1964
The Whitehorse Star Reports in 1964
| January | |
| January 1964 | William Koropatnick is appointed Chief of Department of Public Works Northwest Highway System. |
| February | |
| February 20, 1964 | The first ten successful students graduate February 19, 1964 from the Whitehorse Vocational Training School. |
| March | |
| March 2, 1964 | The Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous held from February 28th to March 1st. Diana McNeil is selected on March 1, 1964 as Queen for the 1964 Sourdough Rendezvous. |
| March 12, 1964 | The first locomotive ever to reach as far north as Alaska, "Old 52" passes through Whitehorse on its last journey on March 11, 1964. A group of Skagway citizens organized the transport from Taku City, B.C. to Skagway where it will be left as a historic monument. |
| March 25, 1964 | Councillor John Watt proposes negotiations with the U.S. government for the purpose of obtaining a free port and a free corridor through the Alaska Pan Handle. |
| March 30, 1964 | On Good Friday, March 27th, the Alaska earthquake of magnitude 9.2 strikes the Pacific rim. This seismic event is not only the second largest ever to have been recorded but it lasted for over three minutes and was felt over an area of five hundred thousand square miles. Anchorage suffers extensivedamage. Valdez is hit by a tidal wave. The quake is felt in Whitehorse. |
| April | |
| April 2, 1964 | On April 1st, Brigadier Spencer, Commander of the Canadian Army in the Yukon, turns over the Alaska Highway to the Department of Public Works under management of William Koropatrick. |
| April 9, 1964 | The territorial council moves a motion to institute "an unbiased non-political news service to cover "News of the North" in the Yukon". The CBC broadcast over the Yukon network is considered not satisfactory. |
| April 1964 | Foreign Service attaches representing 20 different countries in Canada visit Whitehorse. |
| April 1964 | Jim Hanna resigns as president of Yukon Chamber of Mines becaues of members' "rigid opposition" to a national park in the Yukon. |
| April 1964 | Deaconness Hilda Hellaby receives an honorary degree of Doctor of Divinity from Anglican Theological College in Vancouver. |
| April 9, 1964 | Rolf Hougen presents an outline for an economic organization to the Whitehorse Chamber. With their support, the Yukon Research and Development was founded. Rolf Hougen is selected to chair the group. Rolf invites a cross section of Yukoners to serve on the board. Judge John Parker is elected chairman of the Yukon Research and Development Institute June 22, 1964. Directors are Leo Proctor, Boris Styba, John Scott, Arnie Phillipson, Jim Smith, Pat Callison and Rolf Hougen. |
| April 13, 1964 | Harry Johannes is elected 1964 president of the Yukon Liberal Association on April 11, 1964. |
| April 23, 1964 | The Whitehorse Star issues a special edition for its Hougen's Ltd. 20th anniversary. |
| May | |
| May 4, 1964 | The Chamber of Commerce tourist committee led by Eric Wienecke sponsor a big "Clean up Whiskey Flats" campaign on May 2, 1964. |
| May 25, 1964 | It is announced that the Army Signal Station in Camp Takhini is preparing to close down after 42 years of operation in the Yukon Territory. |
| May 28, 1964 | First taps for draft beer in Whitehorse are installed at the Edgewater Hotel. |
| June | |
| June 8, 1964 → June 11, 1964 |
Flood waters hit Dawson and Mayo as hot temperatures caused a rapid runoff of snow-water from the hills. About 85 per cent of Mayo are evacuated and mover to higher ground. Canadian Pacific Airlines flies 5,700 pounds of bread and potatoes into Dawson. A planeload of brass from Ottawa arrives in the Yukon June 11, 1964. John Turner, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Northern Affairs, John Gorden, R.A.J. Philips, A.B. Yates, Gordon Gibson, Gordon Cameron and Erik Nielsen visit. |
| June 15, 1964 | The Old Log Church in Whitehorse is re-opened to the public as a museum |
| June 18, 1964 | Robert Service Park officially opens June 20, 1964. |
| June 22, 1964 | City council discusses the integration of the Marwell in the city limits. |
| June 29, 1964 | Pat Swanson is elected Queen of the Dominion Day activities. |
| June 29, 1964 | A ceremony in Whitehorse on June 23, 1964 marks the army's official farewell from the Territory. The Federal Department of public works takes over the maintenance of the Alaska Highway. |
