 |
 |
||||||||||
|
|
Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 10
by Edward F. Bush Yukon in TransitionAlexander Henderson The Yukon's sixth commissioner, Alexander Henderson, was born in Oshawa, Canada West, in 1861. His father Alexander hailed from Caithness, and his mother, Grace Kilpatrick Henderson, from Paisley, Scotland. The boy was raised in the Presbyterian faith and it is evident that he acquired a reforming and rather Puritan ideal from his background. His father established an iron foundry in Oshawa, and so no doubt Henderson came from a comfortable home. Alexander took his schooling in Oshawa, then went on to the University of Toronto where he proved no mean student. In 1884 he took his B.A. with honours in metaphysics, logic and civil polity. He shone equally in sports, playing quarterback for the varsity team, as well as lacrosse and some baseball. He became so proficient with the rifle that he was included on the Canadian team that went to Bisley in 1891. He fits indeed the perhaps banal description of an "all-rounder." At the time of his appointment to the commissionership he was described in the Dawson Daily News as of medium stature, lithe build, with blue eyes, a brown moustache, and a buoyant step. He was to maintain his physical fitness and remained a man of very moderate habits. Henderson had a much less pronounced personality than his two predecessors and was of a cautious and prudent disposition to the extent, indeed, that he appears rather colourless by contrast. He was, however, an able administrator and gave satisfaction during his tenure of office, except perhaps among the freer, less inhibited spirits who must have regretted the disappearance of the free-wheeling and rollicking past. Henderson studied law and early in his career took himself off to British Columbia where, but for his term in the Yukon, he spent the rest of his life. He became a solicitor in that province in 1891 at the age of 30, and a barrister in 1902. In 1895 he married Susan Crawford and settled in New Westminster. He engaged in a law practice there until 1896, when he was appointed an agent in the Department of Justice for the mainland. Two years later he was elected to the legislature of New Westminster. The following year found him the attorney general in the Semlin administration, but he went out of office with them in 1900. In 1901 he was appointed to the bench, county court of Vancouver. In 1907 he resigned his judgeship in order to contest Vancouver City in the legislature, but was defeated and returned to his law practice. During these years he was active in the local militia with the rank of captain in the 2nd Battalion, 5th Regiment of the Canadian Artillery. On his appointment to the commissionership he was transferred to the reserves with the rank of major. Speaking in Dawson in February, 1907, the Yukon's Savonarola, the Reverend John Pringle, called for one who would cut down the groves and break the idols.
If the reverend gentleman represented the sentiments of the territory, its prayer was to be granted. Henderson's appointment was confirmed on 17 June 1907.2 The Vancouver World first announced the appointment on 1 July 1907, lauding the choice of a westerner (though not by birth) with the requisite legal background. The paper noted, however, that the new appointee suffered the handicap of following in the wake of the strongest and most popular commissioner in the territory's history.
Standing on the hurricane deck of the steamer Whitehorse as it docked at Dawson on the afternoon of 14 July, Henderson with bared head sounded an almost ecclesiastical note.
The new commissioner was to live up to his programme for a moral reform and cleansing of a territory still with vestiges of a lustier past, for it was during his administration that the last dance hall, the "Floradora" closed its doors, indeed the end of an era. Henderson had been in Dawson barely three days when he reaffirmed his policy of working for the moral reform of the Yukon, and that he would begin with an attack on the dance halls. He was to be as good as his word. Mrs. Henderson was expected in Dawson in the third week of July with their one daughter. The official residence would not be ready for occupancy for more than a year, and so accommodation had to be found. Arrangements were made to rent Judge Macaulay's house for $200 per month, fully furnished. When the commissioner vacated the house the following year, an altercation arose between the judge and the Department of Justice concerning articles allegedly lost or damaged, productive of a considerable correspondence. Certainly the Hendersons were not the type of tenants one might suspect of holding boisterous parties, let alone of purloining anything for themselves, but the justice was not easily mollified. Henderson was tendered a banquet of welcome in the Arctic Brotherhood Hall at which the former commissioner spoke. Henderson was very cautious in forecasting future policy until he had reconnoitred the ground, but expressed the wish to meet everyone in the territory — "because, after all, we are not so many."4 Who would have imagined a chief executive making such a statement a few years before! But if Henderson was slow to commit himself on practical matters of administration before he had quite familiarized himself with them, his moral reform campaign was launched with despatch. On the afternoon of 29 August 1907, his dance-hall legislation was approved by council, with Henderson himself voting against amendments proposed to allow the proprietors a little grace. The repeal of their licenses, once approved by Parliament, meant the end of the last relics of the frenetic and fabulous days of the gold-rush, when drinks and girls were paid for with gold-dust and for tunes changed hands at the spin of a wheel or the turn of a card. The "Floradora," the last survivor of that gay time in the late nineties, closed its doors on 18 January 1908, although it was subsequently allowed to reopen until the end of June. There was no place in the staid Dawson of the post-McInnes era for these gaudy and plush establishments given over to lighter entertainment, including liquor and sex. Early in the new year, Henderson proclaimed to his erstwhile Jeremiah that he as commissioner was in dead earnest in enforcing the laws for the suppression of all wickedness and vice. Complaints from whatever quarter would be thoroughly investigated, with no shirking of the responsibility.
