Alfred Burian (~1912 – 1940)
	
Alfred Burian was born in Germany and moved with his family to New Westminster, British Columbia.((Ted Thaler, “The Burian family – last of the woodcutters.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 24 January 1983.)) He came to the Yukon in 1930 and was instrumental in persuading his younger brother Renny to move north as well. Alfred Burian lived in Whitehorse until 1936 when he moved to the Stewart River to become a wood contractor for the White Pass & Yukon Route.((“Alfred Burian, well known W.P.&Y.R. wood contractor on Stewart River disappears and is feared drowned.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 26 January 1940.)) He ran all of the wood camps on the Stewart River.((Ted Thaler, “The Burian family – last of the woodcutters.” //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 24 January 1983.)) These camps were important to the sternwheelers that carried silver ore from the Keno mines.
	 
In 1938, Alfred was taking his sister-in law to the Mayo hospital for emergency surgery when his launch broke down. He had to leave his sister-in-law alone on the riverbank while he walked forty miles into Mayo to get someone with a boat to go and rescue her.((“Alfred Burian, well known W.P.&Y.R. wood contractor on Stewart River disappears and is feared drowned.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 26 January 1940.))

In December 1940, Alfred was driving his tracked vehicle, trailer caboose, and an extra sleigh up the river to spend Christmas at Twenty-Six Mile with Renny and his wife. He took the river route because the overland route was impassable at the time.  Alfred’s cat went through the ice about six miles below his brother’s camp and Alfred was drowned. Renny did not worry when Alfred didn’t arrive at Christmas as there was no way to communicate a change in plans. Andy Anderson, a trapper in the area came upon the scene of the accident and told Renny. The trailer and sleigh were on the surface of the ice beside the sunken cat.((“Alfred Burian, well known W.P.&Y.R. wood contractor on Stewart River disappears and is feared drowned.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 26 January 1940.)) Alfred was found over a week later encased in four feet of solid ice and it took two full days to recover his body.((“Alfred Burian’s body recovered by his brother Renny after gruesome ordeal.” //The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 9 February 1940.)) A month later, Dan Van Bibber and Bob Sheridan took a dog team to Renny’s place at 26-Mile where they attempted to recover the sunken cat.((//The Whitehorse Star// (Whitehorse), 8 March 1940.))