issue about a placer discovery on Macaulay creek was erroneous; the discovery was on Reddick creek, a tributary of Russell creek, and at the present writing looks exceedingly promising.
- August 10, 1917: It was reported in the Skagway Alaskan on Aug. 7 that Captain Alexander has sold the Engineer mine in the Atlin country for a sum which reaches seven figures. If the report is true it means that several hundred men will be employed in development work, and that much travel will pass through Skagway and Carcross.
- August 10, 1917: The Southern Yukon road appropriations for this year having been exhausted, a number of automobile owners clubbed in together last week and hired Jimmy Richards to put in five crossings over the railroad track between Whitehorse and Wigan. They expect to be reimbursed for their outlay at the next meeting of the Yukon Council.
- August 17, 1917: After a little over two months' vacation which was spent by the principal and teachers of the Whitehorse public school in visiting relatives in
Eastern Provinces and British Columbia, the 1917-18 term will open next Monday with the same efficient staff that was employed last term, viz.: D. A. Grant, principal, Miss S. A.
Smith and Miss M. A. Teskey, teachers.
- August 17, 1917: The Pueblo Mine is almost in shape to resume work on a big scale. Tuesday the pumps had lowered the water in the main shaft to midway between the
400 and 500 foot levels and it is expected by General Manager Berg that by tomorrow night the entire workings will have been cleared of water.
- August 17, 1917: Mrs. John Henry, late of Dawson, died in Vancouver on the night of August 5th, according to a telegram received in Dawson on the 10th. A son was born to Mrs. Henry shortly before her death, and at the time the message was sent was doing well. Mrs. Henry formerly was Miss Magwood, and was the kindergarten teacher in the Dawson public school before her wedding.
- August 24, 1917: Saturday evening late Cam Smith, Fred Gray and Charley Greime, accompanied by Johnny Jack and Johnny Joe, two Indians, left Whitehorse in an
auto for a new placer gold field which the latter claimed they had discovered on a small tributary of Klutshi creek, which empties into Hutshi lake.
li> August 24, 1917: Lieutenant C. H. Chute, of Dawson, was killed Aug. 14 in a motor accident. Exactly how the accident happened or where is not stated, but it is likely that it occurred somewhere in or near Witley camp, where the Second Yukon Motor Machine Gun contingent had been training for several months.
- August 24, 1917: A new 150 horse power boiler is due in Carcross this week for installation at the Venus mill, according to Superintendent McFarland. he states that assay returns for the first hundred tons of Venus ore of this season reaching the Trail smelter ran in excess of $100 per ton. Some 500 tons are now in transit of a like grade, not including one carload of fancy ore shipped separately.
- August 31, 1917: On Tuesday morning, the regular northbound White Pass passenger train, at a point a mile and a half north of Glacier station, was hit by an avalanche of rock, resulting in instant death to Engineer W. C. McKenzie and his son Bert, who was firing. Read the entire article here.
- August 31, 1917: The Whitehorse branch of the Canadian Bank of Whitehorse shipped Tuesday to the Dominion of Canada assay office at Vancouver, 210 ounces of gold dust, the greater part of which came from Livingsone creek in the Big Salmon country. The value of the consignment was between $3,500 and $4,000.
- August 31, 1917: The White Pass yesterday put in place a 75 foot flag pole at the southwest corner of the depot building. It is a nicely painted pole, having a weather vane and ball at the top.
September
- September 14, 1917: There are several successful fox ranchers in Southern Yukon, and some of them are located in the vicinity of Whitehorse. Two of the most up-to-date of these are the J. P. Whitney & Co. Black & Silver Fox Farm and the Whitehorse Silver Black Fox Co.'s farm, both of which raise not only foxes but also rabbits and Belgian hares to feed the foxes. Read that article and much more in The History of Fox Farming in the Yukon Territory.
October
- October 5, 1917: Most of the miners at the Pueblo were paid off on Monday night, the management having decided to do no further mining or development for the
present. The mine will not be closed down completely, pending the decision of the owners as to future operations.
- October 5, 1917: 0. P. Zortman, president of the Montana-Atlin Development company, returned to Atlin on Sept. 26 and will continue mining operations on his property for at least six weeks more this season. He says the amount of gold taken from the Atlin creeks this season is considerably larger than last year,
- October 5, 1917: Only six men in the whole American Fortymile are eligible for military service, according to J. A. Kemp, the registrar of the district. Of the 250 men
there, nearly all are old timers, beyond the military age.
- October 12, 1917: The steamer Vidette, which was being taken to Lower Lebarge Tuesday to be used as a bunk house for the steamer crews engaged in putting the
other White Pass steamers in their winter quarters, sprung a leak when off Goddard Point and went down in seven feet of water while the crew of the Canadian were endeavoring to beach her.
- October 12, 1917: At 1:30 p. m. Thursday of last week, as the steamer White Horse was making its way upstream about eight miles this side of the mouth of the Big Salmon, P. J. Poulin of Dawson, one of the passengers, jumped overboard and was drowned.
- October 12, 1917: J. L. Harper and J. E. Macfarland have returned from a trip to the Engineer mine on Taku Arm. Both of these men state that the Engineer will become the leading gold mine of the world, and that the systematic development done by Capt. Jas. Alexander, the owner, has shown wonderful results.
- October 19, 1917: Tom Vaughan of Dawson, who arrived in Whitehorse Sunday morning, brings word of the staking of two new creeks on the trail between Selkirk and Kitchener creek. Vaughan grub-staked Bob Ensley of Dawson to go on the recent Kitchener creek stampede and the latter on his way out on his return to Dawson staked discovery claim on a creek 21 miles from Selkirk, which he named Puzie, and four miles further on another, which he named Bess.
- October 19, 1917: Purser W. A. Thompson of the lower river steamer Yukon brought with him on the last upstream voyage a bear cub about six months old which he is taking with him outside. The little fellow was held in captivity by a collar and light chain and appeared docile and playful.
- October 19, 1917: There is a broken board in the sidewalk in front of McPhee's store on Front street that should be replaced before someone steps through the opening and geta hurt.
- October 26, 1917: Wm. McBride of Supt. Gordon's office and Corp. St. Laurant of the R. N. W. M. P. went down in a launch yesterday morning to the head of Lake Lebarge to meet the steamer Nasutlin, to attend to certain necessary preliminaries to expedite the departure of the 20 passengers and 65 members of the crews of the steamers Schwatka and Seattle No.3 for Skagway to catch the Princess Alice, which was held there until after the arrival of the special train.
- October 26, 1917: With the departure of the White Pass launch Falcon last Friday in charge of Cam Smith, with 139 sacks of mail for lower river points, Postmaster George Wilson recorded one of the latest Fall clean-ups ever made in the Whitehorse postoffice.
- October 26, 1917: Word was received a few days ago that Oris E. Church, former well-known resident of Whitehorse, had died in the King county hospital in Seattle about a month ago, from tuberculous meningitis. Deceased left here last Fall with the Yukon Infantry Co. under Capt. Black, but failed to pass the medical examination after reaching Victoria.
November
- November 2, 1917: The launch Falcon, which left here October 19th, was located at the mouth of the White river where they were held up by floating ice. The first class mail was forwarded on to Dawson in charge of Capt. Hoggan by single horse to Black Hills creek over the Henderson Divide, and the balance of the mail and express will be taken on to Stewart City where it will be met with teams of the White Pass company, now en route to that point from Dawson.
- November 2, 1917: The Royal Mail auto running between Whitehorse and Champagne
Landing left here Monday with Chauffer Hardy in the driver's seat.
- November 2, 1917: President Elliott of the W. P. & Y. R., who had been here for several days, left Thursday morning for Carcross for the purpose of inspecting the Tutshi, the fine new passenger steamer of the company, built last summer to accommodate the tourist trade to Atlin, and which he had never before seen.
- November 2, 1917: There was such a severe storm on Atlin lake the fore part of the week that the White Pass steamer Tarahne had to lay to at the dock until its abatement.
- November 9, 1917: The public meeting at the N. S. A. A. hall Tuesday night was fairly well attended, a number of ladies being among those present. Chas. H. Johnston,
president of the Whitehorse Conservative association, announced dissolution of that organization, with a view of forming a Unionist association in Southern Yukon, with which citizens, irrespective of party politics, could affiiliate. W. D. Gordon, Conservative, was then chosen unanimously as chairman of the meeting and H. G. MacPherson, Liberal, as
secretary.
- November 9, 1917: If the war should continue much longer, (which God forbid) the question of a possible shortage of food would become very grave. It is commonly understood that a considerable proportion of big game is wantonly destroyed during the winter, and as, in this territory, such a source of food would be invaluable in given circumstances, I respectfully suggest the adoption of the obvious remedy.
- November 16, 1917: The future of the mines in the Whitehorse copper belt certainly looks promising. Among the positive news, development work at the Copper King mine has uncovered an extensive body of high grade bornite and copper glance ore on the 150 foot level.
- November 16, 1917: Jake Fred and Frank Smith make a new gold strike at Dalton Post.
- November 23, 1917: Miner George Russell Clark, who has been in the Yukon country for the past 19 years, claims to have invented a projectile with one-half greater penetrating power than any now in use and which will increase the range of the gun from which it is fired, with the same amount of powder now used as a charge, at least 30 per cent. He says that his invention, if adopted by the military and naval authorities, will revolutionize artillery warfare. He also has an invention in aeronautic machinery that he thinks is destined to astonish the world at some not distant date.
- November 23, 1917: A quiet but pretty wedding was solemnized at the residence of Mrs. Ellen Evans in Port Arthur, when her third daughter, Lucy, was married to William Stephenson Drury of Whitehorse, Yukon Territory.
- November 30, 1917: A northern blizzard, that dropped the mercury from 20 above to 20 below in a few hours, struck Whitehorse early Tuesday morning and has been busy ever since. Considerable snow fell in the early stages of the blow and has badly drifted in many places since.