In fact, Henderson now attacked Pringle himself for traducing the Yukon to gain publicity and perhaps political advantage. In this the commissioner was warmly supported by both Dawson's newspapers. The World pointed out that Henderson's letters clearly demonstrated that Pringle had never filed a complaint in Dawson, and that all his colourful statements had been made to outside newspapers, among which was the formidable Toronto Globe. Pringle's allegations reached the floor of the House. A statement from the commissioner dated 7 December 1907 flatly contradicted Pringle's assertions about the dance halls: their worst feature, said their executioner, was the inducement offered patrons to drink excessively and squander their money. The girls employed by these lavishly and ornately furnished establishments may often have fleeced befuddled patrons, but they were not prostitutes. Pringle's charges were also denied by ex-commissioner Congdon. On his arrival in Vancouver on 2 May 1908, Henderson denounced Pringle's testimony as a mere political gambit. He had originally conceived of the Presbyterian divine as being an ally of his against vice, but now as a bothersome troublemaker and unjust critic of the territory. Dawson, Henderson said, was as well-behaved as any other Canadian town. Having cleansed Dawson, the commissioner would proceed to defend her honour against sensation mongers. Henderson did not relax his crusade. In 1908 he had placed at the disposal of the police a secret service fund to finance the obtaining of evidence to be used in prosecutions. This measure had the hearty support of both the prime minister and the minister of justice. But in writing to Laurier the following January (1909), Henderson admitted that evidence was too often hard to come by. He emphatically denied that prostitution was being tolerated in Dawson this issue greatly troubled the conscience of the cities of the East. He supported his assertions by enclosing a memorial from the clergymen of Dawson adducing that the law was being enforced for the suppression of vice and the regulation of the liquor trade. In fact, stated the gentlemen of the cloth, the moral condition of Dawson was now greatly improved over that of a few years ago.6 Laurier could not but concur in this, for the territory had become a source of embarrassment to the party in its lustier period, though not entirely, in the words of the old ballad, "from cigarettes, and whiskey and wild, wild women." Dawson had always, even from gold-rush days, been afflicted with the closed Sunday: the lid was now to be screwed down tight, for the commissioner announced in a letter dated 28 May 1908 that the Lord's Day Act was to be enforced immediately in the Yukon. If Dawson would not be godly, it would jolly well be quiet! Alexander Henderson, in his administration of the territory, was not wholly concerned with moral rearmament though this was nearest his heart. He advocated railway access to other parts of Canada rather than sole dependency on the White Pass & Yukon, which terminated in American territory. Agricultural, coal and mineral lands would all undergo stimulating development from such a connection. The mining regulations also received further attention. Henderson in his quiet way had called a halt to further reductions in the territorial civil service: he had indeed informed the Minister of the Interior, Frank Oliver, that further cuts could not be made. The government's critic, the Honourable George E. Foster, received Oliver's assurances sceptically; after all, Henderson lived with these people, had their interests at heart, and the government would have a long wait if anticipating any compliance from him. In fact, Foster doubted that Henderson had the courage to cut salaries or living allowances in line with government policy. Henderson's administration was witness to a significant change in the constitution of the territory, embodied in the amendment to the Yukon Act7 approved 20 July 1908 and to come into force on 1 May 1909. The vital feature of the Act was that the functions of commissioner and council were separated, the former retaining full executive authority and the latter restricted to a purely legislative function. The council was therefore to draft all legislation, but the commissioner held the power of approval or referral to the Governor in Council. The functions of the legislative and the executive authority were thus differentiated. The commissioner henceforth was to be, in effect, a one-man cabinet subject only to the council's voting of supplies. The second significant change represented the triumph of the democratic or popular principle, in that the council of 10 was made a wholly elective body to sit for three years. The franchise, as in the rest of the country, was restricted to 21-year old males or over, of British descent or naturalized British subjects. It was the final measure in the transition from authoritarian to popular government. But, be it noted, the Yukon did not have responsible government for the commissioner was not responsible to council; he served out his term, whether he had the support of the majority of the 10-man council or not. This, however, did not become a problem in the Yukon, for with the conversion of the Yukon council to a wholly elective body, the principal grievance in the territory was righted. Hitherto the council had been convened by the commissioner annually, sitting for a week to ten days; in the future there were to be twice-yearly sessions, but that was not in Henderson's time. At last in the summer of 1908 the commissioner's residence (and this title would seem henceforth to fit it better than Government House) underwent restoration, the sum of $21,929.30 being set aside in the estimates for the purpose. Although a commodious residence by any standards, the new residence lacked the elegance, and some might say the Victorian pretension (according to personal taste), of the earlier and original structure. The polished Douglas fir paneling in the halls and principal rooms was replaced with wallpaper, and the gables and eaves lacked the former elaborate trim. Doors and wainscoting were finished in black mahogany; the main hall, study and dining-room were paneled in dark wood, and the drawing and reception rooms were finished in a green decor, with rugs to match. A dark red plush carpet was laid in the vestibule and up the main stairway, from whose landing orchestras serenaded the company on gala occasions. The old hot-air system had been found inadequate in Dawson's winter; hot water heating was installed in its stead, with gold-tinted radiators. The dining-room was lit by lamps of varied and rich design, as well as a central chandelier. A pair of French doors, opening from the drawing or the reception room, was included.8 All in all, the restored residence was one of which the territory need not feel ashamed. The irony of it was that it was to be used for barely seven years, then to stand unoccupied for decades, and in the end to be put to a very utilitarian use. The Hendersons moved into the restored and refurnished residence sometime in November, 1908. A reception in the nature of a house-warming was held on 2 December; open house was declared for all who cared to attend. Mrs. Henderson received in the drawing-room, assisted by Captain Richard Douglas of the Royal North-West Mounted Police. A three-piece orchestra was installed on the landing of the main staircase and several guests with better than average voices favoured the company with a few airs. The last of the guests left only at one o'clock, which in the Dawson of the reformed era was late. In the summer of 1909, the Yukon was honoured by a visit by Governor General Earl Grey. The commissioner and his wife moved out of the residence in order that it be given up entirely to the vice-regal party. (A later commissioner intimated that he would be unwilling to do this: times were becoming more egalitarian.) Grey and his party arrived at Dawson the morning of 12 August. The following evening a reception was held at Government House between the hours of nine and eleven. Refreshments served included salad, punch, liquors, ice cream, cigarettes and cigars. A five-piece orchestra was in attendance.9 Robert Service, now at the height of his fame as the balladeer of the Klondike (though he had been in Mexico at the time of the gold-rush), was invited to the reception or banquet as a guest of honour. Service, apparently careless of the social graces, failed to answer the formal invitation. This distressed the conveners of the occasion, and an emissary was dispatched to summon the poet to the board. Service made up handsomely for his gaffe by presenting an autographed copy of his Songs of a Sourdough, which was on everyone's lips at the time, to Lady Sybil, the governor general's daughter.10 Henderson went to Ottawa in the winter of 1909-10, arriving back in Dawson on 17 March. He announced plans to differentiate clearly between federal and territorial office work in the interests of greater efficiency. He had plans to improve Dawson's streets and also the roads to the creeks or mine workings. The school heating system and the postal service would also receive his attention. Nothing wildly exciting, perhaps, but practical measures at which none would cavil. In June of 1910 the commissioner and council clashed over a public service ordinance submitted by council. The issue devolved upon the appointment of a territorial treasurer by the authority of commissioner in council: Henderson contended that the authority was his alone. Appointments were his prerogative. When asked by council to telegraph a copy of the bill to the Department of Justice, he refused, saying that the department would not have time to deliberate on the measure this session. Asked whether the territorial court could rule in the matter, Henderson replied that it could not. In fact, he considered the measure ultra vires of the council, and left the chamber with a chilly "Gentlemen, I wish you good morning."11 Henderson knew that he was on firm ground; that in seeking to meddle with appointments council was exceeding its authority. Although a quiet, unassuming personality, Henderson knew his business and could not be bluffed or cajoled. In this instance, as with several others in which the commissioner withheld assent, reserving the measures for decision by the governor in council, he was sustained.12 The Honourable Frank Oliver, Minister of the Interior, paid the territory an official visit in July, 1910. He was entertained at the residence. He stayed but a day, arriving on the Susie on the nineteenth and departing on the Selkirk the following day. In August Henderson toured the southern Yukon. He felt very encouraged over mining development in the Whitehorse region, where there were extensive copper deposits. The new year, 1911, saw the indefatigable Congdon again on the attack, his target now being the commissioner. Writing to Laurier on 12 January 1911, he castigated Henderson for his allegedly pusillanimous dithering on the school issue, ever a fruitful source of discord. In a letter to Laurier, Congdon expressed his contempt.