| July | |
| July 1964 | Edmonton copyrights the name "Klondike Days". (see also May 20, 1965) |
| July 27, 1964 | Operation "doorstep", a TB prevention program during which more than 11,000 persons were screened, is ending. |
| July 27, 1964 | City council discusses the question of the final location for the sternwheelers. A Whitehorse tourist committee wants the paddlewheelers moved from Shipyard Parks to South Whiskey Flats. City Council wants to save the costs of moving and reserver the Whiskey Flats as open space. |
| August | |
| August 13, 1964 | The community of Old Crow "goes modern" with the start of operation of a new power plant. |
| August 13, 1964 | Berent Hougen and his wife celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. |
| August 20, 1964 | The final chapter in the Canol number 4 pipe line story is written in Whitehorse. The White Pass and Yukon Route have completed the reclamation and stock piling of the Canadian section of the pipeline. |
| August 27, 1964 | Northern Affairs Minister Arthur Laing visits in Whitehorse August 26, 1964. |
| September | |
| September 9, 1964 → October 22, 1964 |
Elections for the territorial council take place in the Yukon on September 8, 1964. Bert Boyd, George Shaw, Ken McKinnon, John Watt, and Don Taylor are electedto the Yukon Territorial Council. By acclamation, Ken Thompson and FredSoutham make up the seven member council. Dawson councillor George Shaw is elected October 22, 1964 speaker of the new Territorial Council. |
| September 14, 1964 | A three day Alaska - B.C. - Yukon conference takes place in Whitehorse. Gov. Egan of Alaska, Premier W.A.C. Bennett of B.C. andCommissioner Gordon Cameron of the Yukon lead their delegations. It is rumoured that B.C. Premier Bennett may suggest in his opening speech amalgation of B.C. and the Yukon Territory. |
| September 24, 1964 | The Whitehorse chapter of I.O.D.E. celebrates the 50th anniversary of its foundation on October 21, 1914. |
| September 28, 1964 | Northern Affairs Minister Arthur Laing announces that the Haines Road will be maintained throughout the winter 1964/1965. It is still considered 'experimental'. |
| October | |
| October 5, 1964 | Tarr Inlett makes the news across the country as a possible far north Canadian port. |
| October 15, 1964 | Yukon's former commissioner F.H. Collins states Premier Bennett's proposal regarding the union of B.C. and Yukon constitutes "a logical, traditional development northward". The union "would provide and integrated an integrated economy for the Yukon. |
| October 22, 1964 | The Lions Club donates an outdoor pool to the city of Whitehorse. |
| October 26, 1964 | Development stage is reached in the Snake River iron deposit in the Yukon, one of the world's largest medium grade ore bodies. |
| October 29, 1964 | William John Duncan Dempster, the man who found the ill-fated Fitzegerald patril between Dawson City and Fort McPherson in 1911 and namesake of the Dempster Highway, passes away in Vancouver on October 25, 1964 at the age of 88. |
| November | |
| November 9, 1964 | Rolf Hougen proposes a motion according to which Yukon students travelling outside the Territory for secondary education should be able to qualify for free transportation. |
| November 9, 1964 | Commissioner G.R. Cameron officially opens on November 4, 1964 the new Teslin school. |
| November 19, 1964 | Haines Junction holds November 11, 1964 their first Armistice parade ever. |
| November 23, 1964 | Marking the anniversary of the assassination of President Kennedy one year ago, Canada names a mountain peak in the Yukon, in the St. Elias range, for the former American president who was assassinated a year earlier. |
| November 23, 1964 | The Federal government gives a $250,000 grant for the construction of a City Hall complex and a new museum. |
| November 26, 1964 | The new CNT building in Whitehorse is formally opened. |
| November 26, 1964 | Erik Nielsen, Yukon's Member of Parliament, exposes a major national scandal by naming the federal Minister of Justice, Guy Favreau in a bribery scandal. |
| November 30, 1964 | The Whitehorse Kiwanis club opens November 29, 1964 an indoor ice rink on the corner of 1st Avenue and Strickland. |
| December | |
| December 31, 1964 | New Imperial Mines announces its plans to construct a mill near Whitehorse early in 1965. |