- November 30, 1917: The river closed at Whitehorse at about 2 a. m. yesterday, and at Yukon Crossing about the same time.
December
- December 7, 1917: Col. Joe Boyle of Dawson has been decorated at Petrograd by Gen. Korniloff with the Order of St. Stanislaus for distinguished service in the transportation department of the Russian army in Galicia and Rumania.
- December 7, 1917: The parents of Frank Wilson have just received a letter from him in which he states he has so far recovered from his wounds, which were not serious, that he is now able to be around. The wounds were caused by shrapnel, and were received at the battle of Paschendaele ridge.
- December 7, 1917: With a denial of his guilt and the words of the song "Jesus Loves Me, This I Know," his last earthly utterances, Roy Yoshioko stood on the gallows in Dawson City on November 23rd and his soul was plunged into eternity. He was convicted of murdering his wife Hisa at West Dawson in June. Her unborn child also died, and Percy James was also found dead at their home. Read the entire article here.
- December 14, 1917: Two men were found dead this past few days. George Scott, the government mail carrier, was found on the trail about half way between Lower Lebarge and Braeburn. The cause is not yet known. W. H. Brethour froze to death on the Atlin-Carcross trail, just 5 miles from his destination, Carcross.
- December 14, 1917: Ed. Mathews, one of Skagway's boys, was severely gassed recently on the French front while fighting with the Canadian forces. He enlisted with the 50th Canadian infantry at Calgary about 13 months ago and since then has been in some of the severest fighting of the war. He is thought to be the first Skagway boy to actually see service in battle.
- December 14, 1917: For the past week Whitehorse has been in the grip of a cold wave that has registered all the way from 40 below until Wednesday night it reached 47 below. Thursday the thermometer hovered all day around 50 below.
- December 21, 1917: Despite brutal weather, Constables Vinall and Kinnard of the R. N. W. M. P., who left last week to bring in the body of the late Geo. Scott, succeeded in their mission. Mr. Scott's Indian wife had found his body and tried to bring it in but had to abandon that sled. She did bring in the mail sled. Read this and 3 other articles about George Scott's death here.
- December 21, 1917: A dog fight that occurred in front of the Regina hotel Wednesday resulted in the breaking of one of the valuable plate glass windows in the lobby of the building.
- December 21, 1917: Rev. C. Swanson, late rector of Christ Church, preached his
last sermon Sunday and departed on Tuesday's train enroute to Victoria, where he has accepted a position as teacher in the University school. Mrs. Swanson and their little one joined him at Carcross.
- December 28, 1917: The coldest weather ever experienced in the Yukon since its settlement by the whites, this early in the winter, was ushered in during the closing days of November with the thermometer registering 35 to 40 below, and a fierce, biting wind blowing steadily from the north. It was a condition that none but the ruggedest human being could, withstand in the open for any length of time.
- December 28, 1917: The first band of Peel River Indians to arrive this season got in from the Blackstone river after a mush of many days. They brought ten toboggans drawn by as many dog teams and manned by ten drivers, all laden with mountain sheep and caribou. They report all well among the tribe.
- December 28, 1917: Mrs. Harry Hoskins has received news that her son, Joe Harkins, a Dawson high school boy, was top man in the recent examinations of his class at the Oxford school of aviation, and that he won a lieutenancy and was complimented highly. Joe initially went from Dawson with the Black contingent.
1918
January
- January 4, 1918: Charley Chinnery, veteran White Pass stage driver between here and Dawson, after going through a month of 40 to 86 degrees below zero weather on his last round trip to the Yukon metropolis, arrived in Whitehorse unscathed by the Frost King on Tuesday of last week, only to go through the painful experience of having the tip of his nose frosted on the following Saturday while walking up Front street from the White Pass barns to the depot with the thermometer registering only 10 below zero.
- January 4, 1918: Hundreds of telegrams were received on December 25th by the government from the temperance people throughout Canada, congratulating the ministers for
passing the order-in-council Saturday which after April next means practically Dominion-wide prohibition.
- January 11, 1918: Dr. Thompson addressed a meeting Monday night in the N. S. A. A. hall under the auspices of the Whitehorse Unionist association. There was a splendid attendance and the hall was filled. The speaker said he had returned to Yukon to give an account of his stewardship as the representative of the people of the Yukon in the last parliament.
- January 11, 1918: A letter from Fred T. Congdon is published, stating that he should be the Unionist candidate for the Yukon, as 82 members of the association attended Dr. Thompson's nomination meeting, whereas no less than 275 members of the public attended his.
- January 11, 1918: Yesterday the police patrol was due to hit the trail on its five hundred mile mush from Dawson to McKenzie river. Members of the patrol party have been getting the dogs in shape for a couple of months past, taking runs up and down the Klondike and Yukon rivers, and now the animals are fit for any thing that comes along.
- January 18, 1918: The Canadian Klondike Mining company ended its dredging season with the shutting down of gold-digger No, 2 on the 18th inst. Deep ground was encountered and it was found imposible to dredge the ladder sheaves in the cold weather.
- January 18, 1918: After a lapse of almost, if not more than a decade the old R. N. W. M. P. post at Pleasant Camp, on the international boundary back of Haines, Alaska, is to be rehabilitated and put in charge of a police patrol, consisting of Consts. Vinall and Gurr of the Whitehorse detachment.
- January 18, 1918: A letter received from France from Robert Gourlay, veteran
Yukoner, tells of seven other old time Yukoners being lost in a big battle against the Germans in France recently. The victims are: Joe Tilton, William Kerr, Peter Morrison, Peter Allen, Fred La Blanche, George Otis and Frank Pregant.
- January 25, 1918: Hiram Goode, the young Tagish Lake hunter and trapper who so nearly lost his life while making the round of his traps on Little Atlin Lake in the blizzard that swept over the North in the latter part of December, left for the outside last week. Read the entire article here.
- January 25, 1918: Upon the request of the Skagway Council of Defense, the Commandant at Ft. Seward, sent sixteen soldiers to patrol the town and guard the wharf and waterfront, White Pass offices, Customs office, Court House, the White Pass shops and Broadway. After the arrival of the soldiers Deputy U. S. Marshal N. O. Hardy issued a warning to fifteen enemy born citizens of the town.
- January 25, 1918: J. R. Alguire, owner of the Sandon and Arab copper claims in the Whitehorse district, has been doing a lot of development on the properties during the past four months and is quite elated over the good showing that has been made both in the quantity and the quality of the ore uncovered.
February
- February 1, 1918: Although Frederick Congdon is ahead in the polls so far, it is expected that Alfred Thompson will win the Yukon election for the member of parliament once all the votes are in.
- February 1, 1918: Thursday night of last week, just after we had gone to press, a blizzard sprang out of the north which for five days kept the people of the Southern end of the Territory within doors, unless absolutely necessary for them to be
abroad. During the time the thermometer dropped from 15 above to 50 below. It was the severest storm that has visited this section of the country for a long time.
- February 1, 1918: Capt. Harry F. Meurling, who has won distinction in many months of hard fighting as the commander of the now famous Yukon Motor Machine Gun Battery, writes from France to the Dawson News in which he pays a tribute to the bravery and undying devotion of the force. The battery was originated in Dawson through the
generosity of Joseph W. Boyle, who equipped it, and the members were recruited by Andy Hart, Dawson's fire chief.
- February 8, 1918: Capt. A. L. Bell of the R. N. W. M. P., returned a few days ago from Pleasant Camp, where he went a couple of weeks ago to locate a police patrol of two men consisting of Consts. L. A. Vinall and V. Gurr of the Whitehorse detachment. From Haines the party took in supplies with dog teams to last for several months.
- February 8, 1918: In a letter from Louis E. Belney, Yukon pioneer, he says "I arrived back in England the fore part of November, after the Pashendale scrape, and have been in three different hospitals since. I was transferred here one week ago today and am almost as good as new again. Today I asked to be transferred to our depot at Seaforth and from there I intend going back to the battalion in France."
- February 8, 1918: Fred Newman, well known farmer, located on the Yukon river three miles above Dawson, killed, several fine pigs a few days ago, which he had fattened with home grown peas. No better pork has been seen in the country, and Mr. Newman is enthusiastic over the fact he is able to produce the meat entirely with the products of his own farm.
- February 15, 1918: The Yukon Chapter of the I.O.D.E. has elected its officers. Isaac Taylor is the regent, F. Wilson is the 1st vice regent, Miss Smith is the 2nd vice regent.
- February 15, 1918: C. J. Gaunt of the Caribou Mining Company reports that their Windy Arm property is looking fine. They are pushing the development work in the main tunnel and pulling around a shift besides sacking some high grade ore. At the adjoining property, the Venus, the mill was started again on the 5th and has been running steadily ever since.
- February 15, 1918: The task of removing the machinery from the workings of the
Pueblo mine and the tearing down and shipping of the material used in all the buildings that had been erected there for the accommodation of the officials of the mining company and their families and the miners and their families, is almost completed, and the
dozen or so men engaged in the work will soon be leaving for other fields.
- February 22, 1918: Gold Commissioner George Mackenzie has been advised that Canada has removed the embargo which has existed for some time against the export of
tungsten and molybdenum from the Dominion. This will be good news in the Yukon, as these ores are found here, and there is a promise that they will add materially to the Yukon exports.
- February 22, 1918: The Tallyho mine, in the Wheaton district, shipped the middle of the week to the Tacoma smelter 14 tons of gold-silver-lead ore of an approximate value in all three minerals inclusive of $50 a ton.
- February 22, 1918: There is a shortage of gasoline in Whitehorse, in fact there is none to be had, and until a supply is received from Vancouver the famine will continue, as shipments of gasoline from the United States are now prohibited by that country.