He had also some sharp words about George Black, a future commissioner then on the council. On Sunday night, 23 April 1911, the commissioner delivered an address at St. Paul's Cathedral on a subject close to his heart on the occasion of the tercentenary of the King James Bible. Taking for his title "The Influence of the Bible on Civilization," the commissioner developed the rather dubious theme that the progress and the prosperity of the English-speaking people was attributable to Christianity in which surely the King James Bible was a prime element. He contrasted European and North American civilization with that of China and Tibet which had progressed little in the course of 2,000 years. He then, yet more fulsomely, pointed to the great advances made among African and Polynesian peoples since the message of the Gospel had been brought to them. In 1911 faith in the superiority of the white race, despite the disturbing debacle of the Russo-Japanese War, had not been seriously shaken; it was still very much the age of far-flung colonial empire and the "white man's burden." There is every reason to believe that the commissioner's address that evening in Dawson went over well, for he could not have been expected to have an overly critical audience. On 1 June 1911 Alexander Henderson announced his retirement, having served longer than any of his predecessors (four years). His tenure had witnessed the introduction of fully popular government; the transition in mining operations from individual ventures with pick and shovel to large-scale ventures with expensive and cumbersome machinery; and of Dawson from a town with a few vestiges of the mining camp of lustier days to a community differing little, other than in its remote location and high latitude, from other towns across the length and breadth of Canada. He had administered the territory economically. Though a life-long Liberal, he had scrupulously avoided partisanship in office. He had united ability with caution, or perhaps prudence is a better word. A farewell presentation was made to Alexander Henderson on the balcony of the Hotel Alexandra at nine on the evening of 10 July. In his farewell address, Henderson cited the two principal needs of the territory as intelligent prospecting and cheaper transportation. Quoting Theodore Roosevelt, who on leaving the White House had exclaimed, "I have had a bully time," he concluded his resumé of all the sports and activities he had engaged in with, "so that if I have not had a bully time, I should like to have pointed out to me the man in the Yukon who has."14 His farewell banquet had been canceled because of an outbreak of smallpox. The "quiet" commissioner left Dawson with his wife and daughter Grace on the river boat Canadian a few days later, to take up residence in Vancouver. Henderson entered law practice in Vancouver, joining the firm of Tulk and Bray with offices in the newly built Canada Life Building on Hastings Street. He was known in his profession as one well-versed in mining, and all branches of civil, criminal and commercial law. His name appears in the Vancouver Directory as late as 1922, but from that point, as in the case of his predecessor, we lose trace of him. He had been an able, honest, if not a colourful commissioner. But then the territory had had its fill of the flamboyant and forceful type. The Yukon was now running in quieter waters. George Black George Black, the last incumbent in the office of commissioner per se, had as much title to be called a Yukoner as anyone, having followed the "Trail of '98," as did his extraordinary wife, in every sense his equal in strength and courage and second to none among all the ladies of Government House. George Black began his long life (just seven years short of a full century) in Woodstock, New Brunswick, in 1872. He came from United Empire Loyalist stock on both sides of the house. He had his schooling in Richibucto, then a little community near the Northumberland Strait. He went on to study law at Fredericton. But not for him some quiet solicitor's practice in gracious and residential Fredericton, nor even the bustling cities of Ontario. Lured to the gold-fields near the Arctic Circle he set out, as did thousands upon thousands of others, for Eldorado. Presumably he made the ascent of that terrible pass (Chilkoot or White) to the remote interior where men were feverishly expending life and limb in the age-old quest for gold. He staked a "discovery" claim (so-called because it was the first in that immediate vicinity) on Livingstone Creek in 1899. But Black at an early stage forsook panning and gigging for gold for the greater security of law practice, from which he gravitated, as have so many of the legal profession, into politics. Turning over his holdings to his partners, in 1901 he took passage to Dawson on a river boat by working his way as a deckhand. On arrival in Dawson it transpired that the charterers had no money to pay off the crew. Making a virtue of necessity, George Black turned to the practice of his profession in burgeoning Dawson, acting as counsel for a number of these unfortunate deckhands in the Admiralty Court of the Yukon. He first entered law practice with C. M. Woodworth of Vancouver, and later with his uncle, John Black. George Black soon acquired a reputation as the leading criminal lawyer in the territory from which he turned to politics as an active opponent of the administration. He was a strong supporter of Dr. Alfred Thompson, contributing substantially to the latter's return as Yukon's first member. Black served three terms on the Yukon council, in which he was instrumental in drawing up and shepherding through council lien laws for the protection of loggers and miners. Too often stampeders who had failed in their quest for Eldorado and were forced to work for others in order to exist in what remained a high-cost economy, at clean-up time or the end of the season found themselves done out of their wages. Black's legislation ensured that the labourers' hire became the first charge on all estates, so the day labourer was assured of his wages in full, even should his employer go bankrupt. Black's future wife, née Martha Louise Munger, was a woman of remarkable qualities of the timber of which pioneers are made. Six years older than her husband, Martha Black was one of those of whom it has been said, "Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn:" at three score and ten she had the vibrancy and spirit of a woman half her age. Born in 1866 in Chicago, the daughter of a well-to-do entrepeneur who had established a chain of laundries across the country, Martha was raised in comfortable circumstances; she was educated at a convent school (although she herself was Protestant) by the Sisters of the Holy Cross, graduating in 1886. The following year she married her first husband, Will Purdy, by whom she had two sons.
