1908 Yukon Nuggets

Whitehorse City Band

It was quite the show back in May of 1908 in Whitehorse. The town’s movers and shakers had been practicing in private for a good part of the winter. And now they were gonna strut their stuff on the long weekend. The first big band was about to be unveiled.

For the first time in the history of Whitehorse, music for the annual celebration would be furnished entirely by homegrown talent. The Whitehorse Star called the group “our own silver cornet band of 18 pieces”. Bandsmen included everyone who was anyone in town, including G.B. Edwards, agent for the White Pass, Fred Langholtz, wood dealer and freighter, Ransome Alguire a hotel man, William Robinson, a painter, Matthew Watson who later owned a general store in Carcross, Frank Harbottle, a mountie, and E.J. Hamacher, a photographer. J.P. Whitney was the band leader and instructor and he was also the owner of Whitney and Pedler which later became the Taylor and Drury department store. Mr. Unsworth was called the father of the band having raised the money to buy the first instruments in 1907, but it was not until J.P. Whitney stepped forward and was persuaded to take the leadership, that the band was ever, in reality, an organization.

The local newspaper was eloquent in its praise of the band leader. "Never did a greater success crow the interest of a band leader than have attended those of Mr. Whitney. Latent talent has been discovered and developed, a burning interest has been instilled into the individual members. If leader Whitney would call a practice for five o’clock in the morning, every member of the band would be there. The result of this active interest has been that the boys have all mastered their various instruments and are now able to play anything in the music line that is put in front of them." High praise from the Whitehorse Star.

The May 24th weekend was the initial appearance of the band in public and the newspaper predicted that "the town will be justly proud of its band". A band from Skagway was in Whitehorse for the long weekend of musical celebration. The Skagway newspaper noted that “it was a pretty spectacle - those two youthful bands vying with each other over at Whitehorse the other day. The Whitehorse band with its great number of instruments and heavy basses played like veterans reflecting great credit upon themselves as well as their competent and painstaking leader and instructor”.

So what would the bands have played? Well, popular songs in 1908 included “You splash me, and I’ll splash you”, “All she gets from the iceman is ice” and “I’d rather be a lobster than a wise guy”. All in all a worthy cause for a visit between neighbours back in Whitehorse in 1908.

 

A CKRW Yukon Nugget by Les McLaughlin.