John J. "Jack" Devine (b. 1875)
	
John J. Devine was born in 1875 in Liverpool, England.((Yukon Archives, Sworn statement by Jack Devine in Wayne County, Michigan, 29 December 1962. Coutts Coll. 78/69 MSS 087 f.6.)) He stowed away on four boats from England before he was successful in reaching San Francisco. He sailed from there in early December 1891 on the whaler //Alaska// where a couple jumped ship at Papoff Island.((Yukon Archives, Jack Devine to D.E. Griffith in Coutts 78/69 MSS 087 f.5.)) They stole a dory and made it aboard the schooner //Thistle// where they got some food. They pulled off in the dory again and made it to Unga Island. A hunter and fisherman took them to the mainland. A month later they reached the Apollo mine. Devine heard about the Yukon from an old Fortymiler named Jim Maloney. Devine worked in the Apollo Mine on Unga Island until November 1894. Devine met Maloney who had come out of the Yukon to earn a grubstake for the following summer. They agreed to meet again at Forty Mile. Devine left Unga for San Francisco on the old steamer //Bertha,// whose master was Capt. Hansen, later manager of the Alaska Commercial Co. in Dawson City.((Yukon Archives, Bob Coutts, 78/69 MSS 087 f.1))
	
Devine went from San Francisco to Juneau in 1894. He landed in Forty Mile in the spring of 1895 and stayed in the area for the summer. The following winter Devine, Jack Conlin, and another man went to work for an old French Canadian on Miller Creek. Conlin quit in the middle of the winter and got his pay. The rest kept on till spring and they made just enough to pay for the Frenchman's fare outside and the other two got nothing. Devine later met Jack Conlin and Bob Henderson in front of the store at Forty Mile. They were getting ready to go upriver to the Stewart River and try to make a grubstake on the bars in that river. He later learned that Ladue at Sixtymile Post advised them to go to Quartz Creek where William Redford was operating and had a good claim and they went and worked for Redford.((Yukon Archives, Sworn statement by Jack Devine in Wayne County, Michigan, 29 December 1962. Coutts Coll. 78/69 MSS 087 f.6.))
	
After Devine returned to the Fortymile River, he, Bill Roberts, Jack Iseman, and Bushnell staked ground on American Creek and then poled down to Forty Mile ahead of the winter slush ice. Jack secured a loan from McQuesten and then headed down river to cut wood to clear his debt. He returned to Forty Mile in February 1896 and about March 1st went to the Seventymile River with Fred Ladouceur. They found Felix Pedro and his partner on the Seventymile at the mouth of Broken Neck Creek. They all prospected, and Jack dug a deep hole but did not reach bedrock. He ate the last of his food and headed back to his wood camp on an island three or four miles below the boundary where he had plenty of grub. He stopped at "Prayer” Mike's camp. Mike persuaded him to stay until he was caught by breakup. And then he headed down to Circle, Alaska. He spent the summer of 1896 at Circle working for Ned Grignon and "Old Gibb” on Deadwood Creek. In the fall of 1896 the steamer //Bella,// under Captain Dixon, left Circle for the Klondike. The captain was on his first trip on the Yukon River and, alarmed by the ice, turned back. Devine returned to American Creek and joined Roberts, Bushnell, Stiles, Fred Rehr, and John Powers. Davine staked a fraction at No. 6 Above. He was the first to reach bedrock on that creek and it paid from 10 cents to $5 to the pan. Others offered to buy the claim and the most attractive offer came a year later when he was in Dawson.((D. E. Griffith, "Sourdough Memories: Jack Devine's Adventures." //The Alaska Weekly// [Seattle), c1949.))
	
Jack McCauley brought news of the Klondike strike to Circle. Devine was on Deadwood, fifty to seventy-five miles from Circle in late November or early December hauling his outfit to American Creek. In the fall of 1896, Captain Dixon took them back to Circle and there was nothing to do but wait for freeze-up. The //Bella,// under Capt. Dixon, was stuck on the bar for ten days but Michael Dowd, purser on the //Alice,// arrived at Circle at least twenty days ahead of the //Bella// and he tried his best to get Devine to go up to Dawson with him. Devine decided instead to go back to American Creek. In November he started to haul his outfit, with no dogs, up the river. Jack McCauley on his way outside to report the discovery, overhauled him on at the first part of November and begged Devine to cache his outfit and go to the new camp. It took a couple of months to haul his outfit to the mouth of Mission (Eagle) Creek. He tried to put down a few holes, but the cold drove him out and he started back to Circle in April.((Yukon Archives, Jack Devine to D.E. Griffith in Coutts 78/69 MSS 087 f.5.))
	
Devine took the first boat to Dawson in the spring of 1897 and arrived there about May 20th. He and Joe Cooper went to the Forks via the ridge out of Louse Town [across the Klondike River from Dawson]. Pat and Jack were never on American Creek. They came up to Dawson from Circle to look over the new camp and visit friends, and Devine met them there in April 1898. Devine travelled with them when they left Dawson in early April to return to their own diggings at Circle as Devine was headed back to American Creek. He thought he owed Behr and Powers for tipping him off to their findings. When Devine got back to American, the water was low enough to put in a drain on Claim #5 and when he got to bedrock, he hit the pay. That kept him on the "damn" creek until late September 1900. Devine was not the first to reach bedrock on American Creek. Fred Behrs and Powers wintered on the left fork for years following and they must have reached bedrock by burning down. Devine did not reach bedrock until the late summer in 1897. Billy Brayton bought a half interest in Devine's ground on American Creek in 1899-1900 and lost time and money in the venture. Devine worked his claim until the fall of 1900 when his ground was worked out. He hit Dawson with $1000 and that did not last long although he conserved money by "drinking very little and not dancing much." Griffith and Manx gave Devine a job as a bartender. Devine boxed "Carribou" Sinclair in his own gymnasium and Sally Stroup at Fairbanks but both bouts were for fun and with no money involved. He liked boxing and trained with the boxers but said he did not have the ability to prize fight.((Yukon Archives, Jack Devine to D.E. Griffith in Coutts 78/69 MSS 087 f.5.))
	
D. E. Griffith first met Devine on Dominion Creek in 1901-02. He had an interest in a lay on a 50-foot fraction between the Jewell boys and Caribou Bill, at Claim 24A on Gold Run Creek. There was a legal problem with the lay and he hoisted about 6000 buckets of dirt and made several trips to Dawson to clear up the problem before abandoning the effort. Devine left the Yukon about 1911 and wandered around Puget Sound for a year before he and his wife moved to Detroit. He started working for a savings and loans company and worked up to appraiser.((D. E. Griffith, "Sourdough Memories: Jack Devine's Adventures." //The Alaska Weekly// [Seattle), c1949.))