Yukon who is who

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Donald Watson Davis (1849 – 1906)
	
D. W. was born in Londonderry Township, Vermont.((Glenbow Museum, //Mavericks: an incorrigible history of Alberta.// “Who is D.W. Davis?” 2020 website: https://www.glenbow.org/mavericks/english/uninvited/dw_davis.html.)) 
He joined the Union Army at age thirteen and was wounded at the battle of Gettysburg. He then trained as a bookkeeper.((Michael Gates, "Prominent Klondike miner rose from whiskey peddler to MP." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 29 November 2013.))
	
Davis joined the United States Army in 1867 and was posted to Fort Benton and Fort Shaw in Montana. He rose to the position of storekeeper at Fort Shaw by 1869, and made extra money playing poker and money lending.  
After he left the Army he was hired by Hamilton and Healy and about 1873 was put in charge of Fort Whoop-up in Alberta. The North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) arrived at Fort Whoop-up in 1874 and ended the whiskey trade.((Glenbow Museum, //Mavericks: an incorrigible history of Alberta.// “Who is D.W. Davis?” 2020 website: https://www.glenbow.org/mavericks/english/uninvited/dw_davis.html.))  
	
Davis then became the Canadian manager of I. G. Baker and Co. He built company stores at Calgary, Fort Macleod, and Fort Walsh, and a NWMP post called Fort Calgary. He managed the company store at Calgary until 1878 and then managed the store at Fort Macleod. He became a well-known businessman and founded the local board of trade. In 1888, he and some partners bought the //Calgary Herald// newspaper. He and partner W.H. Patrick bought the Strong Ranch near Fort Macleod and under Davis’ direction the //Herald// printed stories about ranching.((Glenbow Museum, //Mavericks: an incorrigible history of Alberta.// “Who is D.W. Davis?” 2020 website: https://www.glenbow.org/mavericks/english/uninvited/dw_davis.html.))  
In 1887, D. W. Davis ran and became Alberta’s first member of parliament. He was re-elected in 1891 but declined to run again in 1896. Instead he took a federal job as customs collector in the Yukon.((Glenbow Museum, //Mavericks: an incorrigible history of Alberta.// “Who is D.W. Davis?” 2020 website: https://www.glenbow.org/mavericks/english/uninvited/dw_davis.html.))  
	
Davis was on his way up the Yukon River when Klondike gold was discovered. He moved from Fort Cudahy to Dawson in early 1897 and took charge of the customs office there, a position later endorsed by Ottawa. He knew both NWMP officers Sam Steele and Zachery Wood from Fort Macleod.  Davis served on a management committee for the community under Steele and helped establish the fire department. He was the chair of the fire commission when two fires destroyed downtown Dawson in 1899. He partnered with J.J. Rutledge, also a member of the fire commission. They acquired claims on Gold Run Creek and became very successful miners. Davis ran for mayor in 1904 but placed last in a field of three candidates.((Michael Gates, "Prominent Klondike miner rose from whiskey peddler to MP." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 29 November 2013.))
	
Davis resigned his customs post in 1902, after six years of service, when Chief Customs Inspector McMichael arrived in Dawson. The //Calgary Herald// implied that irregularities in his office hastened his departure. Davis invested in the Whitehorse Navigation Co. but the business failed, and profits from his mining interests also declined. He died with ill health and an estate mired in debt.((Michael Gates, "Prominent Klondike miner rose from whiskey peddler to MP." //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 29 November 2013.))