March
- March 1, 1918: While the men employed at the Copper King were at their midday meal Saturday fire broke out in the power house of the mine and before it was discovered had yained such headway there was no chance either of saving the building or salvaging its contents from the ravages of the flames. The building destroyed was about 50x50 feet in size, and was used as power house, boiler room and blacksmith shop. It is thought that the blaze originated from a carbide lamp left burning by its owner while he was at his meal.
- March 1, 1918: Lovell C. Jefferson is on his way outside for the purpose of offering his services to Uncle Sam in any capacity and in any department where most needed. Although a resident of Whitehorse, he was the second man to register when the list was opened at Skagway and has been arranging to go outside ever since for enlistment. He is a printer by trade and for the past two years has been associated with his father in the publishing of the Weekly Star.
- March 1, 1918: Officials of the Canadian government have become apprehensive
as to the well being of Louis Dixon, deputy collector of customs at the Boundary. Chas. Roos was sent to the Boundary to learn if all is well with Mr. Dixon, taking with him
Star and Bob, the two famous sledge dogs of L. T. Watson, but he was unable to reach Boundary because of so much snow. He will leave again tomorrow, with two men.
- March 8, 1918: In a leter printed in the Wrangell Sentinel, J. B. Callbreath, the merchant and packing contractor of Telegraph Creek, says "We are having a terrible winter. Late rains, heavy snowfail, and later, bitter cold weather has completely ruined the trapping, and indications point to a very small fur catch. Winter has been very hard on all stock.
- March 8, 1918: The wood dealers of Whitehorse have heen struggling during the past winter with the difficult problem of furnishing customers with their allowance of fuel without increasing the price of this very essential article, but have found it a losing proposition for many reasons, chief among which were the unprecedented snowfall
and deeply drifted roads, over which latter it was found almost impossible to haul a decent sized load. The price of 16-inch wood has gone from $10.50 to $12 per cord.
- March 8, 1918: Bernard W. Dunkel, formerly of Dawson, and well known in Yukon and Alaska, was killed recently in France serving with the Canadians. His parents were natives of Germany, but lived for many years on the Pacific coast. Dunkel street in Fairbanks was named after the deceased soldier.
- March 15, 1918: Work at the Copper King mine, temporarily suspended by reason of the disastrous fire there on Feb. 23, has been resumed in part, the big compressor being again in operation. Since the resumption a body of high grade ore has been reached and is now being taken out for shipment to the smelter.
- March 15, 1918: On Feb. 28 Frank Wilson went out on the Princess Sophia to meet his son, Frank Jr., who is now on his way across the continent, having been invalided
home from France, where he was quite seriously wounded several months ago.
- March 15, 1918: J. J. Hughes, returned soldier, who received a bayonet wound in the jaw while in the trenches on the Western front and was thereby incapacitated for further military duty, arrived in Whitehorse Tuesday from Vancouver and is now employed atthe B. Y. N. shipyards.
- March 22, 1918: Two men were killed when their rotary snow plow hit a glacier on the Whitehorse copper belt spur on March 18th. Read the entire article here.
- March 22, 1918: Dawson, March 1: Two rigs got away yesterday morning loaded with men who will work at Coal Creek, assisting in preparing the big machinery plant of the Northern Light company for shipment outside. More men are to go down in a few days. It is understood about forty, all told, are going.
- March 22, 1918: Yesterday in Dawson the weather was 42 below; at Whitehorse, 12 below, blowing a hurricane from the north, and the snow flying in blinding clouds; in Skagway, 8 above, and blowing so hard that the velocity was determinable only by the use of scientific instruments.
- March 29, 1918: Capt. David A. Henkes, of the Sixteenth United States Infantry, formerly stationed at Fort Egbert, Eagle City, has been sentenced to 25 years at hard labor. He is of German descent, and endeavored to resign his commission, giving as his reason that he did not care to fight against his relatives and friends.
- March 29, 1918: The blockade of the White Pass for the past week, caused by terrific gales on the summit of the coast range, which drifted the loose snow into the cuts faster than the rotary plow could clean them out, will end today when the regular twice-a-week schedule will be resumed with a train each way.
- March 29, 1918: Fears are entertained at Dawson that "Old Man" Rose, as he is known throughout the Pelly country, has perished somewhere in that region. The last known of him was when he started from Selkirk last fall for his headquarters 250 miles up the Pelly. He left in a small boat in company with "Dad" Moore.
April
- April 5, 1918: Federal estimates reduce Yukon annual grant forty-two per cent. The offices of commissioner and administrator at Dawson, assistant gold commissioner at Whitehorse, and mining recorder at Mayo and Glacier are abolished and the respective officers are dismissed, effective as of April 1st. Gold Commissioner George Mackenzie is the new administrator of the territory.
- April 5, 1918: Word has been received that the Seventeenth Yukon Machine Gun battery, commanded by Captain George Black, has been moved to Seaforth, England, from Whitley. The Fifth Battalion, to which the company was attached, has been broken up. It is expected that this change is preliminary to the movement of the Seventeenth Company soon to France.
- April 5, 1918: Many nations have now adopted the plan of putting their clocks one hour ahead during the summer months. The White Pass line commenced on Tuesday to adopt the system and has put its clocks forward one hour to correspond with the time now kept by the boats at Skagway. There have been many suggestions made that Whitehorse follow suit.
- April 12, 1918: A flying machine with a capacity of fifty passengers is projected for service between Dawson and Skagway. It is said that the promoter of the plan believes an aircraft suitable for this service can be secured, and that it will be able to make the trip, one way, in four hours. Read the entire article here.
- April 12, 1918: Robert Lowe came down from his wood camp near the Venus mine, in the Conrad district, Friday. He left Sam McGee in charge of the wood camp. Wednesday of last week a valuable horse belonging to one of Mr. Lowe's work teams died from the after effects of exposure last December in the extremely cold weather on the lake.
- April 12, 1918: Last Sunday was a lovely day and many of our townspeople
took advantage of the warm sunshine to auto down the river over the smooth, broad ice trail left by the White Pass caterpillar on its way to Lower Lebarge.
- April 19, 1918: The Vancouver Province of April 4 announced the death in action on March 24 of 21-year-old Lieut. W. Hilliard Snyder, son of Major A. E. Snyder, retired from the R. N. W. M. P. Major Snyder was commanding officer of H. Division, R. N. W. M. P., and lived here with his family consisting of wife, daughter and son, for several years subsequent to 1901, when he took charge. Mrs. Snyder died several years ago in Vancouver, where the family had made their home after leaving Whitehorse. Major Snyder's daughter is now driving an ambulance in France.
- April 19, 1918: T. A. Dickson, Kluane lake homesteader, hunter, trapper
and game warden, arrived in Whitehorse Saturday by dog team, accompanied by Dick Fullerton, Burwash creek miner, who has held down claims on that creek ever since its discovery. Dickson's eldest child, a daughter of 14 years of age, accompanied them, but had to be left at Champagne Landing on account of a sore throat and a high feyer she had contracted on the long, cold journey from the foot of the lake, a distance of about 150 miles.
- April 19, 1918: Entire Family Goes to War. Dr. R. B. Coutts, former well known
Klondike surgeon, Mrs. Coutts and her son, Eddie, are all in the war servive, The doctor is a veterinary surgeon in the British forces in Italy, and has the rank of captain. Mrs. Coutts is working in a hospital in England. Eddie is in the Canadian flying corps, now training on this side of the water.
- April 26, 1918: Forty eight parcels soldier's comforts were mailed last week to our men in France by the Yukon Chapter of the I. O. D. E.
- April 26, 1918: The train arriving from Skagway Tuesday brought Pte. Frank Wilson, the first returning Whitehorse volunteer from the western front, and as he stepped
from the car and was clasped in a loving mother's arms, felt the hearty hand-grip and heard the appreciative words of the friends, both old and young, whom he had left behind, he forgot for the time being the horrors of the hell he had left far overseas - the incessant roar of the big guns that thunder a constant requiem for the slain, the airplanes darting overhead in flight swifter than that of the carrier-pigeon, the nightly brilliant flare of the electric light over No Man's Land, and the groans of the wounded and dying on that drear, desolate and war-scarred waste - and remembered only that he was back in the land he loved.
- April 26, 1918: Tuesday eight feet of new snow fell at the summit of the
White Pass. In Whitehorse the same day there was a fall of snow for several hours, but the
now melted almost as soon as it reached the ground, and is now all gone, leaving us only the old snow which is fast disappearing.
May
- May 3, 1918: Saturday night a Buda gas car came in from Carcross, having on board J. F. Wikidal, vice-president and general manager, and T. B. Landers, general superintendent of the Venus Mines Co., in the Conrad district, W. S. McGee, foreman of Robert Lowe's wood camp near Conrad, and John Williams, foreman of the White Pass section gang at Carcross. They all came down to be present at the farewell dance tendered to Mr. and Mrs. R. C. Miller and family by the citizens of Whitehorse.
- May 3, 1918: Mrs. Geo. Armstrong gave her delightful lecture on Alaska and the Yukon in the auditorium of the Central Teehnical School in Toronto last evening, the proceeds of the event going towards the furnishing of the babies' ward in the new Women's College Hospital on Rusholine road.
- May 3, 1918: In appreciation of his services in bringing them through in such
excellent shape from Dawson to Whitehorse on the overland route, Wm. Donnenwerth, driver of the White Pass stage on which they traveled, was waited upon at his home Monday evening by ten of the police boys and presented with a handsome and valuable pair of cuff buttons.
- May 10, 1918: Gov. Thos. Riggs, Jr., lately appointed by President Wilson to succeed J. F. A. Strong, arrived in Juneau, the Alaska capital city, last week. A reception was given in his honor by the people of Gastineau Channel on the night of April 30. Gov. Riggs is a pioneer of the Klondike and the lower Yukon river country and will no doubt make an ideal executive for that territory.
