Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

CHAPTER III.THE YUKON ADVENTURE.Some time before the founding of Dawson City in 1896,as a consequence of the rich discoveries of gold on adjacentcreeks, the bank had been asked by one of the large tradingcompanies operating in the Yukon Territory, or as it was thengenerally termed, the "Klondike," to open a branch at FortCudahy, about sixty miles below Dawson City, on the Yukonriver. This invitation was declined, even though the two leadingtrading companies intimated that they would be willing tocontribute a substantial annual sum towards the expenses ofthe proposed branch. The insufficiency of the police protection,the absence of mail service, and the slight prospect of theestablishment of railway or telegraphic communication withthe outside world in the near future, were sufficient to deter thebank from giving the proposal favourable consideration.Then came the extraordinarily rich discoveries of gold onBonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike river, which inits turn empties into the Yukon at Dawson City. The news ofthis and of other finds in the same district reached the outsideworld in 1897 and, like a magnet, drew many thousands ofmen in all conditions of life and a few of the more daring womento the country. There was thus imposed on the CanadianGovernment the necessity of a large increase in the force of theRoyal North-West Mounted Police which guarded the district,and in the Civil Service establishment which carried on itsadministration .About this time the bank was asked by the Minister of theInterior to open a branch in Dawson City, with a view toacting not only as the banker of the Dominion Government inthe Yukon Territory, but also as the agent of the Government