E. D. Dixon (d. 1902)
	
E. D. Dixon was captain of the riverboats on the Mississippi and Missouri rivers.((Yukon Archives, William Douglas Johns Journal, page 151-152. Coutts 78/69, Box F-89, Folder #20.)) He was captain of the //Clyde// in the rafting trade on the Mississippi River in 1883. In 1890, he was captain of the //Bella Mac.//((Jerry E. Green, //Yukon Riverboat Captains,// 2020 website: http://www.users.miamioh.edu/greenje/#D.)) 
In 1892, the North American Trading & Transportation Co. was expanding in the Yukon when P. B. Weare, president of the company, sent in Captain Dixon to manage the river steamers. To smooth the local manager, John Jerome Healy, Weare told him that Dixon could relieve him of his river problems. When the steamer //P. B. Weare// was iced in at Circle, Alaska in the winter of 1896, Healy tried to discredit Dixon by charging him with stealing the ship’s store to give to a “poisonous octoroon woman of the town.” Dixon called him a liar and they started a fight where Healy’s men held Dixon while Healy struck him. Dixon got free and threatened Healy with an axe handle. Healy fired Dixon who sued him for his three-year contract. An Oregon court gave him the verdict for the whole amount. Captain Dixon was immediately hired by the Alaska Commercial Co.((Yukon Archives, William Douglas Johns Journal, page 151-152. Coutts 78/69, Box F-89, Folder #20.)) 
	 
In September 1897, Dixon was the captain of the Alaska Commercial Company sternwheeler //Bella// when the lack of provisions all along the Yukon River became critical. He was under orders from Captain J. E. Hansen, assistant superintendent of the company, to take all the freight to Dawson and not to leave any at Circle, Alaska. The local agent of the North American Transportation and Trading Company had direction to fill the orders of their regular customers but that no surplus provisions could be landed by their boats. A miners meeting was held, and it was decided to ascertain the amount of provisions needed for the winter, and then require the next captain to land to fill their orders. The //Portus B. Weare// landed first and the miners took twenty tons of food supplies from her. Captain Dixon, on the //Bella,// landed next and the miners took thirty-seven tons of provisions from him. Captain Ray was a passenger on the //Bella// and he protested the action as unlawful, but a spokesman for the miners said that, with no official presence in town, they were forced to protect their rights. The provisions were checked off by the agents of the companies affected as they were transported to the warehouses. The goods were subsequently sold to the miners in accordance to the orders they had placed. There was no confiscation of goods as was stated in Dawson.((San C. Dunham, “The Alaskan Gold Fields and the Opportunities they offer for Capitol and Labour.” //Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics.// U.S. Government Printing Office, 1907: 366-67.))
	
Captain Dixon wrote a report on the characteristics of the Yukon River and included his recommendations for river transport. Nearly all of the men handling the boats in 1897 were deep-water sailors and Dixon stated that the Yukon could be successfully navigated if the captains, pilots, and engineers were Mississippi steamboat men.((San C. Dunham, “The Alaskan Gold Fields and the Opportunities they offer for Capitol and Labour.” //Bulletin of the United States Bureau of Labour Statistics.// U.S. Government Printing Office, 1907: 400-401.)) Captain Rooney from Dubuque, Iowa, had many years’ experience on the Mississippi River. He was one of six captains hired on Captain Dixon’s recommendation.((Victoria Joan Moessner and Joanne E. Gates, eds., //The Alaska-Klondike Diary of Elizabeth Robins, 1900. //Fairbanks: University of Alaska, 1999: 208-216, 238.)) Soon all of company’s boats were handled by Mississippi and Missouri pilots and captains. Dixon introduced the Mississippi system of lashing barges ahead of the steamers.((Yukon Archives, William Douglas Johns Journal, page 151-152. Coutts 78/69, Box F-89, Folder #20.)) 
	
Captain E. D. Dixon died at the wheel of the Northern Navigation Co.’s sternwheeler //Leah.//((Jerry E. Green, //Yukon Riverboat Captains,// 2020 website: http://www.users.miamioh.edu/greenje/#D.))