- May 10, 1918: Heretofore it has been the habit of the U. S. customs officers at Eagle, Alaska, to permit small boats going down the river to pass the international boundary duty free. The deputy U. S. collector of customs at Eagle, J. J. Hillard, however, has received instructions to charge duty on all Canadian built small boats passing into American territory, except those which are under bond to return to the Yukon.
- May 10, 1918: Chas. Nye, prominent and wealthy resident of Skagway, was arrested last Saturday on a charge of having used seditious language on May 1st, 1918, and at various times previous. His case was called in the U. S. commissioner's court Monday, but continued until Tuesday in order to allow him time in which to secure a lawyer. He was released on $3000 bail pending his hearing on Tuesday.
June
- June 28, 1918: The first draft boys leave the Yukon for training camps; 95 men are enrolled in Yukon's quota of troops for overseas service.
July
- July 26, 1918: With tender and impressive rites, all that is mortal of Mrs. Hugh Quinn Cutting (Bessie Lucile Cutting) was laid to rest the afternoon of July 15th in the Masonic cemetery at Dawson. The funeral was attended by hundreds of the best known of Dawson's people. The christening of her daughter was held the previous afternoon.
- July 26, 1918: The embargo against the importation of fruit and other vegetables into the Yukon is another of the absurdities imposed upon the people of the Klondike by a board ignorant of the conditions of this remote district. Fruits and vegetables brought here from the coast are held up at this end because of the arbitrary ruling of some board thousands of miles away, and may rot before they are released, and possibly they never will be released.
- July 26, 1918: Col. Joseph W. Boyle, formerly of Dawson, Y. T., who is connected with the Canadian troops, has been decorated by King Ferdinand of Rumania, for having saved prominent Rumanians from capture at the hands of the Bolsheviki.
August
- August 2, 1918: The firm of Greime & Smith, dealers in men's clothing, furnishings, boots and shoes, for years one of the business standbys of Whitehorse, announce a clearance of their entire stock and their retirement from business.
- August 2, 1918: Early Saturday morning Dawson John, an Indian, arrived in town and reported to the police that the day before he had accidentally shot and killed his hunting companion, Joe Jacky, another Indian, while the two were moose hunting on the McClintock river.
- August 2, 1918: The White Pass stables at Yukon Crossing, washed out and destroyed last spring when a big ice jam in the river broke and carried them away, are to be re-built. All the material used will be fashioned into shape here, Ed Benson now being engaged in the work of making window and door frames, casings, etc.
- August 9, 1918: Thursday night or last week, at 11 o'clock, Terence F. Curran, mining recorder for Southern Yukon, was in the barroom of the Commercial hotel
and from that time until now, no trace of him has ever been seen or found, although the R. N. W. M. P. have diligently searched. Read the entire story here.
- August 9, 1918: Tuesday night a party of about fifteen young people of Whitehorse autoed out to the Pueblo mine and held a dance in the Alguire store building there. They reached home at 1 o'clock Wednesday morning.
- August 9, 1918: Max McSwayne, commercial traveler, was before Judge Macaulay in Dawson court yesterday afternoon on a charge laid by Monty Maltby, alleging the sale of cigars without license. Mr. McSwayne pleaded guilty, and was fined $50 and costs. The charge was laid under the Transient Traders Ordinance.
- August 16, 1918: All doubts, of the fate of the late Terence F. Curran, mining recorder for Southern Yukon, were dispelled early Wednesday afternoon when his body was found by Jim Boss, lodged in a clump of willows on the east shore of the Yukon river, opposite the mouth of the Takini river.
- August 16, 1918: Mrs. Alberta Hanover, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. V. E. Ferry, late owners of the Indian river roadhouse on the Whitehorse-Dawson overland mail route, arrived in Whitehorse with her parents on Tuesday. She is on her way to the coast where she will endeavor to enlist for service in France, and plans, if possible, to get to that
country before the winter.
- August 16, 1918: Manager J. P, Whitney of the Copper King mine recently purchased the big boiler formerly at the Pueblo mine, and last Friday the boiler was
transported by wagon from the White Pass depot to the mine by Ike Seevers and Curley McIntosh
- August 23, 1918: In coming around a sharp bend a short distance this side of Ear lake Monday the locomotive of the northbound train ran over two railroad ties that had been placed between the rails, intentionally or otherwise, by some person or persons unknown. Fortunately, the ties laid flat and were only grazed by the firebox of the locomotive as it passed over.
- August 23, 1918: About the middle of June Alfred Cronin of Whitehorse was gazetted as lieutenant and is at present attached to the First Canadian Tank battalion,
which recently reached England from Canada. He is instructional officer in infantry training, as all the recruits have to receive infantry training before they get tank instruction.
- August 23, 1918: About seventy persons from Skagway responded to the invitation from Haines to join with them in the "farewell" tendered the boys of the Fourteenth regiment stationed at Ft. W. H. Seward last Saturday evening, and had the capacity of the harbor boat Peterson been more, the probability is that a much greater number would have gone to the mission city.
- August 30, 1918: Letters recently received by Bishop Stringer from the Arctie give some particulars of the doings and travels of the missionaries working among the Eskimos of that isolated region.
- August 30, 1918: Administrator George Mackenzie of Dawson and wife will pass through Whitehorse within a few days on their way to Ottawa, where Mr. Mackenzie has been instructed by the ministry to appear and give a report on the affairs of Yukon territory.
- August 30, 1918: One of the first cases to come up under the workmen's compensation ordinance was tried in the territorial court at Dawson on Aug. 20, when Alfred Thompson, a cook, was awarded $450 for injuries received while in the employ of W. G. Clarke of Coal creek.
September
- September 6, 1918: Isaac Taylor and family who left here by auto the middle of August for an outing trip to Carmacks found the weather so pleasant and the roads so good they extended their journey on as far as the Pelly. The only mishap they had was that of getting stuck on the way north in a mud-hole between here and Little river, but that delayed them for only a brief while, as they had the necessary apparatus with them to overcome the difficulty without outside assistance. They reached home Sunday afternoon.
- September 6, 1918: On the summit of the Little river divide the road gang working between Carmacks and Takhini laid to rest "Dooley," the pet dog of Foreman Burwash, the animal having succumbed to some canine malady beyond their ability to relieve. Before departing from the grave a salute was fired over it in honor of the passing on of a faithful companion and friend.
- September 6, 1918: We recently learned how George Raymond died, from his father. The young man was instantly killed in England by the overturning of his machine when only a few feet above ground, and that he had been buried at the place where he met death.
- September 13, 1918: Whitehorse citizens enjoyed a treat Monday night in the form of a lecture, under the auspices of the I. O. D. E. and Red Cross, by Commander Stefansson, the noted Arctic explorer. He spoke in the N. S. A. A. hall and his words were listened to with rapt attention by the large audience that had assembled.
- September 13, 1918: Sub-Collector of Customs Leo Simmons and wife of Carcross
received a message a few days ago announcing the serious wounding in the back by a gun-shot of their eldest son, Sergt. Aubrey Simmons, of the heavy artillery, who went overseas two years ago with the Black Yukon contingent. The wounded lad is getting along
all right.
- September 13, 1918: Friday of tast week Otto Nelson, an operator on McKee
creek in the Atlin district, was caught in a clay slide in one of the tunnels of the mine and instantly killed by having his back broken. Nelson has several relatives living in the Atlin district. He was buried at the Atlin cemetery.
- September 20, 1918: Jim Hall, former owner of claim No. 17, Eldorado, which produced more than 2 million dollars, has committed suicide in Valejo, California. Read the entire lengthy article here.
- September 20, 1918: An automobile owned and driven by J. N. Spence capsized on September 13 while traveling up Hunker creek. The car turned a complete lateral somersault, and landed right side up on the wheels. All those in the car were thrown out in the middle of the road, and some were badly bruised and scratched. Those in the car beside Mr. Spence were W. E. Cockfield, Dominion geologist; Jack Pickering, and Jimmy Lloyd, the Gold Run quartz miner.
- September 20, 1918: The trading steamer Kluane, belonging to Taylor, Drury, Pedlar & Co., left the middle of last week for the company's trading post at Teslin lake. Sergt. Mapley of the R. N. W. M. P., who is acting as assistant registrar in the registration of Yukoners now going on, as well as police patrol for Livingstone creek and the Teslin lake country, was a passenger.
- September 27, 1918: The Carcross church, which lately has been closed for repairs, was re-opened for service on the 15th, Rev. John Hawksley officiating, and delivering a fine sermon. W. H. Simpson, who has been doing the repairs, is to be congratulated on the improvements he has made. The interior has all been beaverboarded, and a chancel and vestry added at the east end. The arrival of a stained memorial window will complete the edifice.
- September 27, 1918: The White Horse arrived Saturday morning with about 90
outgoing passengers, among whom were to be seen many who have been in the Yukon since the
early days. The vessel left on her return to Dawson early Sunday morning with several passengers and a lot of railroad material for the Alaska Engineering commission at Nenana.
- September 27, 1918: There is a rumor circulating in Whitehorse, for the truth of which we are not prepared to vouch, that the Venus mine, in the Conrad district, will open up again in a short time.
October
- October 4, 1918: A dance was held at the N.S.A.A. hall for Ike Seavers, an employe of the White Pass for the past eight years, before he left to join the American forces. Mr. Seavers left for Skagway Monday and when he appeared at headquarters of the Local Board Tuesday at 10 o'clock, he was appointed leader of the nine recruits there assembled, until they reached Fort Seward.
- October 4, 1918: A letter from the father of George Raymond tells of his death in the crash of his airplane in France. Read that letter here.
- October 4, 1918: Frank Debrisay of Dawson, a member of the Canadian expeditionary force in the aviation corps, was shot down in France on July 4 when flying above enemy lines. His machine crashed down behind the allied lines and the young Yukoner was thrown out on his head. His hip and one arm were badly bunged up and his eyes were affected. He is in hospital, where he will likely remain for some time.
