Yukon Sawmill Company Office
Yukon Sawmill Company Office
Yukon Sawmill Company Office
Yukon Sawmill Company Office
Yukon Sawmill Company Office
Cultural History
Cultural History
The natural eddy along the Dawson waterfront was ideal for mooring logs as well as steamers and a good place to set up a sawmill. By 1898 there were so many logs boomed along the waterfront that it was difficult to find moorage for a boat or, when the logs were being floated to Dawson, for river traffic to get past them.[25]
The Yukon Sawmill, established by 1898 by JF Burke in association with the Alaska Commercial Company, was one of the earliest sawmills to operate in the Dawson area. By 1901 a new two-story building, the Yukon Sawmill Company Office, was constructed at the corner of Duke and Front streets. Once the White Pass and Yukon Railway was completed in 1901, the mills imported exotic woods from BC then began to produce value-added goods such as chairs and tables.
Between 1902 and 1903, the demand for milled logs dropped dramatically, likely due to the fact that the largest mining operations had already built their sluices and other infrastructure. The town of Dawson was also largely built and its population cresting by this date. Ownership changed in 1904 but the company continued to carry on its business on a large scale after its sale to Louis Sloss. By 1906, milling operations were winding down or amalgamating.[26] There were as many as 12 mills operating in and around Dawson but only six had a stable long-term presence.[27] By 1906, The Yukon Saw Mill Co. was the only one left.
In 1910 Benjamin Volkman became the Yukon Sawmill Company's manager, however, by 1912 both Joseph Burke and Frank Johnston are listed as managers for the company. By 1912 the business owned Lots 1,2,6 and 7 on Block E of the Ladue Estate where the milling operations, a warehouse on the riverfront, a machine shop foundry and offices were situated. The company suspended its operations in this building some time between 1919 and 1923. In 1926, Charles Redmond bought the building for an unknown use and sold it in 1931 to John Spence, a grocer, who used it as a cold storage warehouse. In 1938, Spence sold it to the Northern Commercial Company, who owned it until 1963 when the Cassiar Asbestos Company purchased the property. By 1967 the property was owned by the Government of Yukon. Yukon government restored the exterior and rehabilitated the interior. Currently it is being used by Energy Mines and Resources as office space.
Mills in the Dawson Area:
Ladue Mill - originally built in 1896 when Joseph Ladue moved his mill from Ogilvie Island and staked the townsite.
Klondike Mill Co. 1897 - this was the mill brought by John J. Healy of the NAT&TCo. Of Dawson's four mills in 1902 this one, the Klondike Mill, was considered "the largest plant of its kind in the Yukon" and annually produced 4 million feet of rough and finished lumber."[28] This mill was set up on an island at the mouth of the Klondike River connected to what would become Klondike City.
Dawson Sawmill and Building Company, aka O.W. Hobbs Mill 1897- on First Ave. between the Yukon Saw Mill and the Ladue Mill.
Yukon Sawmill Co., 1898 - also known as J.F. Burke’s Yukon Saw Mill.
Arctic Saw Mill and William’s Mill aka William Bros. Mill - these were operating in 1898 but likely only ran for two years.
D.G Stewart & Co., 1898 - was at the south end of town near the NWMP post. Canadian Yukon Lumber Co., 1900 - D.G Stewart is listed as the manager for this mill but his operation seems to have folded or been bought out. The company also ran a mill at Fort Selkirk in 1898.
Northern Lumber Co. 1903 - located on Klondike Garden Island upstream from the Klondike Mill.
Yukon Sawmill Company 12-Mile Sawmill (contracted by Yukon Gold Company) - made lumber for construction of the Yukon Ditch.
Citations:
25: Claire Eamer & Antonio Zedda, The Yukon Saw Mill Company: Last of the Gold Rush Sawmills
(prepared for YG, Heritage Branch. Feb. 1997), p.6.
26: Eamer & Zedda. p. 9.
27: Ibid., p.3.
28: Dawson City Museum, Postcard (DCM 2016.17.19.3).
