Canadian Historic Sites: Occasional Papers in Archaeology and History No. 19

Yukon Transportation: A History

by Gordon Bennett

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to express his sincere appreciation to the following individuals for their assistance: Roy Minter, for his interest, enthusiasm and comments; Victoria A.B. Faulkner and Don Jones of Whitehorse, who kindly permitted the author lengthy interviews in 1970; Margaret Carter, Margaret Archibald and Edward Bush, co-workers and fellow prospectors in the field of Yukon history, and the staffs of the library of the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs and the Public Archives of Canada, especially James Whalen, Brian Hallett, Gerry Cumming and Brian Corbett.

The author also wishes to thank The Canadian Publishers, McClelland and Stewart Limited, Toronto, for permission to reprint excerpts from Laura Beatrice Berton's I Married the Klondike, and Pierre Berton's Klondike, The Life and Death of the Last Great Gold Rush.

In the four years since this manuscript was written for the department, and as a result of the author's subsequent participation in the SS Klondike restoration project, a great deal of additional material has been collected on the history of Yukon transportation, particularly on the subject of Yukon navigation. While it was impossible to incorporate the major findings of this research into the present manuscript, the opportunity afforded by a delay in publication has enabled the author to make minor revisions in the original manuscript and to include much pictorial material that was acquired after 1972. Thus, while the following individuals and institutions were not directly involved in the initial research and preparation of this report, the author gratefully acknowledges their contribution: Brian Speirs, Dianne Johnston and Linda Johnston, Yukon Archives, Whitehorse; Len McCann, Maritime Museum, Vancouver; Captains William Bromley, Alex Courquin and Cy Andrews; Charles Chapman, Allan Innes-Taylor, Al Olsen, Bill Maruk, Howard Perchie, Mark Steinback, W.D. Gordon, Jr., R.C. Beaumont, Bill Lesyk, Syd Smith, Bill Crawford, Cyril Doheny, William Bamford, Russell Kingston, R. Greenius, J. Dunn, Sid White, Jack Forde, Andy Keay, Jim Moran, Harold Nicholson and Claude Hogg.