John Howard Conrad (c1885-1928)
	
John Howard Conrad was born in Virginia. He went to Fort Benton when he was fifteen and worked for the Hudson's Bay Company until he was made manager of that post. He organized the Conrad Trading Company and established trading posts from Fort Benton to Calgary. He owned and operated several mines in the west and a store at Virginia City and Alder Gulch. With Phil Armour, he brought 20,000 cattle from Texas to Montana. He went into Alaska in 1898 and did some prospecting around Ketchikan and then travelled to Nome. He stayed there a year and then went to the country behind Haines, Alaska with the Porcupine Gold Mining Company.((//Alaska Weekly// (Seattle), 30 November 1928 in Ed. Ferrell, //Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers, 1850-1950.// Juneau: Heritage Books Inc., 1994: 212-213.))
             
Conrad staked the Big Thing group on Montana Mountain above Carcross in 1905. He went into partnership with the Honorable Edmund Bristol, a minister of Parliament for Toronto and they acquired claims in the Big Thing group.((Midnight Arts, "Montana Mountain: Research and Inventory Project." Heritage Branch, 1995: 7.)) By 1905, Conrad controlled the mining rights on most of the west side of Windy Arm on Tagish Lake. The mines under Conrad Consolidated Mines included Venus.((Midnight Arts, "Montana Mountain: Research and Inventory Project." Heritage Branch, 1995: 7.)) Conrad was given the honorary title of Colonel by a newspaper reporter about this time.((Murray Lundberg, //Fractured Veins & Broken Dreams: Montana Mountain and the Windy Arm Stampede,// Whitehorse: Pathfinder Publications in Jane Gaffin, “Colonel John Howard Conrad: Conrad City never fulfilled his expectations.” Yukon Prospectors’ Association, 2019 website: http://www.yukonprospectors.ca/col_conrad.pdf))

In 1906, Conrad employed over 200 miners and built a townsite just south of Venus Mine. He built a tramline to carry the ore from Montana Mountain with wharfs at the bottom for the steam ships. The remains are visible from the highway near Pooly Creek.((Ken L. Elder, ed., "15. Conrad and the Venus Mine." //Study Tour of the Yukon and Alaska,// 1990.)) Colonel Conrad was interested in both the Watson and Wheaton rivers areas. Jack Stagar and David Hodnett staked the Gold Reef claim on Gold Hill that caused the 1906 rush to the Wheaton River area. They showed their ore to Colonel Conrad and he grubstaked dozens of prospectors and telegraphed newspapers about the rich strike. A railroad boxcar of miner's supplies was parked at the Robinson siding. In the few months after the strike hundreds of claims were staked. The Whitehorse  //Weekly Star// reported in July 1906 that W. C. Grainger and H. W Vance had applied for a townsite at Robinson. P.N. Markle applied for a hotel license at Robinson.((Colin Beairsto, "Today and Tomorrow Country: Wheaton Mining History." Prepared for Heritage Resources Unit, Yukon Government. March 2005: 8.))  

In September 1908, Conrad, representing Eastern capitalists, purchased a group of quartz claims located near Gold Hill for $50,000 and started a crew of men to work at once. He also secured options on several other groups in the Wheaton district. At that time it was thought that the road built by the government between Carcross and Whitehorse, passing the gateway to the Wheaton, was one of the best and most popular and useful roads ever built in the country.((Royal North-West Mounted Police Annual Report. Sessional Paper No. 28. 1909: 198)) 

In 1909, Conrad brought in 40 tons of mining equipment and proposed another tramway at Windy Arm.((Midnight Arts, "Montana Mountain: Research and Inventory Project." Heritage Branch, 1995: 7.)) He shipped about 50,000 tons of ore from Conrad City. He won and lost many fortunes over his life.((//Alaska Weekly// (Seattle), 30 November 1928 in Ed. Ferrell, //Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers, 1850-1950.// Juneau: Heritage Books Inc., 1994: 212-213.)) Big Thing was shut down in 1912.((Midnight Arts, "Montana Mountain: Research and Inventory Project." Heritage Branch, 1995: 7.)) The mine was Conrad's last big effort. The surface showing was rich, and the miners sank a shaft along the vein for 400 feet before it was cut by a fault. A steam and hydroelectric power plant was constructed on Lake Bennett at MacDonald Creek and a transmission line was built to the mine. It was easier to mine through the tunnel than the shaft, but it was expensive, and no vein was found. None of Conrad's Yukon mines made money and he was faced with lawsuits from some of his backers. He tried to raise more money, but World War One diverted everyone’s attention. The district sat dormant until the Arctic Mine started up in 1965.((Yukon Archives, John D. Scott, //A Life in the Yukon.// Unpublished manuscript, 1992: 127.)) Conrad died in Seattle at age 73.((//Alaska Weekly// (Seattle), 30 November 1928 in Ed. Ferrell, //Biographies of Alaska-Yukon Pioneers, 1850-1950.// Juneau: Heritage Books Inc., 1994: 212-213.))

The Harper Syndicate bought the Venus Mine rights in 1916 but they could not make the mine pay. It was reopened again in 1919 and 1920 under different leases. The remains close to the highway were built by the short-lived Montana Mountain mines in 1968. There were other attempts to mine on Montana Mountain in 1970 and the early 1980s.((Ken L. Elder, ed., "15. Conrad and the Venus Mine." //Study Tour of the Yukon and Alaska,// 1990.))