Yukon who is who

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Fred E. Envoldsen (1860 - 1954)
	
Fred Envoldsen was born in in Norway.((Michael Gates, “Every photo has a story to tell, sometimes more than one.” //Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 13 October 2023.)) He prospected in California and stampeded to the Klondike in 1897. He prospected all over the Yukon.((O. Nordling, "F.E. Envoldsen Observes 92nd Birthday Monday." //Jessen's Weekly,// 17 April 1952. Yukon Archives, MSS 35, f 38.)) He applied for 160 acres at the mouth of Big Campbell Creek and occupied the site briefly. He and Robert Henderson built a small wing dam and flume at Hoole Canyon in 1903 and used canvas hose for pipe to flush their three sluice boxes. Early findings convinced them they had a significant discovery. Envoldsen returned to Dawson to hire a surveyor to map out a town site on the bench just below the canyon on the right side but returned without one. He did charter the steamer //Wilber Crimmins// for $3,000 and sold tickets to Ross River to cover the cost.((Mike Rourke, //Rivers of the Yukon Territory: Pelly River (revised).// Houston, BC: Rivers North Publications, 1995: 20-22. (Originally published in 1983) ))  After a disappointing look around, most of the gold-seekers left, but Envoldsen settled in to stay.((Norman Kagan, //A History of Ross River.// Web page © 1999 Dr. Norman E. Kagan.)) 

Envoldsen and Henderson took out some gold over the summer and before they left for the winter, they hired a French trapper from Pelly Banks (Seavin or Saborn) to build them a 14' x 16' cabin. In 1903, the two men applied for 80 acres on the right side of the river just below the canyon with a half-mile of river frontage. Envoldsen took the upper property. Henderson applied for an additional 80 acres across from Envoldsen.((Mike Rourke, //Rivers of the Yukon Territory: Pelly River (revised).// Houston, BC: Rivers North Publications, 1995: 20-22. (Originally published in 1983) ))
	
Envoldsen left the upper Pelly River after two years of prospecting and trapping to return to his old post of contractor for the U.S. Army in San Francisco in 1905. That ended with the 1906 earthquake and he and his wife, Mary, returned to their Pelly River home .4 km below Hoole Canyon. They lived for the next ten years on the upper Pelly where Mary was known by local First Nations for her garden and had a reputation as a healer.((Norman E. Kagan, "Pelly Pioneers at Ross River." //Alaska Geographic,// Vol. 25, No.2, 1998: 82-3, 88, 91, 94-95.)) In 1909, Fred Envoldsen applied for a half mile gold dredging lease at Hoole canyon. It was approved and then cancelled when the $100 per mile fee was unpaid.((Mike Rourke, //Rivers of the Yukon Territory: Pelly River (revised).// Houston, BC: Rivers North Publications, 1995: 20-22. (Originally published in 1983) ))   
 	
Envoldsen walked 300 miles to enlist for service in the First World War.((O. Nordling, “F.E. Envoldsen Observes 92nd Birthday Monday." //Jessen's Weekly,// 17 April 1952. Yukon Archives, MSS 35, f 38.)) In 1917, he joined the northern British Columbian forestry brigade and was sent to France. Mary remained in Dawson and Hoole Canyon. He returned to the Pelly after the war and owned a river steamer, //The Veteran,// and numerous mining claims.((Norman E. Kagan, "Pelly Pioneers at Ross River." //Alaska Geographic,// Vol. 25, No.2, 1998: 82-3, 88, 91, 94-95.)) After the war, Sapper Fred E. Envoldsen applied for a loan of $2,500 to purchase stock and make improvements on land on the Pelly River. He had lived on this land for twelve years prior to his enlistment and made extensive improvements, including some large buildings. He did not get the land surveyed as the cost for this remote place was excessive. The application was approved as it came within the scope of the Land Settlement Board.((Letter to Gold Comm., 28 August 1919. Yukon Archives, GOV 1654, 1(5).)) Around 1918, Archdeacon Swanson visited Envoldsen at Hoole Canyon where Swanson was informed of a mountain of pitchblende. This false information started a little excitement among prospectors.((Mike Rourke, //Rivers of the Yukon Territory: Pelly River (revised).// Houston, BC: Rivers North Publications, 1995: 20-22. (Originally published in 1983) ))  
	
The Canadian Yukon Patriotic Fund loaned returned soldier F. Envoldsen $500 on 15 October 1919 to assist in purchasing a home and $500 on 15 December 1919 to purchase furs.((June 1920 Report, Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Enlistment. Yukon Archives, GOV 1654, f.29600-G.)) The Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Establishment helped F.E. Envoldsen in January 1920 draw up a transfer of the “Empire” mineral claim from Sproule, draw up an option on buying a gasoline boat in February 1920, and in drawing up a declaration to export beaver skins in March 1920.((June 1920 Report, Department of Soldiers’ Civil Re-Enlistment. Yukon Archives, GOV 1654, f.29600-G.))
Envoldsen was not employed during the winter of 1920/21 and was in need of assistance by January 1921.((Yukon Archives, GOV 1654, 1(5).)) The Envoldsens were living in Dawson in 1927 when Mary Teresa Keller Envoldsen, age 65, from Kentucky, died at age 65 of heart failure.((“Dawson City Mortuary Records, 1898-1938” from Mortuary records of J.A. Greene, Frank Lowe, Edward and Winaut, and Alex Mark. 2018 website: http://www.alaskaweb.org/dawmort/e_f.html))
	
Envoldsen tried to enlist during the Second World War but was too old. At Dawson he recruited the Dawson Rangers and in twenty-eight days had them up to full strength as their first commanding officer. In 1942, he organized the Dawson Branch of the BC Yukon Chamber of Mines.((O. Nordling, "F.E. Envoldsen Observes 92nd Birthday Monday." //Jessen's Weekly,// 17 April 1952. Yukon Archives, MSS 35, f 38.)) 

In 1945 he drew in some backers for his and Poole Field's mining claims on the Firth River.((Norman E. Kagan, "Pelly Pioneers at Ross River." //Alaska Geographic,// Vol. 25, No.2, 1998: 82-3, 88, 91, 94-95.)) They had a half interest in the original discovery on the river.((A.A. Gillespie, "The Firth River gold strike." //Western Miner,// Vol. 21, No. 5, May 1948: 78.)) 

In 1951, Envoldsen was elected honorary president of the Dawson Branch of the Chamber of Mines.  He was the librarian at the Dawson Public Library until his retirement in 1951, and then he returned to full-time mining. He was a past president of the Yukon Order of Pioneers. He received a letter of commendation in 1951 from the Prime Minister for his years of public service.((O. Nordling, "F.E. Envoldsen Observes 92nd Birthday Monday." //Jessen's Weekly,// 17 April 1952. Yukon Archives, MSS 35, f 38.))