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Yukon Nuggets

1962

Other News From 1962

  • Dawson City's Gold Rush Festival is held in late June. Walter Dinsdale, Erik Nielsen, Bert Lahr, Bea Lillie, Pierre Berton, and Tom Patterson (of the Stratford Festival Fame) are among those attending the festivities.
  • Bert Lahr, who played the Cowardly Lion in the Wizard of Oz visits Whitehorse en route to Dawson City to star in the Palace Grande production of 'Foxy'.
  • Yukon Commissioner Gordon Cameron and Alaska Governor William Egan celebrate on the S.S. Keno during Discovery Days in Dawson City.
  • Major General Rockingham visits the Northwest Highway Command in Whitehorse. Brigadier L.G.C. Lilley is the Commanding Officer.
  • The Whitehorse City Council consists of Mayor Ed Jacobs with Aldermen, Jim Howatt, Jan Montgomery, Howard Firth and Clarence Allan.
  • Canon Marsh of Toronto is elected Bishop of the Anglican Church of Yukon.
  • The RCAF sponsors a Hillcrest Community Riverboat Ball to be held in the RCAF Recreation Centre.
  • Reconstruction of the Palace Grand Theatre in Dawson City is completed in time for the Gold Rush Festival.
  • Yukon Game Director J.B. Fitzgerald oversees a wolf control poison program.
  • A historic roadhouse at Champagne, built by Shorty Chambers to serve the Stage Route from Whitehorse to Kluane, burns down.
  • The Yukon Regiment, Militia Unit, Infantry Company is formed. Major Duke Collins is the Commanding Officer.
  • Wien Alaska Airlines takes over the Pan American Route to Seattle.
  • Bishop Coudert and Commissioner F.H. Collins sign an agreement for separate Catholic schools.
  • Territorial Council changes laws to allow entertainment in cocktail lounges. All entertainment lounges closed during dinner hours from 6:30 to 7:30pm.
  • Bob Hughes succeeds Bert Law as the Lions Club President.
  • Walter Dinsdale, Minister of Northern affairs, visits the Yukon.
  • Edgewater Hotel is built on site of the White Pass Hotel (which had been destroyed by fire on Christmas Day).
  • Bruce Winsby, Manager of the Bank of Commerce, leaves Yukon.
  • Tourist Services opens a new Supermarket with Jim Smith as manager. The owner Bruce Sung of Vancouver attends the opening.
  • Standard Oil of California announces a feasibility study on the major iron ore discovery north of Mayo. Leo Proctor builds a winter road into the area.
  • Cable TV service is extended to Hillcrest in Whitehorse.
  • Allan Finster, Ricky Metcalfe, Gord Finster, and Randy Mutch, find a shrew in a woodpile. Their photo appears on front page of the Whitehorse Star on October 9, 1962.
  • The old post office built in 1901 is slated for destruction by the Department of Public Works (Ottawa). A defence force including Jim Smith, Helen Horback, and Bob Erlam fight to save it. It was also the Court House at one time.
  • Rolf Hougen is Chairman of the Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous.
  • Unoccupied buildings in Whiskey Flats, Moccasin Flats, Sleepy Hollow are moved off Crown Land.
  • Magistrate A.C.L. Adams presides over dozens of alcohol related charges.
  • Max Fuerstner is granted a Liquor License to operate the Bamboo Room at 1st and Rogers, as a Lounge and Cabaret.
  • Jack Needham of the Kee Bird Menswear sells his business to Dick Karset
  • BYN General Manager announces the sale of Lot 19 (4th and Roger area) to the City of Whitehorse on the condition the lots are sold to squatters from Whiskey Flats for a range of $300-$400 as a means of 'solving' the squatters problem.
  • Marg and Rolf's 4th child and 3rd son, Erik, is born in February.