In the year 1897 the news of the Klondike strike burst upon the world, then in a highly receptive state for such a bonanza. Among the thousands lured to the north were Martha and her husband, who formed a partnership with a friend to proceed to the Klondike. The party outfitted in Denver, then moved to their advance base, in a manner of speaking, in Seattle. At this point, the paths of husband and wife divided sharply and permanently. Will announced from San Francisco that he was abandoning the Klondike venture in favour of an opportunity in Hawaii. Unlike most women, or men for that matter, Martha held a steady course for the north. With her brother she ascended the Chilkoot Pass in that incredible summer of 1898 and arrived in Dawson on 5 August, at the very height of the stampede. Dawson then presented the never-to-be-forgotten spectacle of a tent-and-shanty town, since immortalized in the ballads of Robert Service, a bizarre community made up of itinerant adventurers from the four corners of the earth. Wealth acquired often overnight contrasted with indigence and death. Typhoid was an ever-present menace during the short hot summers, with the Klondike and Yukon rivers the sole water supply; and in the long sub-Arctic winters, with their 18- to 20-hour nights, fire too often reduced the frame and log shanties to charred ruins. It was to this frontier town that Martha came in an advanced state of pregnancy, and on 31 January 1899 her third son was born in Dawson. She had already staked a number of claims on Excelsior Creek, one of the many tributaries of the Klondike. In 1899 her father arrived and persuaded her to return home; but the following year she was back in the Klondike in company with her eldest son. With two partners she opened a saw-mill, which she ran with a strength that many a man would envy, handling a recalcitrant foreman deftly and effectively15. In every sense she was as much a part of the heritage of the Yukon as was her future husband, both of whom had come in over the trail. George and Martha met at some point in the frontier town in the early years of the century and were married at Mill Lodge, near Dawson, on 1 August 1904. Black took over his foster sons with a will, devoting as much time to them as if they were his own, teaching them the skills he had acquired from life in the mining camp — handling a canoe, shooting, fishing and general bush craft. Like Ruth of old, Martha Black adopted wholeheartedly her husband's allegiance and his religion.
Martha Black recalled at one point in her memoirs an occasion in which an aggressive young matron, attempting to get a rise out of her, asked how she (an American) could qualify to become a member of the I.O.D.E. (Imperial Order of the Daughters of the Empire), to which the imperturbable first lady (as she then was) replied, by marrying George Black! Meanwhile George Black was gaining political experience and was one of the more active members of the council. In the 1909 federal election, won by the former commissioner, F. T. Congdon. Black polled more votes than the other two candidates, demonstrating that already he was a force to be reckoned with on the hustings. Against so formidable and experienced an opponent he could take comfort in putting his defeat down to valuable experience for the future. But before Black had launched himself on his long parliamentary career in which he was to hold Yukon's seat in season and out of season, he was first called to Government House, being appointed commissioner on 1 February 1912 by the Borden administration. It is not difficult to understand why Sir Robert's choice fell upon him: he was an able reformer, experienced councilman and staunch Conservative, thoroughly familiar with all aspects of the territory's affairs. His salary and expenses were the same as those of the previous incumbents — $6,000 per annum and $6,000 for expenses. This was, as has been observed hitherto, none too much in the Yukon for it was freely said that an honest commissioner, who entertained in the lavish fashion expected in the territory, would find himself out of pocket. A man as able and well-known as Black was bound to be popular following his quiet and unassuming predecessor, whom the Prince Rupert News rather unkindly described as "practically a stranger when he left there last year."17 The Dawson Daily News, for the past three years the town's sole daily, welcomed the appointment, referring to Black as "young, virile and progressive" and "the tribune of the people;"18 shades of Joseph Howe! The commissioner and his wife arrived in Dawson, over the winter trail on 21 March, having been met as far out as Grand Forks by a party of over one hundred. Their rig was gaily decorated with flags and bunting. The banal everyday greetings, informal but sincere, were evidence that the newly appointed commissioner was well-known in the territory Hello. Mr. Commissioner A rousing reception was held for the Blacks in the Arctic Brotherhood Hall, in which cordial informality was the order of the day. As the first Conservative appointee in the territory's history, a proven democrat, reformer and able administrator, Black's appointment made the territory's future look bright to the News. Black had once been a miner himself, spoke their language and understood their needs. In his first morning at his desk Black spoke of the individual miner as the salvation of the territory. His administration would do all in its power to encourage the return of individual entrepreneurs. He admitted that the mining companies were doing good work exploiting gravel which the individual could not, but many of the benefits went to non-residents, no doubt in the shape of investments in company stock. The great need of the territory, he said, was a lowering of the freight rates. The White Pass & Yukon and the territory which it served were mutually dependent. The tourist trade must be stimulated. In his first report, for the season 1911-12, Black regretted that the government order directing the railway to lower its rates had been rescinded, permitting the company to apply the remedy itself. He trusted, however, that the new president was sincere in his assurances that this would be done. Black was to work throughout his tenure for better and more economical transportation and the stimulation of the mining industry. He had a solid background of experience on which to draw, unlike many of his predecessors who had come fresh to the job from the outside. In her memoirs Martha Black records that in her early years in Dawson she had often deplored the fact that the residence was too exclusive in its patronage; that only the prominent in the community were received there. Finding herself in the spring of 1912 the new chatelaine of Government House, she determined on a thoroughly democratic order of procedure more in keeping with the origins and the character of