1940
The Whitehorse Star Reports in 1940
January | |
January 26, 1940 | Edwin S. Keene, one fo the first to go over the Chilkoot Pass in the early days of the Klondike stampede, passes away on January 8, 1940. He became a hero in the winter of 1897 when he hiked 20 miles back along the trail to get a stove which he packed on his back over an ice laden and snow covered route. The stove was used to heat an enclosure where a leg of a boy that had been frozen could be successfully amputated. |
March | |
March 29, 1940 | George Black (Progressive Conservative Party) is the winner in the Yukon on account of the federal elections and therefore Yukon's Member of Parliament. Charles Reid (Liberal Party) comes in second place. |
April | |
April 5, 1940 → June 7, 1940 → August 9, 1940 → August 16, 1940 → November 1, 1940 |
On April 5, 1940, the International Alaska Highway Commission recommends that the highway run north from Prince George, east of Hazelton, to Fort James and Whitehorse, then northwest to the Yukon-Alaska border and then due west to Fairbanks. On June 7, 1940, the U.S. Senate passes a Bill on May 29, 1940 extending the existence of the International Highway Commission for 4 more years. Almost a year after it was announced that the Alaska Highway project is stopped for the duration of the war, the Canadian Commission for the British Columbia-Yukon-Alaska Highway announces to undertake further surveys (August 9, 1940). At the same time, the immediate construction of the Alaska Highway is urged throughout the United States (August 16, 1940). Towards the end of the year (November 1, 1940), Ottawa announces the construction of the Alaska Highway for the beginning of 1941. The construction is also recommended by the United States-Canadian Defence Board. |
April 12, 1940 | Major Snyder, former head of the Royal Northwest Mounted Police, passses away. |
April 12, 1940 | The Whitehorse Liberal Association, a new political organization, is formed in Whitehorse on April 6, 1940. The elected officers of the association are Rt. Hon. W.L. Mackenzie King P.C. (Hon. President), Charles Reid (Hon. Vice-President), J.R. Alguire (President) and Horace E. Moore (Secretary Treasurer). |
May | |
May 24, 1940 | A disastrous fire on May 22, 1940 wipes out the Orpheum Theatre and the Yukonia Hotel in Dawson. |
June | |
June 7, 1940 | The famous sourdough and skipper Captain P. Martin passes away in Whitehorse on June 4, 1940. |
August | |
August 2, 1940 | After 28 years in France, Robert W. Service makes his home in Victoria, B.C. |
August 23, 1940 | Dr. F. Burns Roth is elected the new superintendent of Whitehorse General Hospital. |
September | |
September 20, 1940 | Sam McGee passes away in Calgary on September 11, 1940. |
October | |
October 4, 1940 | Ottawa gives instruction to recruit 150 men for the army at Dawson, Mayo and Whitehorse. |
October 11, 1940 | Emilie Tremblay is married in Dawson to Louis Legras on October 3, 1940. |
November | |
November 1, 1940 | For the territorial elections, only W.L. Phelps is nominated for the Whitehorse district. He is therefore declared elected for a three-year term without elections actually taking place. |