The daily Alaskan., 1912-03-21
NEVIS FRON HE
 N0RTHLAND
HISTORY OF THE
 YUKON PIONEERS.

aaart Arthur Harper, RadoRh New. man and Al H. Mayo. says Georse Hrln.ston. president of the Yukon Order of Pioneers. h the Dawson News These men came to the ter. mtcry in 1878. over 3S years ago. Ne of today can really imagiac wha ihl county looked like There vas
 no siens of white man, with the evceptjoa Of on old Hudaous Bay compauy's post at Seikirk Then < is fiyo years before we have any names on our records of members coming here. or not mltil 1878. when we sec the name Of J D Kennedy, and in 1882 Frank Dinsmore and John ! Marks From that time they com meaee Co scatter along a few each year. uata 's6. s5 and 'SS ThUse years a goodly number of our mem bers landed on the banks o5 the Yu- kon Fortymile. some Of them were Howard Hamilton. Ben Atwater. Lee Eagan. Thomas Blake. John Ne'son. Thomas W. O'Brien. Trunk Bowke-, Joe Cooper. Slif Mitchell. Napoleon Tuot. Henry Seymour. Isaac Powers. Frank B0ulay. Gordon Bcttles. Jim Bender. Black" Sulyan, Neil Me- Arthur. William Stewart. George Mat lock and others. During these early years mining was pretty much con. fined to rocking on the bars of the Stewart and Fortymile rivers lt was not until the late summer or fan of 1894 that the old timers go4 to- :. scther and commenced Co talk about the formation of the Pioneer lodge At that time there were perhaps 150 or goo men in Yukun. with few white women. mostly on the Forty mile. Committees wese appointed and on the firsl day of December. 1S9s. meeting was called at Forty mile. and at that meeting the lodge known as the Yukon Order of Pio- i ueers was formed with the follow. officers: l.. N McQuesten. presi- ! dent; Frank Dlusmore, vice-president William McPhee, treasurer, Prank Bowker. secretary; Joe Cooper, guard Frank Buteau. warden; Charles Lev sutre. Pete Nelson and Thomas W OBren. finance committee.
 "In looking over the first three ar ticles of the old constitution and by laws of the order os adopted at Rs ] foundation person cannot but deny they were very appropriate, not only then. but today, as there was no law 1 or representatives of any government ! In this territory at that time. so it behooved men to stick to the golden rile and see that justice was metei out fairly and squarely. and SO they did
 Article I. reads: This order shall 1 be known as the Yukon order of Pic neers.
 "Article IT: Its purposes shah be ] the advancement of the great Ydkon valley; the mutual prot5ctiou Of is members; to unite the members in the strong Ge of brotherhood and prove to the outside world that the Yukon Order of Pioneers are men Of ! truth, honor and integrity
 Article IT: The motto Of this Orler shall he "Da as you would be done by"
 Surely these were noble senti- ments to be embodied in the found ing of any order under such circum- stances. There were also great many other laws with reference to the ca-e Of its members. etc. The social siie was not forgotten by any means. as the record shows there
 was a bah and supper given a month Inter. or on New Years day, 1895. ! And. as history shows. it lasted for a week.
 Then in 1895. the Circle City dig. gings were found. and lodge was
 started st Circle. there being a good
 stampede from Fortymile. And when
 the great camp Of all camps was
 struck on Bonanza creek. on the i7th
 day of August 1895, the stampede to
 the month of the Kloudike river was
 on In fdll force. At that time the
 grand lodge became permanently set
 tied here.
 During ell these years. especially
 in the early history ot the lodge
 there was a great deal of charitable
 work done, as is was the only fra
 ternal order in existence in the Norti
 Ia 1896 the lodge conferred honoraTl
 membership on william oziivle. ther surveyor. and later commissioner o Inc Yukon territory: also on Louis Sloss. president of the Alaska Com
 mefcial company"
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