the community. The residence was not to be inundated by a Jacksonian rabble, for the new mistress of the commissioner's residence drew the line as to good conduct — but she followed the principle that all were eligible for the mansion's hospitality, regardless of social station, very much in the tradition of the West. For her first open house, she ordered 1,000 sandwiches, 40 cakes, 20 gallons of sherbet and salad. At the foot of the main staircase stood a huge punch bowl with attendants, and a five-piece orchestra played on the landing. The interior was lavishly decorated with flags and bunting, potted plants and cut flowers, and the archway was draped with the Union Jack and the Stars and Stripes. Mrs. Black, who had already established a well-deserved reputation as a horticulturalist, had filled the dining-room with scarlet poppies and the upstairs rooms were redolent with the scent of sweet peas, all products at that early season (April) of the residence's greenhouses, while the reception room was decorated with full-grown roses and ferns. The dancing continued until two in the morning and the last guest departed only at five, which must have set a precedent for Government House. Cards and billiards were available on the third floor for those who favoured quieter amusement. The new mistress of Government House knew, however, where to draw the line. Although miners were welcome in their workaday clothes, Martha Black was fully cognizant of her husband's position as Yukon's chief executive. To one bold chap who asked, "May I come over tonight and bring the Missus," she replied:
At this time the Government House staff was made up of a cook, butler, housemaid, gardener and assistant. None excelled the Blacks in kindly and lavish hospitality. Mrs. Black was a woman in her forty-seventh year when she first took up residence at Government House, but one young for her years, both in body and spirit. Nor was she any stranger to the social amenities, having been entertained at the White House on more than one occasion in her youth. Important guests were not lacking during the Blacks' tenure; John F. Strong, governor of the neighbouring territory of Alaska, and Sir Douglas and Lady Hazen (Minister of Marine) were among the more prominent, and only the outbreak of war prevented the visit of the Duke of Connaught. Martha Louise Black played the dual role of hostess and first lady of the territory, and was her husband's companion on many an expedition into the bush by canoe in which they lived under canvas and largely off the land. Mrs. Black was no mean shot with a rifle, although one of her sons passed off casually her first bear as no great feat. But Martha Black possessed feminine attributes too in full measure. She was an inveterate and successful gardener, bringing the grounds of Government House to a peak of profusion in Dawson's short but fecund summer when the long hours of sunlight induced plant and vegetable development of incredible size and luxuriance. From the residence's kitchen garden came head lettuce, radishes, peas, carrots, beans, turnips, potatoes, celery, squash, vegetable marrow, and from the extensive lawns, mushrooms. Off season the greenhouses produced tomatoes, cucumbers, currants, gooseberries, raspberries and cranberries. The commissioner's lady also kept chickens, ensuring a supply of fresh eggs and poultry. The commissioner once gulled his wife into believing that one of her prize hens was steadily increasing her output; he substituted store eggs for those freshly laid, increasing the daily delivery to his wife's growing amazement.21 Martha Black took a keen interest in the Yukon's flora, becoming in time somewhat of an authority on the wide variety of wild flowers flourishing in that northerly region. As early as December 1906, under the nom de plume "Clover," she won first prize in the Yukon Flower Contest for the wide range and diversified display her entry presented: only plants native to the Yukon were to be entered. In time Martha Black identified over 200 varieties of flourishing wild flowers in the Yukon, and did much to correct the popular misconception on the outside that the Yukon was a veritable ice cap. In the Auditor General's report for 1912-13 is recorded a Government House order for 2,000 tulips, 8-1/2 dozen roses and 6 palms,22 the latter no doubt for interior decoration. The commissioner's lady also had well-developed literary tastes. During their first two seasons in residence, the Blacks ordered two sets of encyclopaedias as well as Parkman's Works, a complete Shakespeare and John L. Stoddard's Travels.23 To Black, in company with C. A. Thomas, manager of the Yukon Gold Company, belongs the distinction of having made the first trip by automobile from Dawson to Whitehorse, a distance of nearly 350 miles. The trip was completed in Thomas's car just before the new year, 1913. Black was surprised to find the road as good as it was, but even at that it is obvious in the reading that the trip was a rough one. It nonetheless convinced Black of the feasibility of road travel to the head of steel (for the White Pass & Yukon has never been extended beyond Whitehorse), which he considered superior to the winter stage for some classes of traffic. Black straightway wrote to the Yukon's member, urging him to work for appropriations in order that the Dawson-Whitehorse road be made fit for motor travel in all seasons. Unfortunately the account of this memorable journey does not include the make of the car, which suffered only a little carburetor trouble on the road. As with several of his predecessors, Black was to come under fire early in his career for the dismissal of certain officials favoured by the old regime. He was also criticized for alleged extravagance in road expenditure, a field which in his tenure, as in that of previous administrations, was susceptible to much improvement. Even before his arrival in Dawson, Black had stated that public officials would be dismissed only on the grounds of incompetence or gross misconduct, which included political partisanship. The old grey eminence, F. T. Congdon, had been busy seeking to undermine Black, even as he had Henderson and McInnes before him. The Vancouver Sun of 24 December 1912 quoted Congdon as saying that many faithful and conscientious officials in the Yukon had been dismissed by Black on the basis of affidavits sworn out by arrant office seekers. In the case of a mining inspector, T. D. Macfarlane whose case apparently became an issue, Black stated categorically that this official had been dismissed by him not only for notorious partisanship but also for inefficiency. Macfarlane had pleaded with both the commissioner and the member, Dr. Thompson, to be given a second chance, even to the point of tears. This lachrimose entreaty earned only the contempt of the commissioner, who was quoted in the News of 13 January 1913.
