Yukon who is who

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Ben Atwater (b. ~1845 - 1930)
	
Ben Atwater was born in New York City and first entered Alaska around 1875. He left for a few years and returned in 1885.((Terry L. Haynes, //They Didn’t Come in Four-Wheel Drives: An Introduction to Fortymile History.// Bureau of Land Management, Fortymile Resource Area, 1976: 15-16.)) He signed the founding charter of the Yukon Order of Pioneers (YOOP) at Forty Mile in December 1894 where he attested to arriving in the Yukon River basin in 1886.((Lulu M. Fairbanks, “I’ve Been Thinkin’.” //Alaska Weekly// (Seattle), 9 September 1938. YA Coutts mss 080 78/69 f.41.))

Atwater Bar was placer diggings near Circle, Alaska and it was said that Ben did well while there. Frank Buteau mentioned Atwater in his recollections. The Alaska Weekly (31 July 1925) says that Atwater was a successful miner in the early days but fell on hard times.((Terry L. Haynes, //They Didn’t Come in Four-Wheel Drives: An Introduction to Fortymile History.// Bureau of Land Management, Fortymile Resource Area, 1976: 15-16.)) He staked a claim on Gold Bottom Creek in June 1897 and sold the property six months later.((Yukon Archives, Hegg Collection, University of Washington, photo #2454.))
	
In 1899, Atwater had an American government contract to deliver the mail by dog team between Skagway and Dawson and this was later extended to Nome. His team could travel up to forty miles a day. One day he fell into some water. He got to a roadhouse to warm up but left before his clothes were dry. He suffered frostbite, ended up in the Dawson hospital, and lost the mail contract while he was laid up. After that, the Canadian government contracted him to carry the royal mail between Eagle, Alaska and Dawson.((“Stars of the Trail.” As Precious as Gold, Smithsonian National Postal Museum, 2019 website:  https://postalmuseum.si.edu/gold/stars.html)) There is a photo of Ben Atwater arriving at Bennet from Circle, Alaska in March 1898.((Yukon Archives, Hegg Collection, University of Washington, photo #2454.)) In 1925 Atwater was nearly 80 and prospecting with his 50-year-old son looking for an undiscovered gold creek.(([Lost source]))