- October 11, 1918: Thos. F. Day of Dawson and another man, whose name is supposed to be Thorensen, were drowned in the Yukon, at the mouth of Indian river, the middle of last week, by the swamping of the gasoline launch in which they were traveling. Read the entire article here.
- October 11, 1918: The men's furnishings stock of goods of Greime & Smith, which is being sold at reduced rates in order to permit of the proprietors' retirement from business in Whitehorse, is almost closed out, and Mr. Greime, manager of the concern, expects to leave with his family for Seattle at an early date.
- October 11, 1918: Two lots of stage horses, one of 20 from Minto and the other of 14 from the Island on Lake Lebarge, were brought in this week from the pastures and are being distribited to the various stations on the overland route between here and Dawson. Jack Cole, Ernie Burwash and F. E. Browne were dispatched after the horses on the island, but got caught in a storm and were detained there for two days.
- October 18, 1918: Fairbanks, Oct. 7 - The launch Flyer, master Astral Vernon, known as the Hungry Kid, and son of George Vernon, formerly of Dawson, was lost in the Tanana river, twelve miles below Chena, on Friday. Eleven people were aboard. Searching parties have not found the bodies. Geo. Coleman, manager of the N. C. Co., was among those lost.
- October 18, 1918: Ernie Johnson came in from the Wheaton river country on Thursday bringing with him a quantity of big game, among which was a mountain sheep. Indians brought in from the same section of country at about the same time several moose and two mountain sheep.
- October 18, 1918: The U. S. steamer Jeff C. Davis arrived yesterday morning from St. Michael, and has been put on the ways here for the winter. Capt. Bergman, a pioneer of the North, is master. There were several U. S. army officers and their families on board, besides a number of men of the U. S. Signal corps. The vessel's progress was impeded by a herd of thousands of caribou swimming across the river in the Forty Mile country. Eleven of the caribou were killed by those on board.
- October 25, 1918: A telephone message was received Thursday afternoon from
Skagway stating that the Princess Sophia, which left that port Wednesday night with 300 passengers on board, had run onto Vanderbilt reef, about 65 miles south of Skagway. The vessel was apparently uninjured and was expected to float at high tide.
- October 25, 1918: The Engineer mine closed down last week for the winter, and Capt. Alexander, owner of the mine and wife left Monday for the outside. Captain Alexander_has been in poor health for sometime, and will undergo treatment while away. [He died in the sinking of the Princess Sophia]
- October 25, 1918: The train that left here Monday morning for Skagway was a record breaker for the W. P. & Y. R. There were eleven coaches and two baggage cars filled with passengers and three box cars loaded with baggage. Four hundred passengers left from here and there were thirty-four others waiting at Carcross to board the train when it left there.
November
- November 1, 1918: On October 24th, the Princess Sophia ran onto Vanderbilt reef in Lynn canal, 65 miles south of Skagway. Passengers remained on the vessel as there appeared to be no danger. A day later, bad weather and enormous waves swept the Sophia across the reef, filling it up with icy water. The Princess Sophia sank within minutes, causing the death of more than 350 passengers.
- November 1, 1918: Bishop Stringer receives a honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity at Wycliffe College for his missionary work in the Arctic, in particular on Herschel Island.
- November 8, 1918: Whitehorse was the first community to hoist the governor general's flag in the north. Whitehorse received this honor for the number of recruits sent to the front and for generous contributions to war relief work.
- November 15, 1918: Monday morning [November 11th] at 10 o'clock a flash over the Dominion wire from Vancouver announced the glorious news of the signing of the allied armistice terms by the plenipotentiaries of the German government and that fighting would cease on entire Enropean battlefront at 11 o'clock, Paris time, on that day.
- November 15, 1918: The remains of the late Vincent Dortero of Skagway, whose
death, from Spanish influenza, occurred a few days ago at the U. S. military training camp at Fort Dodge, Iowa, reached Skagway Wednesday on board the steamship Jefferson and will be laid to rest in the cemetery at that place. (see his grave here)
- November 15, 1918: Yukon Chapter, I. O. D. E., are having made a memorial cross as a tribute to the heroes of Southern Yukon who have made the supreme sacrifice on
the battlefields of Europe, and which it is their intention to put in place in the Whitehorse cemetery at a date within the next two weeks to be announced later. The cross will be seven feet high, including its base.
December
- December 6, 1918: The I.O.D.E. room in the public library was officially opened on November 30.
- December 20, 1918: The Valerie copper mine, about seven miles southwest of Whitehorse, which has had a small crew of miners engaged in development all winter, closed
down last week, with the exception of the two diamond drill operators, who still continue at work.
- December 20, 1918: Chas. Eisenhauer, manager of the Whitehorse Silver Black Fox Co., about a week ago killed all of the animals belonging to himself and partners, numbering 52, and will probably retire from the business, as the co-partnership heretofore existing between John Zarnousky, Max Ross and himself has been dissolved.
- December 20, 1918: The sudden and unexpected death Monday morning of Mrs.
Dorcas Joyce caused a feeling of extreme sadness in the entire community when it became
public, shortly after 11 o'clock. Read the entire lengthy article here.
1919
January
- January 3, 1919: Word has just reached Whitehorse of the death by drowning
on December 19 of J. E. Fox, a pioneer resident of Atlin. Fox left Atlin December 14 with mail for the Engineer mine and was to have taken back with him on his return important documents belonging to the late Capt. James Alexander, owner of the Engineer mine, who was lost in the wreck of the steamship Princess Sophia.
- January 3, 1919: The steamship Princess Mary arrived in Skagway Wednesday with eight passengers, among whom were Miss Fraser, the recently appointed teacher in the
primary department of the Whitehorse public school, and V. I. Hahn, superintendent of the
White Pass. All of the passengers now are in quarantine in Skagway.
- January 3, 1919: Two residents of Dawson were before Judge Black, sitting as police magistrate, on Dec. 20, on charge of theft of electricity from the lines of the Dawson Electric Light & Power company. They had been taking the electricity for use in their homes.
- January 10, 1919: Mr. and Mrs. E. J. White of Juneau, Alaska (formerly residents of Whitehorse) have made the first donation to the local I.O.D.E. Chapter for a permanent memorial to the memory of Southern Yukon men who made the supreme sacrifice in the great war. The memorial was finally unveiled on June 9, 1920.
- January 10, 1919: The mounted police patrol for Fort McPherson is expected to get away from Dawson in a few days. Col. Knight says Sergeant Dempster and his party are
ready to start as soon as a supply of anti-influenza vaccine arrives from the outside.
- January 10, 1919: Const. J. E. Banks, of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, gained his liberty this morning from the White Pass detention hospital in Skagway, and will take tomorrow's train for Whitehorse, where he will report for duty to Capt. Bell, in charge of the Yukon detachment there.
- January 24, 1919: The Yukon Development League was organized in Dawson on January 21st. The object of the organization is to secure development in the Yukon.
February
- February 7, 1919: The international bowling tournament will end tonight and the Dawson team, which has been putting up a strong game all the way through, it is now almost certain, will stand at the head of the list. There are 5 teams, from Dawson, Skagway, Treadwell, Whitehorse and Juneau.
- February 7, 1919: Capt. S. C. Barrington, along with $5 to renew his subscription, sent a note saying he has a nice business onn the Stikine River and is building a new boat which he hopes to have in operation by the 1st of May.
- February 7, 1919: According to word received here recently a number of the
Southern Yukon boys are with the Canadian army of occupation in Germany. Among them are Archie Mclean of Carcross , and Jack French, Sam Coulter, and several others from Whitehorse whose names we disremember.
- February 14, 1919: News from Dawson on January 30th that trapper Bob Levac narrowly escaped death when mauled by a grizzly near Fraser Falls in the Stewart River country. Intervention by his dog no doubt saved him, but the bear killed the heroic dog. Levac was able to reach Mayo, 20 miles away, by dog sled for assistance.
- February 14, 1919: A lease has been given to Montana parties on the Venus Mine, and work including installation of a new mill will begin no later than June 1st.
- February 14, 1919: A series of brief articles report on divers exploring the wreck of the Princess Sophia in search of more bodies. The bodies of two women have been spotted but recovery has not been possible.
- February 21, 1919: Jack Goslow, or "Whiskey" Jack as he was commonly called by those in Whitehorse with whom he was acquainted, was arrested in Skagway last Friday on instructions from United States Marshal J. M. Tanner of Juneau, on a charge of grand larceny, but it has since developed that a far more serious accusation has been entered against him, viz.: that of the murder of Myra Schmidt, a woman of the underworld.
- February 21, 1919: Capt. P. Martin of the Arctic Trading Co. returned Thursday
noon of last week from a round trip mush with dog team between this place and Carcross. He went by the way of the wagon road along the line of the White Pass railway and returned via Tagish lake and down the river. He reports a good deal of snow and heavy traveling in the big draw northeast of Carcross, through which the trail runs.
- February 21, 1919: A strenuous effort is being made by the people of Skagway to have the infinenza quarantine at that place raised, but up to the present the movement has failed by reason of the strong protest against it from Dawson, in which almost everyone there joined.
- February 28, 1919: A report from the British Air Ministry predicts that large freight airships, 1,100 feet long and capable of carrying 200 tons vast distances, will be a reality.
- February 28, 1919: Juneau fur dealer Chas. Goldstein & Co. is offering $5-20 for wolf pelts, $35-37.50 for large lynx, and $50-100 for cross fox.
- February 28, 1919: Four former Whitehorse men have now left Seattle for the oil fields of Texas where fortunes are being made and lost between the rising and setting of each day's sun. On the search are C. G. Greime, Tom Granville, Fred McGlasham and Walter Gerard.
March
- March 7, 1919: A lengthy editorial argues against the "hysterical and unreasoning fear" that had quarantines and travel restrictions put in place. Read the entire article here.