In a statement in the News on 24 February 1913, Black systematically dealt with all charges made against his administration. There had been no extravagance in the letting of road contracts nor had any aliens been appointed to government office. He raked up Liberal patronage and nepotism during their long tenure in power, dating back indeed to the territory's very inception. Clearly the inference was that the Liberals in opposition were not being very consistent. Black's term in office, extending over nearly four years before he volunteered for army service, lacked the excitement, the confrontation of issues of the pre-Henderson and particularly the pre-McInnes period. By Black's time the Yukon's grievances had been largely corrected. There remained, and was to remain, the matter of high freight rates and the excessive cost of goods and machinery brought into the territory. Black never lost sight of the fact that mining was the linch-pin of the economy; when that went, everything went. He held that a more thorough prospecting of the outlying districts would pay rich dividends. In the Dawson Daily News Discovery Day edition, 17 August 1913, the commissioner had an article on the economy of the Yukon. A second article appeared in the following year's Discovery Day edition under the signature of the commissioner, in which he wrote of the future of the territory. Comparatively little of its vast area had been properly prospected: currently the three chief mining districts were Klondike, Mayo and Whitehorse; in the area of Whitehorse rich copper deposits had been worked. Coal deposits were being worked at Tantalus on the Yukon River, surely a boon in a territory in which ready stands of timber were becoming scarce. Rich grazing land was at hand in the southern Yukon and agriculture had made a start in that region. He expressed confidence that a more thorough and systematic prospecting of the outlying regions would produce a strike as rich as that on the Klondike of 20 years ago.25 Black had full confidence in the bright prospects of the territory. Investment should be encouraged. Black was no dog in the manger. When a gold strike was discovered on the Shushana River across the frontier in Alaska, Black ordered the cutting of a trail giving access to the region as far as the international boundary; the pack trail was to be improved to the standards of a wagon road if traffic warranted it. This measure would make Dawson a supply point, to the benefit of its retailers and merchants. During Black's time in office, a new industry of promise opened in the southern Yukon. Fox-farming was to enjoy a vogue in the far north as it did at various times in divers parts of Canada, including Prince Edward Island during depression years. In the summer of 1914 Black toured the southern Yukon, returning to the capital enthusiastic over the new industry as well as the progress made in road construction and the provision of ferries across the Yukon. The Yukon council saw fit to pass a fox protection ordinance restricting the export of live foxes from the territory and providing penalties for poaching upon fox farms. Black himself had invested in an enterprise known as Holwell Fur Farms before taking office as commissioner. When it transpired that the firm had been bandying his name in their advertising literature, Black at once admonished them that this was inadmissible. When it was found that the firm had been violating the fox export regulation, Black insisted that charges be laid, and in the sequel Holwell lost its case and was fined. Whereupon Black at once resigned from its directorate and demanded a refund on his holdings.26 The Black administration was efficient and free from scandal. Charges such as those levelled by Congdon fell wide of the mark. In 1900 Dawson had been incorporated with its own municipal government, but the charter had been relinquished sometime in 1904. Mixed sentiments were held on the merits of municipal government, which had been found very costly to the taxpayer. In the early days federal officials had been immune to taxation, but in December 1909, they had been placed on the assessment rolls as were the judges of the territorial court. In his first report Black deplored the confusion and litigation over tax assessment. In 1910 Judge Dugas had commenced an action in the territorial court attacking the assessment ordinance. The case was tried before Judge Craig and Judge Macaulay (both appellants in the same action), who found in favour of Dugas. On 16 April 1912, indeed, Judge Craig commenced an action against the commissioner on this issue. The imbroglio had created an unsettled situation in which people felt encouraged to avoid payment of taxes. Black announced his intention to appeal Craig's decision in Dugas' case, and to encourage the introduction of such legislation in council as would end this anomalous situation. In his report for 1914-15, Black was able to record the incorporation (or re-incorporation) of Dawson and a consolidation of territorial ordinances, effective 1 March 1915. The Dawson-Whitehorse road had been improved and a government assay office established at Whitehorse. A signal service rendered the ratepayers of Dawson by the commissioner this same season (1914-15) was his securing of much cheaper rates for utilities by holding off on the letting of contracts. The result had been a reduction of fully one-third in monthly rates. By the following year Black could report a very considerable improvement in the Whitehorse-Dawson road, the establishment of a new hospital at Whitehorse and the appropriation of a sum of money by council for the assistance of prospectors in remote areas. Like his predecessor, Black deplored the drastic reduction in the Royal North-West Mounted Police, which had been brought about on McInnes' recommendation in the interests of economy and the law-abiding nature of the territory. In his report for 1912-13 (his first), Black stated that the force was required for many services in addition to its prime function, and that he was gratified indeed to learn that the government intended to restore it to its former strength. The 1913 session of the Yukon Council secured the passing of an ordinance conferring on Black the authority of mayor of Dawson, together with an ordinance providing for its governance. This same session saw the first legislation passed regulating speed on highways in the territory. On 18 August 1915, Black addressed a holiday throng in Minto Park, celebrating in picnic style Discovery Day, the 19th anniversary of Carmack's strike on what had then been known as Rabbit Creek. Black recalled to his hearers the great contrast between the present scene and that of nearly two decades ago, when Dawson was but a trading post, forested, with a scattered and meagre population of Indians. The hardships and the privations of the pioneers of the comparatively recent past had made possible the comfort and security of the present. He concluded his address with a plea for wholesale support of the war effort, and trusted that Dawson's next celebration of Discovery Day would see victory. It was about this time that the commissioner had the war very much on his mind and was beginning to chafe at his continued passive role. Before long he was to answer the call that was becoming ever more insistent as the casualties mounted and no end to the struggle seemed in sight. In the early fall of 1915 the Blacks announced their intention of journeying to the outside to spend the winter. The commissioner would visit Ottawa and talk over the needs of the territory with the minister, and they would visit his wife's relatives in California. The News paid sincere tribute to Black's 3-1/2 years in office: he had handled the administration of the territory in a businesslike manner and there was no reason, opined the editor, why he should not continue in office for as long as the Conservatives retained power in Ottawa. George N. Williams would be administrator in his absence and Government House would be closed for the winter. The people of Dawson, concluded the editor, would sorely miss its hospitality this winter. At half-past two on the afternoon of 8 October 1915 the Blacks left Dawson aboard the Whitehorse, which must have been one of the last boats of the season. The Blacks travelled as far east as Woodstock and Richibucto, New Brunswick, visiting the scenes of the commissioner's childhood. This had been their first trip to the outside since his appointment as commissioner 3-1/2 years earlier. They spent some time in Ottawa and February found them in southern California, visiting Martha's parents in Los Angeles where she conducted a series of lectures on behalf of the Red Cross, her subject being "The Northern Outpost of the British Empire." The United States was to remain a neutral for another year, but already American sentiment showed sympathy for the allied cause. Hence the Blacks were warmly and hospitably received wherever they went, as spokesmen of a friendly and well-known belligerent power. When Black in company with his brother-in-law motored to San Diego for a day to attend an exposition, a local paper described him, with more generosity than accuracy, as "one of the foremost men of Canada, having been a member of the Yukon Council before he was appointed to his present position."27 To the Californians Black was considered a vice-regal figure from a bleak northern wilderness, which many of them confused with Alaska. Black went tuna fishing and remarked to a reporter that he rather preferred this activity in subtropic warmth to hunting "moose and caribou when it's below zero at the top of the world."28 George Black, however, was to do neither for some time. By the spring of 1916 Mars called too insistently to be further denied. The commissioner, after the war had been going on for 1-1/2 years, could hold back no longer. It is not known when or where he made the decision to enlist, but a report from the Vancouver-News-Advertiser of 1 March 1916 stated that Black was then undergoing training in Victoria and was to be attached to the 104th Regiment, New Westminster Fusiliers, with the provisional rank of lieutenant confirmed from Ottawa a week later. His purpose was to raise and take command of a Yukon contingent at an early date. Predictably Martha Black took this very much in her stride, as was to be expected in one of her spirit, confiding in her diary,
It was very much the spirit of that terrible time, when no sacrifice was too great in defence of king and empire; Martha Black had embraced her adopted citizenship with all the zeal of the convert. Meanwhile her husband, the commissioner, set about drumming up recruits for his unit. The following circular letter put the matter bluntly.
