Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE YUKON ADVENTURE 183relief,was a job for which only a sturdy blacksmith's assistantwould hanker. The chief assayer returned to Dawsonby one of the last scows to reach the city that autumn. Theice was forming so heavily that they ran for two days withoutbeing able to land, and had to chip wood off the scow to makea small fire aboard for the purpose of heating water for tea orcoffee.During the winter it was found that the process of hammeringa clipping off a gold brick on an anvil, in a roomseparated from the office only by a thin partition, did notconduce to easy or graceful conversation with customers. Aspecial assay shop was therefore built behind the bank and thespace hitherto occupied by the assay plant in the office wasutilized for a large and massive vault, the walls, floor andceiling of which were constructed of thick masonry, reinforcedoverhead by steel rails. At the time of the big fire in April,1899, the vault had just been completed and was drying out.When it was seen that the fire would reach and destroy thepremises of the bank's competitors, this vault was placed atthe disposal of their manager. With more faith than judgmenthe declined the offer, and their vault collapsingduring the fire, for a number of days, later on, the odd sight wasseen of their officers "panning" the debris where their vaulthad stood, a guard of the Yukon Field Force being maintainedon the spot until the "clean-up" was over.As soon as the bank's own building was completed, it waspossible to introduce improvements and labour-saving methodsinto the work. When the two members of the up-river expeditionarrived, the division of the office routine followed in anynormal banking office had been adopted.The business of thebranch soon thrived, and in the spring of 1899 a trainedassayer, not a member of the bank's regular staff, was employedand gasoline furnaces and other improvements wereinstalled. The new facilities made it possible to run muchlarger bricks and gradually to eliminate altogether any shipmentsof gold in the form of dust. After about 1902 or 1903