- March 7, 1919: On Feb. 17 Peter Jackson, an Alaskan native of Klawock village near the town of Craig, shot and instantly killed the deputy U. S. marshal who had him under arrest, The murderer escaped and for several days evaded capture, but finally, when he found that his apprehension by the authorities was certain, turned the gun on himself and thus ended the affair.
- March 7, 1919: Monday afternoon about 3 o'clock fire was discovered in the attic of the Chooutla Indian school at Carcross, and for a time it looked as though the entire structure was doomed. Owing, however, to the aid of the citizens of Carcross, who rushed to the scene as soon as the alarm was given, the blaze was gotten under control with only slight damage to the roof of the building. There was also some damage occasioned by water.
- March 14, 1919: A grand reception to welcome our returned soldiers was held at the Caribou hotel, Carcross, on Thursday last. The guests of honor were Aubrey Simmons, Fred Maclennan, Ike Gillespie and Alf. Dickson. There were 47 present, which consisted of the entire population and then some.
- March 14, 1919: A test run of a ton of ore from the Venus mine, in the Conrad district, to ascertain the actual values contained therein, will shortly be made in Seattle by the new lessees of the property.
- March 14, 1919: Tony Grisco, who owns a trading post at the head of the White
river, about 350 miles northwest of Whitehorse, arrived in town Friday with two dog teams and an Indian boy companion, having made the journey in eight days. He brought with him $4,000 worth of raw furs of fine quality.
- March 21, 1919: Billy Taylor, former superintendent of the river division of the White Pass & Yukon Route Company, died in Seattle on March 15.
- March 21, 1919: Two more Eskimo prisoners from the Coppermine have been
brought to McPherson to be tried, this time for the murder of a woman who was wife to both men, one of the very few cases of polyandry known among Eskimos.
- March 21, 1919: J. D. Durie, for the past eleven years engaged in the mercantile business in Whitehorse, has sold his entire stock of general merchandise and house furnishings to John Sewell, another pioneer of Southern Yukon. Mr. Durie's eventual destination is to be Vancouver.
- March 28, 1919: Yukon pioneer Percy Reid, acting commissioner of immigration in Winnipeg, has received the appointment of chief inspector for Canada of the department of immigration and colonization and assistant chief controller of Chinese immigration.
- March 28, 1919: Two deaths are reported from Skagway. Chris. Boshart, pioneer resident of the Yukon and Skagway, passed away the White Pass hospital of plural pneumonia. Miss Stewart, a sister of James L. Stewart, clerk in the White Pass auditor's office, died from heart failure.
- March 28, 1919: The lot of people who are compelled to travel to and from Yukon for the next four months will not be altogether happy, as the incoming ones will have to go into quarantine five days on their arrival at Carcross and the outgoing ones be compelled to stay the same length of time in the Golden North hotel at Skagway.
April
- April 4, 1919: James Richards Falls on Rapidly Revolving Saw. "Buzzsaw" Jimmy Richards escaped death Monday afternoon by as narrow a margin as ever fell to the lot of anyone who lived to afterward tell the tale of his adventure.
- April 4, 1919: On Wednesday night a meeting of citizens was held at the N. S. A. A. hall for the purpose of discussing the most effective methods and to devise ways and means to fight the mosquito, and as far as possible to restrict the activities of the pestiferous insect during the coming summer.
- April 4, 1919: Word of a rich placer strike in the Teslin lake country was
received in Whitehorse Monday, and as the story is verified to a certain extent by W. S. Copland, mining recorder at Teslin lake, there seems to be small doubt but that the news is authentic and well worthy of investigation.
- April 11, 1919: Supt. W. D. Gordon of the river division of the W. P. & Y. R., reports that from the numerous inquiries being received and the large number of bookings already made, that the approaching tourist season will be taken advantage of by
more sight-seers than have ever before visited this country in the same length of time.
- April 11, 1919: A tin box containing Royal yeast cakes "made expressly for the Klondike trade" in '98, by E. W. Gillett Co. Ltd., Toronto, with the yeast still in good condition has been recovered from the old deserted town of Teslin City, which was 60 miles from the present T. D. P. Co. post.
- April 11, 1919: Dr. Norman E. Culbertson, territorial health officer for the Yukon, gave an interesting and instructive informal talk on "Influenza" to a fair sized
audience at the N. S. A. A. hall Friday night. He left for the outside last fall, and arrived in Vancouver during the worst stages of the ravages of the malady throughout that section of country. Physicians were scarce, and the need of their services urgent, so Dr. Culbertson volunteered his assistance and was assigned to Queen Charlotte Islands.
- April 18, 1919: J. P. Whitney reports that a strike of rich ore has been made at the Copper King mine at the 150 foot level. It shows an average of from 15 to 60 percent copper.
- April 18, 1919: Between 200 and 250 Eskimo children in the region around Nome and St. Michael have been left orphans by an influenza epidemic. They are being taken in by other Eskimo families throughout the Kobuk region.
- April 18, 1919: William and Judd Matthews report having found the bodies of two men, presumably victims of the Sophia disaster. The Matthews boys were looking for logs that had drifted up on the shore and found the bodies at a place near Seduction point.
- April 25, 1919: The Yukon Chapter of the I.O.D.E. gave a reception and dance at the N.S.A.A. hall yesterday in honor of Canadian and American returned soldiers.
- April 25, 1919: A long list was published of crew members returned for the season, for the steamers Washburn, Nasutlin, Seattle 3, Dawson and Casca. About a dozen wil be going with a White Pass team to Lower Lebarge today to get their boats ready.
- April 25, 1919: Mining expert E. R. Cooper is in Dawson en route to the Fortymile country in the interest of the Fortymile Power & Dredging company, a concern which was organized this winter in New York. It is capitalized at $5,000,000, and has taken over what was known as the Great Northern Mines Syndicate, which held the extensive placer properties on the Fortymile which were familiarly known as the Davidson properties.
May
- May 2, 1919: A report on the annual meeting of the Whitehorse General Hospital was published. It showed that a total of 77 patients had spent 1,819 days at the hospital - 22 of those patients were employed by the B.Y.N. Co., another 9 by local mines. A government grant contributed $3,675 to the $9,501 budget, while the B.Y.N. Co. contributed $2,847.40.
- May 2, 1919: Several crew members from the U.S. transport Jeff C. Davis, now
lying on the ways at Whitehorse, and the U. S. transport Gen. Jacobs, in winter quarters at Ft. Gibbon, Alaska, arrived in Whitehorse from the outside Friday. Under the direction of. Capt. Bergman the Jeff C. Davis will be overhauled and put in shape for launching in time to depart down the river immediately after the river opens.
- May 2, 1919: Max Rosenberg, who formerly ran the Pioneer chop-house, Front street, Whitehorse, but who left about three years ago and went to Skagway where he for some time conducted a similar establishment, is now in Ketchikan, Alaska, where, according to the Miner of that city, he is soon to open up a Russian steam bath, for the treatment of rheumatism and other ailments.
- May 9, 1919: The Teslin Lake placers. McLean, Miller and Alex Brown, who, after sinking 35 feet on discovery, were driven out by water, are now building a dam with the hope of being able to ground sluice down to bedrock and to prove the creek by July. It is their opinion that while the prospects found in the gravel make good showing they are
not proof positive of the existence of a paystreak on bedrock nor are they sufficient to justify a stampede into the district.
- May 9, 1919: A Russian interior trader, name unknown, but who has been engaged in the business for years, and Henry Arp of Whitehorse, have gone into partnership and left Wednesday morning down the Yukon with a small scow loaded with three tons of miscellaneous goods which they hope to dispose of either en route between here and there or at Dawson. Failing in this, they will keep on going until they do sell out.
- May 9, 1919: The rector of Christ church desires to say that the rectory being in quarantine, every precaution has been and is being strictly observed to avoid the spread of infection. It is with the doctor's express sanction that the rector, being exiled from home, continues his duties. All Sunday School papers on hand have been burned, and a new lot just received are quite safe.
- May 16, 1919: Percy De Wolfe, the lower Yukon river mail carrier, of the Dawson-Eagle route, broke through the ice while traveling the river April 26th and had a thrilling experience in which he barely escaped losing his life. Two fine horses, valued at $600, which he was driving, went through the ice at the same time, and were lost in the river. Read the entire article here.
- May 16, 1919: Monday E. J. Hamacher made a round trip from here to the head of Lake LeBarge in the gasoline launch Whitehorse with two passengers, Thos. Aitkin, the well-known interior mining man, and A. W. H. Smith, returned soldier. The passengers were landed on the solid ice at the head of the lake and expected to make their way from there over the ice to the Jim Boss roadhouse and from thence to Lower LeBarge to connect with the first steamers leaving there for Dawson.
- May 16, 1919: It having been rumored that influenza had again appeared in Skagway, a meeting was called Wednesday p.m., at the N.S.A.A. rooms to reconsider the arrangements which had been made for holding celebration day on May 24. The matter was passed to Drs. Clarke and Culbertson for study.
- May 23, 1919: Due to fresh cases on influenza at Skagway, a planned holiday excursion from Whitehorse has been cancelled.
- May 23, 1919: It must be embarrassing for a fellow to take a young lady out
for an auto ride and when many miles from home to have the machine bog down in a mud hole,
as happened to a Whitehorse young man while enroute to Takini Sunday.
- May 23, 1919: Quartermaster Sergeant Frank M. Bittinger of the U. S. transport Jeff C. Davis, now on the ways at Whitehorse, was married in Skagway on Sunday, May 17, to Miss Esther White of San Francisco.
- May 30, 1919: Of 36 men who ate at the Yukon Gold Company's dredge camp at 54 Hunker Creek, 8 have died of apparent ptomaine poisoning, and 11 more are in hospital, 3 in serious condition.
- May 30, 1919: Mrs. Monty Maltby, wife of the territorial secretary, met death on the evening of March 25th and her little son Chart suffered a fracture of the skull and is dangerously ill as a result of Gold Commissioner MacKenzie's auto jumping a forty foot bank and going into Hunker Creek.