The response was all that the commissioner could have asked. Martha Black in her memoirs recalled an incident from that time in Dawson when her husband questioned a friend, an Englishman, who had been cold-shouldering him. On being challenged as to what was in his craw, the Englishman replied, "Matter with me! You've asked every damned man in this town to enlist but me!" To which Black replied, "And who in hell got us into this war? Wasn't it the English? You ought to know enough to enlist."31 Whereupon, concluded Martha Black, her husband gained a grinning recruit and the estrangement was resolved. On his return from Ottawa to Dawson in April, 1916, Black was stricken at Winnipeg with an attack of appendicitis, but continued on his journey after a few days to undergo surgery for the removal of the troublesome vestigial appendage in Vancouver. He arrived in Dawson aboard the Casca on the evening of 8 June, resplendent in a new uniform. The newly recruited Yukon Company marched down to the wharf behind a brass band to greet him. The commissioner was wan and shaky from the effects of his operation, but turned out in full uniform, calling for the enlistment of married men. By the first week of July Black was confined to bed, having suffered a relapse through over-exertion. From his bed he continued to call for recruits. By Discovery Day, 18 August 1916, Black was on his feet again hammering away at the same theme. Observing the holiday crowd in Minto Park as he rose to address them, he observed somewhat caustically that it contained a higher proportion of young and fit men than would be found in a similar gathering elsewhere in Canada. Why? Obviously because other regions had responded to the call of duty more wholeheartedly than the Yukon. Only the miners, he said, were essential to the territory; all other activity was secondary, and those of military age engaged therein should down tools and enlist. The Yukon, in common with the rest of the country, had caught the prohibition fever. Had not His Majesty banned wine and spirits from the palace for the duration? The Yukon council accordingly introduced prohibition legislation. Questioned on the issue, Black took a moderate position: he thought the use of alcohol in the territory less harmful than in other parts of the country, but its use could do no good. He personally favoured the use of alcohol only for medicinal purposes, and in any case in frugal moderation. On the constitutional aspects of the issue, he pointed out that the commissioner in council had the power to regulate the sale of intoxicants in the territory, but only the federal government could prohibit their import. But if the territory wanted prohibition they could have it. Whereupon council decided on a plebiscite. In the meantime, an ordinance was passed (29 June) shortening the hours for licensed premises. On 15 July 1916 all saloons in the territory were closed (the saloons being barrooms pure and simple), but hotels were allowed to continue in the business. The territory was drying out. In the sequel, the plebiscite, held 1 September, ended in practically a dead heat with 874 votes for the "wets" and 871 for the "drys." This was not good enough, declared Black; an administration must have a decided mandate before imposing so drastic a measure. There the matter stood for the moment: the Yukon went dry with the rest of Canada the following year (with the exception of Quebec, which did not take the puritanical plunge until 1919). The commissioner observed that he had known, as had most, that opinion on the issue in the territory was very evenly divided, and that he had done right to put the issue to the electorate rather than to petition the federal government as some had counseled. Black's time in Dawson was fast running out. On Saturday, 7 October, government officials and employees presented the commissioner with an illuminated address and a $500 purse. On Monday, 9 October 1916, the Yukon contingent marched from the court house to the docks with the commissioner at their head. The dock was black with people, and despite an inclement drizzle, spirits were high. As the Casca pulled away from the dock on the first stage of the journey to Flanders Fields, a cornet soloist struck up the rousing refrain that has survived two wars, "It's A Long Way to Tipperary." There must have been few dry eyes that day: for many this was to be their last sight of the Klondike. George Norris Williams, a miner from the early days who had had several years' experience on the council, was appointed administrator with the full authority of a commissioner. Black was to be on leave of absence while serving in the army, but on half pay ($3,000 per annum) and without the living allowance. Black proceeded overseas, in command of the Yukon Infantry Company with the rank of captain, in January 1917. By 2 April 1918, Black cabled that he had arrived in France in command of the 17th Canadian Machine Gun Company — in the midst of the great German offensive. The company had been impatient for action and was not to be disappointed. On 16 August the Dawson Daily News reported that Black had been wounded in the thigh and was in hospital at Abbeville; the wound, however, was not serious. About the same time, Black telegraphed his wife that he was being sent back to England with a "blighty," and would be hospitalized in London. In the meantime Martha Black had been far from idle. She engaged in a strenuous programme of lectures on behalf of the YMCA, touring hostels and military hospitals. Her illustrated talks (lantern slides) on the far-off Yukon must have diverted many a wounded veteran convalescing from the horror and the mud of Flanders. Black did not get back to the front. While he was based at Seaford, the Admiralty arranged a visit to the fleet at Scapa Flow. Black travelled by rail north from London to Thurso in Caithness; from there he went by tender to the Orkneys where he was taken aboard the battleship Royal Sovereign. Black was very hospitably treated and found the officers to be quite interested in the Yukon; no doubt some of them remembered the famous Klondike gold-rush of 20 years before. On a rumour that the German high seas fleet had put to sea for one last battle, the fleet left its anchorage in a bid to intercept its elusive foe. The rumour proving false, however, they put into the Firth of Forth where Black left his hosts and returned to London. In the meantime developments were taking place in the Yukon which boded ill for the future. A government bent on economy and retrenchment, with the end of the war in sight, took a long second look at the territory. The first tremor of the approaching quake was reported in the Dawson Daily News on 23 March 1918: bleak headlines announced that the Yukon estimates had been cut by no less than 40 per cent! Worse was to follow shortly. By order in council dated 28 March 1918. the offices of commissioner and of administrator of the Yukon Territory were alike abolished, the duties to devolve upon the gold commissioner at a salary