Dawson City - A History of Growing Pains 1896 - 1906
As prepared by Dawson Historian, John Gould.
The fire made the people of Dawson aware of the necessity of having a fire
brigade. A meeting was held in the office of J. J. Rutledge. The A. C. Co.
(Alaska Commercial Co.) And the N.A.T.& T.Co. (North American Trading and
Transportation Co.) sending representatives, as well as leading men of the
city taking active part. This meeting was held on March 10th Subscriptions
were made and over $20,000 was raised the equipment was ordered on March 15th
by the N. A. T. & T. Co. the apparatus arrived in
Dawson on the 10th of July, 1898, and was put out on the street in front of
the N. A. T.& T.
co's store the money not being forth coming for its payment. The subscribers
would not put up the money with out assurance that the Government would take
the equipment from them. This was settled when on October 14,1898 a fire started.
A fire had started on the upper floor of the GreenTree Hotel, the post office
was next then the Woldron hotel. The fire spread in three directions up and
down the street and towards 2nd Ave. The fire fighting equipment was still
in crates in front of the store. A group of men took it on themselves to put
the
Ahem Steam Pumper together, it did not take them long to get the steam pumper
in working condition and pumping water from the river on the fire, slabs of
bacon were used
as fuel and anything else that was handy. (From a history of the Dawson Fire
department 1902 by E. J. Fitzpatrick, Dawson Museum has a copy)
For a fancy lunch
Choice pastries and the finest coffee, cal on the
Vienna Bakery, Front Street.
THE YEAR 1898
ENTERTAINMENT CELEBRATIONS
It didn't take the residences of the new town of Dawson long to organize events,
such as celebrations, musicals, operas and games of all kinds. The 4th of July,
Canada day July 1st and the Queens birthday.
White Pass boat on a bar, the steamer Selkirk reported to be on a bar in Lake Leberge, she has not yet passed the lower end of the lake.
TELEPHONE
It was reported that the Yukon Telephone and Telegraph Co., formed in the fall
of 1897 Leroy Pelletier, "Big Alex" McDonald, Bill McPhee, George
Demars and John Erickson, had received their plant consisting of 80 miles
of wire 25 long distant transmitters, 100 drop switches board, and a complete
outfit.
Lines will be run up the gulches and a city exchange established. The "Hello" girl
will soon be among the many evidences of civilization in our midst.. In July
the company was busy stringing wire and on Wednesday, the first message was
from the Dominion Hotel in Dawson to the telephone main
office in Klondike City. That same month a second line had been strung and
later that month it was announced that connections had been made with hotels
in Grand Forks, the line was completed on Sunday. By August 20 the central
office was setup in room 25 of the Fairview Hotel, with connections to 20 subscribers,
the upper Ferry, Grand Forks, No.6 Eldorado, No. 30 Eldorado and No.66 below
discovery Bonanza. May 10, 1899 the Yukon Telephone Syndicate completed an
extension to their line to include Dominion Creek, the route chosen was from
Grand Forks, on up Bonanza to Joe Clark's Roadhouse, on the Summit then touching
the head of Sulphur from there over the divide to Dominion at about No.. 7
above upper discovery. (Klondike Nugget, June 28,1898)
©John Gould
(This is copyrighted material and under no circumstances is allowed to be copied or used without the express permission of the author)