- May 30, 1919: The water in the river at Whitehorse is extremely low for this
time of year, which is accounted for by the cold nights, during which the formation of a skim of ice has been the rule, not the exception. The ice in Lake LeBarge is also being held together by the frosty nights.
June
- June 6, 1919: Not published.
- June 13, 1919: Probably feeling that now is a good time to bring a national
symbol up to date, the Canadian government is considering the adoption of a new coat of arms. The present coat of arms was adopted in 1858, and includes only the provinces of Ontario, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
- June 13, 1919: There are about fifteen men now employed at the Venus mine, beside a small crew of wood cutters. The machinery for the new Ball mill, which is to replace the old Huntington plant, is now at Carcross and the work of transporting it to the mine and its installation there will commence as soon as navigation opens.
- June 13, 1919: The handsome and speedy gasoline launch, "Twilight," has been purchased from its former owner by W. L. Phelps and after being overhauled and repainted will be taken to Carcross, the summer home of Mr. and Mrs. Phelps, and placed in Lake Bennett.
- June 20, 1919: Saturday night the owners of automobiles of this place met and formed an organization to be known as The Southern Yukon Automobile Club. J. C. Newmarch was elected president, Dr. A. P. Hawes, secretary-treasurer, W. A. Puckett, Isaac Taylor and L. B. Davis, members of executive committee.
- June 20, 1919: E. J. Hamacher left Sunday in his launch Whitehorse for the mouth of Big Salmon with a supply of gasoline for the White Pass mail boat in eharge of Ike Seavers, which was lvid up there on account of lack of fuel. Mr. Hamacher returned on the Casca Wednesday, leaving his launch at Big Salmon to be brought back by the steamer Dawson.
- June 20, 1919: A meeting of returned soldiers for the purpose of organizing a
branch of the Great War Veterans association of Canada, to be known as the Whitehorse branch, was held at the police barracks on the night
of June 13, Sergeant Harper presiding.
- June 27, 1919: On Saturday morning an excursion train from Skagway with over two hundred people from Juneau, Douglas, Fort Seward, Skagway and Carcross on board, pulled into the depot here, ensuring that the "Festival of Midnight Sun" would be a great success.
- June 27, 1919: The gas boat Clopek, with Diver Donovan on board, arrived at Juneau yesterday from the Sophia wreck today with 17 bodies. This makes 39 bodies recovered in addition to those picked from the water last fall. The bodies of a woman and a boy, heretofore reported unidentified, are now known to be those of Mrs. Edward Bell and son of Dawson.
- June 27, 1919: Crede Bonebrake and associates, who have been here for several
weeks engaged in the building of two launches equipped with aeroplane propellers for the transportation of their prospecting and mining outfit up the Nasutlin, which empties into Teslin lake on the northeast shore, made a try-out run on the river in front of Whitehorse Friday and Saturday evenings, and found everything working smoothly and satisfactorily. They left yesterday afternoon on their way down the river.
July
- July 4, 1919: The steamers Casca and Yukon returned on June 30th. They had sailed on June 18th with about 70 tourists each, bound for Fort Yukon on a Midnight Sun tour.
- July 4, 1919: On July 1st, 50-year-old Pete Peterson, a brakeman on the Scotia Bay-Taku portage railway line between Taku and Atlin lake, was instantly killed at Scotia Bay by being run over by an engine.
- July 4, 1919: After thoroughly overhauling, repairing and repainting his new purchase, the speedy gasoline launch "Twilight," W. L. Phelps had Robt. Lowe haul the boat to the head of Miles Canyon by team Sunday afternoon and then ran it 80 miles to Carcross.
- July 11, 1919: Thomas D. Ferguson, general secretary of the Knights of Columbus committee on war activities for the Northwest division, accompanied by two assistants, arrived in Whitehorse Monday and left on the boat that same night for Ft. Gibbon and Nome, where initial steps will be taken to inaugurate Knights of Columbus service for soldiers stationed at each of these places.
- July 11, 1919: A party of 7 people left here Saturday afternoon by auto for a round trip to Champagne Landing, reaching that place at 10 p. m. They were delayed about an hour the other side of the Jo-Jo roadhouse by one of the front wheels of the auto very unceremoniously falling off, almost overturning the machine.
- July 11, 1919: Alex Coward, trader in the McMillan river country, who has
been here for several months past engaged in the construction of a gasoline launch, completed his task last week. He was joined here about three weeks ago by his partner, a man named Zimmerly, and Monday the two men loaded up the craft and set out for their home, about 300 miles east of Ft. Selkirk.
- July 18, 1919: The White Pass hotel will in future be under the management of Mrs. Viaux, who arrived the latter part of last week from the outside for the purpose of taking charge. Mrs. Viaux is a part owner in the business and property.
- July 18, 1919: Mrs. Aseyeh Allen of Washington, D. C., will deliver a lecture
on "The Religion of Today," at Moose hall, Sunday, July 20, at 9 p. m. Admission
fyee, All will be welcome. The subject is treated from the point of view of a movement called "The Bahai Revelation."
- July 18, 1919: The government road gang under the foremanship of Ernie Burwash is doing excellent work on the public highway between here and the Anaconda mine. A quarter of a mile of new road has been built from the top of the bluff northward and a number of new culverts put in.
- July 25, 1919: The steamer Selkirk sailed for Dawson on the 18th, towing the barge Tahkeena which, carrying 157 tons of rails and fittings, is destined for Alaska Railroad construction at Nenana.
- July 25, 1919: Saturday night the Nasutlin took down and turned loose on the Island in Lake Le Barge twenty-five head of horses belonging to the Royal mail service.
There is excellent feed on the Island and in addition the animals are not tormented while there by the many varities of insects and flies that abound and make life almost unbearable for them on the mainland.
- July 25, 1919: Seven hundred and fourteen marten skins, valued at approximately $25,000, were seized recently at Eagle, Alaska, by Deputy United States Marshal John Powers. The furs were in transit in the United States mail bags en route from Tolovana. The taking of marten has been closed for a year or two. Most were bundled inside furs which are legal.
August
- August 1, 1919: The Yukon Territory, during the war, contributed more money per capita to the various relief funds than any other province in Canada.
- August 1, 1919: The body of Capt. Thomas Fallow, who was drowned last fall by falling off the launch Hazel B., of which he was master, was found July 25 in the slough near Sunnydale, opposite Dawson.
- August 1, 1919: Out of 125 Indians in the Champagne district, 104 had influenza and 11 died. All who died save one were old men or women. Dr. Clarke of Whitehorse had charge of the quarantine. Three Indian cabins were burned after the epidemic as a precaution against spread of the disease.
- August 8, 1919:
- August 8, 1919:
- August 8, 1919:
- August 15, 1919:
- August 15, 1919:
- August 15, 1919:
- August 22, 1919:
- August 22, 1919:
- August 22, 1919:
- August 29, 1919:
- August 29, 1919:
- August 29, 1919:
September
- September 5, 1919: The first mention of Keno Hill in The Star: "Taking of options of properties on Keno hill, at the head of Lightning creek, by the Yukon Gold recently, and plans for prospecting there, have stimulated interest in the district. The opening of the rich new ore on the Lookout mountain property also has caused no little renewed interest in the district. Quite a number of prospectors are planning to spend the winter in the district."
- September 5, 1919: All bars are closed in Dawson on September 2nd. The Weekly Star writes: The "closing of [the] bars [is] marked by freedom from drunkeness".
- September 5, 1919: Quite a number of school children from Whitehorse and towns
in Southeastern Alaska will leave on the next southward sailing of the Princess Alice for Portland, Oregon, where the girls will enter Mt. Angel academy and the boys Mt. Angel college, Catholic institutions where both secular and religious learning are taught.
- September 12, 1919: Telephones are installed along the telegraph lines at Carmacks, Yukon Crossing, Selkirk, Beaton's Wood Camp, Coffee Creek and Stewart City.
- September 12, 1919: Sister Mary Mark, until recently superior of St. Mary's hospital in Dawson, has heen appointed superior of St. Joseph's hospital in Victoria, one of the largest in Western Canada. Sister Mary Mark went to Dawson fifteen years ago, and was teacher there for twelve years. Three years ago she succeeded Sister Mary Marcienne as superior of St. Mary's hospital in Dawson.
- September 12, 1919: Ike Seavers and Alex Shaver, crew of the White Pass gasoline launch Dodo that took the C. E. Young party of big game hunters to the headwaters of the McMillan river, returned Saturday on the steamer Selkirk.
- September 19, 1919: Following a successful trip to their Teslin post, Taylor, Drury, Pedlar & Co. have concluded the purchase of the little steamer Thistle from the White Pass. The steamer Kluahne, which has done such valuable service for Taylor, Drury, Pedlar & Co., has been placed in the boneyard and her machinery removed.
- September 19, 1919: Last Friday rain started to fall in torrents in the mountains surrounding Skagway and by the following morning the Skagway river was a raging flood, filled with trees and driftwood, that carried all before it. Four bents were washed out of the railroad bridge near the car shops and eleven bents out of the railroad bridge at the four mile post.
- September 19, 1919: Settlement has been made by the Yukon gold company with the widows and others who lost relatives in the Hunker poisoning tragedy last May. The company has paid to four widows the sum of $2,500 each. The husbands of these widows were
working with the company at its camp on 54 Hunker when they partook of the fatal meal at noon on May 22 last.
- September 26, 1919: Captain Sid Barrington recently decided to devote a portion of his time to mining. He has taken over several claims which are located in the Cassiar. He brought with him a crew of six men, and left Friday afternoon for Telegraph creek, B. C., from which place they will go by pack train to the mining property.
- September 26, 1919: The next White Pass barge to leave for Dawson will have on
board the small stern wheel steamer "Christine," which has been on the ways at the shipyards for the last four or five years. The boat belongs to a man named Boutelier, an old time resident of the Yukon metropolis.
