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Yukon Nuggets

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.