of $5,000 per annum with living allowance of $1,500 — an obvious saving.32 The following year, however, the gold commissioner's allowance was increased to $3,000 per annum. A decline in revenue from the territory and falling population were the reasons cited for these draconian measures. The administrator, G. N. Williams, was straightaway informed that his services had been dispensed with, as was the director of surveys and the assistant gold commissioner in Whitehorse. Then on 4 May 1918 the solicitor general, Arthur Meighen, telegraphed the gold commissioner, now the territory's chief executive, that the government intended to abolish the council in favour of a simpler and more economical form of government. But the following January, returning from Ottawa, the gold commissioner brought back the welcome news that the government had had second thoughts on this score and that the council would be reduced to three members. This, contended the gold commissioner attempting to put a bright face on it, was better representation for the reduced electorate than that obtained under the first wholly elective council in 1908. These changes took effect in the spring of 1919, by means of an Act to amend the Yukon Act.33 The franchise was extended to women in territorial elections (a group of Yukon suffragettes had waited on Black shortly before he had left for overseas), and the indemnity for councillors was reduced from $600 to $400 per session.34 The administration of the territory was now set for the leaner post-war years. Martha Black kept busy into the flu-ridden year of 1919 in London, administering the Yukon Comfort Fund. In a letter published in the Dawson Daily News on New Year's Day, she mentioned a three-week lecture tour through South Wales in aid of the YMCA. She foresaw agitation and unrest on demobilization, no doubt on the basis of the rioting which had already disturbed the calm of such English towns as Salisbury. Her husband was to be directly involved in the legal aftermath of one of these disturbances. Captain Black defended before a court martial several soldiers from British Columbia charged with mutinous breaches of military discipline at Kimmel Camp. He considered the sentences handed down by the court martial, one of which was for ten years penal servitude and no fewer than five others for five years, to be overly severe. He disembarked at Halifax from the Cunarder Caronia on 2 July 1919, and after a brief stopover in Ottawa, arrived in Vancouver on the morning of 29 July. Black told the press that the sentences were much too severe, that the disturbances were due to drunkenness rather than mutiny, and that he intended to make representations to the federal government on the men's behalf. In August on a visit to Dawson he denounced the whole procedure of military courts martial, considering them harsh and arbitrary tribunals which should never be resorted to whenever the regular courts of the land were available. This was perhaps an extreme point of view, but it should be remembered that Black was essentially a civilian as was the great majority of the men under arms at that time. Black was as good as his word. He made strong representations to both the prime minister and the minister of justice. In the end all 21 sentences were drastically reduced by legal review, and with but two exceptions, all the men were released from custody by 1 January 1920.35 Black's post-war political career, a remarkable one, may be dealt with briefly since it does not relate to the defunct office of the Yukon commissionership. Predictably Black returned to politics and was first elected to the Yukon seat, defeating the formidable F. T. Congdon on 6 December 1921. Not so many years before, Congdon had written Black off as a political cipher who would be useless in the House to represent Yukon. In the sequel, nothing could have been further from the truth. Black sat for the Yukon continually from 1921 until 1935, when ill health induced by his war wound forced his retirement. Fully two-thirds of his parliamentary career was spent, therefore, while his own party was in opposition, and yet as long as Black ran, the Yukon seat was considered safe in the Conservative interest. For some years Black was Speaker of the House. He once enraged R. B. Bennett by ruling him out of order, and this when Bennett was prime minister. Bennett never forgave him. On Black's retirement from the House, albeit temporarily, in 1935 in order to undergo an operation for a suspected brain tumor, Bennett's valedictory was restrained. "He is a fine type of citizen and brought to his high position both dignity and ability."36 Black was fully aware of Bennett's hostility. When in 1949, on his final retirement from politics he was appointed to the Privy Council for life by Prime Minister Louis St. Laurent, an honour traditionally conferred on retiring speakers, Black commented:
Black made a name for himself as a rugged individualist. Once in 1932 he was the talk of the capital for having shot six rabbits with a .22 pistol on Parliament Hill, having spotted them from his apartment window. With her husband's withdrawal from the political arena due to ill health, Martha herself ran for the Yukon seat in the 1935 election and carried it. She became the second woman, after Agnes McPhail, to sit in the House of Commons. On passing through Winnipeg to take her seat in the House, Martha Black spoke her forthright philosophy.
Not bad advice for a neophyte member, taking her place in the House for the first time. Martha Black served one term, retiring in the 1940 election to make way for her husband, who returned to the fray to win the Yukon seat once more in his sixty-ninth year, and this during Mackenzie King's long tenure in office. Black fell foul of this premier too, attacking King for his dismissal of Ralston during the heated conscription debate in 1945. King was reported to have gone white with anger, but the old Yukoner had the better of the exchange. Black did not contest the seat in 1949; he announced his retirement from politics. In August, 1951, he was appointed a member of the King's Privy Council for Canada. At this time Black had returned to his Dawson law practice, where he had started over a half-century before. In the 1953 election the veteran member and sometime Yukon commissioner returned to the fray, but this time was defeated by J. Aubrey Simmons, who had sat for Yukon since 1949 in the Liberal interest. This was Black's final adieu to political life. Martha had been honoured by the king in 1946 with the OBE. She died in 1957 in Whitehorse, not so far from her well-beloved Dawson. Black himself lived on until 1965, when death overtook him on 23 September in Vancouver in his ninety-fourth year. He had served the Yukon well for nearly half a century, first on the Yukon council, then as commissioner, and finally for many years as the Yukon's member in the House of Commons. Both he and his wife were true Yukoners, having mushed over the Chilkoot on the trail of '98.
|
||||||||
|
|
|
||||||