- September 26, 1919: Two big game hunting parties of Americans have recently returned to Whitehorse from the headwaters of the McMillan river. Both brought with them the maximum number of trophies allowed by the Yukon ordinance.
October
- October 10, 1919: The steamer Nasutlin sailed from Dawson on Sept. 30th on her last trip of the year up the Stewart river. She goes as far as Mayo, and has forty-nine tons of general freight for that point. She also will take on lumber and spikes at Stewart City for the Highet dredge. The material will be brought to that point by the Selkirk, now en route from Whitehorse.
- October 10, 1919: A grand re-opening of the Royal Alexandra hotel under the new management and proprietorship of Paul Guite and P. A. Knudson occurred on the evening of Oct. 4th. The management announced the place will be run as a strictly dry place, but
will carry soft drinks, and be conducted in such manner that
the most exacting cannot complain. The Yukonia hotel was also re-opened, under the man-
agement of Thomas Doyle, formerly of the Bonanza. He will make the Yukonia his home, he
announced.
- October 10, 1919: Mrs. W. W. Dickinson arrived home Saturday on the steamer
Casca from the mouth of the Hootalinqua river, which point she had arrived at a few hours previous to the arrival there of the steamer after an extremely hazardous and uncomfortable voyage of nine days down the Hootalinqua river in an open row boat.
- October 17, 1919: James P. Rogers, superintendent at White Pass & Yukon Route for seven years, died in Spokane, Washington, on October 8th, following a long illness.
- October 17, 1919: The Dawson sailed on Oct. 9th for Minto, carrying freight only. On Oct. 12th she proceeded downstream and arrived at Dawson Monday. She left Dawson Wednesday for Whitehorse, carrying about a hundred passengers. The Alaska and Seattle 3 arrived at Dawson Wednesday morning. The Seattle 3 will winter there, and the Alaska left Daswson Wednesday night for Whitehorse, with 114 passengers. The Yukon and Washburn left
Circle early yesterday morning, in an effort to make Whitehorse. They have 105 passengers. If everything goes well, they should reach here about Oct. 24th.
- October 17, 1919: Sure signs of winter were made manifest on Wednesday morning
when Denny O'Connor came up the street with a six horse team and sleigh, loaded with the roadhouse outfits for the overland trail. Mr. and Mrs. W. B. Cutler of Atlin will have charge of the Little River roadhouse, and Mr. and Mrs. Alguire will be located at Braeburn.
- October 24, 1919: Lieut. Jack Maclennan,, D. F. C., who reached here Monday on his return from overseas, was tendered a reception at the N. S. A. A. hall Tuesday night by the Whitehorse branch of the Red Cross society assisted by the Great War Veterans and citizens of the town.
- October 24, 1919: Rev. C. K. Nicol of the Presbyterian church of Whitehorse
preached his farewell sermon last Sunday and will leave today for Skagway to catch the Princess Mary for the south. He will stop for a while in Vancouver, but as yet has no definite plans as to his movements after that. He resigned his position here early in 1916 to enlist for overseas service. He served in the ambulance corps and was decorated by King George IV with a medal for bravery on the battlefield.
- October 24, 1919: The new mill at the Venus mine in the Conrad district is
finished and the machinery in place. A trial run was made a few days ago and proved satisfactory. On account of a shortage of fuel the mill will not commence running regularly until next spring. Development work in the mine, however, will be pushed forward steadily.
- October 31, 1919: The Bear Creek Roadhouse owned by Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Beauchamp was completely destroyed by fire on the morning of October 17th. Mrs. Beauchamp escaped barefoot and in her night clothes, and even at that was burned quite severely.
- October 31, 1919: The crew of the steamer Nasutlin, with the exception of Capt. Baily, nineteen in number, arrived Saturday on the steamer Washburn from Dawson, to which place they had mushed overland from Mayo Landing, on the Stewart river, where they had been forced to tie up for the winter.
- October 31, 1919: From the number of people going outside for the winter it looks as if those who remain in Southern Yukon will have a long, lonesome time to look forward to before spring travel sets in. However, it is quite likely that when the news of the rich silver-lead discoveries in the Mayo district get circulated on the coast there
will be a stampede to the territory that will rival, if not surpass, the early Klondike rush.
November
- November 7, 1919: Rev. W. E. Dunham, pastor of the Sixth Avenue Methodist
church in Vancouver, died in that city on Oct. 27th of diphtheria. He was pastor of the Dawson Methodist church for several years previous to 1911, and left there for Cranbrook, where he Was stationed for some time, and afterward was promoted to the important post in Vancouver which he held at the time of his death.
- November 7, 1919: Capt. Wm. Turnbull died very suddenly from heart failure at his home in Vancouver on the morning of Oct. 30. He had only reached there from Whitehorse
the night before his death. Capt. Turnbull was one of the best known steamboat men on the Upper Yukon river, and had been with the B. Y. N. Co. ever since it first started to operate between here and Dawson.
- November 7, 1919: White Pass stages arrived on Nov. 1 and 5. North of Pelly the roads are reported almost free of snow and very rough for the wheeled vehicles that are still in use. On the Little river summit, on the south end of the road, the snow is about three feet deep.
- November 14, 1919: To fittingly commemorate the first anniversary of the wonderful happening of November 11, 1918, the Whitehorse branch of the Great War Veterans' Association of Canada, represented worthily by those who had served in the three great divisions of the British Empire's defensive and offensive forces, entertained the people of the town Tuesday night at the N. S. A. A. hall with a grand ball and supper.
- November 14, 1919: The Venus mine, in the Conrad district, which had been working a crew of eight or ten men during the past summer, closed down the latter part of last week for the winter. The new mill put in last fall is all ready to start up as soon as the present fuel shortage is overcome.
- November 14, 1919: Work of dismantling No. 1 dredge of the C. K. M. Co., now located on upper Hunker creek, began on Nov. 3. It is said the dredge is being taken down preparatory to movement to another location for operation. No. 1 dredge was the first modern dredge installed in the Klondike, and has handled an immense yardage since its construction.
- November 21, 1919: Capt. Henry Bailey of the White Pass steamer Nasutlin died at Mayo Landing on the Stewart river on October 27 from stomach trouble, with which he had been suffering for a number of years. The body was taken to Dawson overland and will be shipped to Seattle for burial. He was 63 years of age.
- November 21, 1919: George Ryder, returned soldier, efficient nightwatchman and recently elected fire chief of the town of Whitehorse, went over to Skagway Friday to meet his fiance, Miss Edith Walters of Chilliwack, B. C., who had come north under the chaperonage of Mrs. Frank Wilson. Their marriage took place Saturday night in Skagway.
- November 21, 1919: Messrs. Simpson & Gould are engaged in leveling up and putting in new foundations under a portion of the White Pass hotel. Other necessary repairs also will be made and the place put in first class shape for handling the heavy transient travel that is expected to start early in the new year.
- November 28, 1919: Dawson finished the Victory Loan campaign with flying colors. Returns from all outlying districts are not in, but the figures in the hands of the committee today total the magnificent sum of $210,950. Many thought at the beginning
that the total would not reach $50,000.
- November 28, 1919: Three mining engineers representing San Francisco capital arrived in Carcross on Tuesday's train en route to the Engineer mine for the purpose of making a thorough examination with a view to purchase if it comes up to their requirements.
- November 28, 1919: Every winter the snow piles up in a deep drift on the sidewalk on the south side of Main street in front of and just east of Dominion Land Surveyor H. G. Dickson's office. In the hope of doing away with this inconvenience to pedestrians small pine trees with foliage intact have been placed in the street lengthwise, parallel to and a few feet from the outer edge of the sidewalk.
December
- December 5, 1919: The North American Reindeer company has been granted concessions of 75,000 square miles north of Churchill river to raise reindeer and caribou for the market. A royal commission was named some months ago to inquire into the possibilities of the far north as a meat and wool producing area by domestication of caribou, musk oxen and reindeer.
- December 5, 1919: The R. N. W. M. P. will despatch a party from Dawson on or about the first of the year for Fort McPherson. The expedition will be in charge of the veteran navigator of that trail, Sergeant Dempster. He will take with him Constables Brine, Tyack and Beasley. The four men left Dawson on November 23 for Halfway House, about 25 miles below Dawson, to get the police dogs which will be ised on the long traverse
- December 5, 1919: Early this week an Indian hunter killed five moose in one day near the Pueblo mine.
- December 12, 1919: It has become such a common occurrence for "Buzzsaw" Jimmy Richards to get tangled up with his wood saw and come out second best that a serious accident which befell him Saturday, one that will detain him in the hospital for several weeks at least, caused hardly a ripple of excitement in town.
- December 12, 1919: Friday of last week, George Mowl of Skagway passed away at the White Pass hospital in that city, at the age of 80 years. He was a prominent pioneer business man of Skagway who first arrived in 1897. For many years he was engaged in
merchant tailoring and four years agro opened the Popular Picture Palace, which has run continuously since.
- December 12, 1919: Constable Benson, of the R. N. W. M. P., arrived in Dawson on November 28, thus completing a trip of 600 miles over the ice from Rampart House, on the Porcupine river, above the Arctic Circle. Benson made the trip entirely alone, save for his team of six dogs.
- December 19, 1919: The Prince of Wales honour flag, awarded to Whitehorse for generous contribution to the 1919 Victory Loan, is flying at the top of the Canadian Bank of Commerce flag pole.
- December 19, 1919: The People's Prohibition Movement, the chief dry organization of the Yukon, held a large meeting in Lowe's hall in Dawson on December 2nd, and took steps preliminary to the plebiscite to be held in the territory some time in the
near future. About half the members are men and half women.
- December 19, 1919: Bert Peterson, foreman at the White Pass dock, has been engaged with a gasoline engine and wood saw this week in cutting up a big lot of wood for use in the stoves of the various offices of the railway company.
- December 26, 1919: Not published.
Continue to January 1920
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