Bob Kirk
	
Bob Kirk was born in Manitoba and came north to settle in the lower Post area in the mid-1940s. He had a cabin and a trapline where the Dease River flows into the Liard River and he was a good bushman. Kirk was known for his ability to spend money and he had a reputation for not liking work too much.(( Jane Gaffin, “Bob Kirk: The Prospector who cheerfully blew his million.” Yukon Prospectors’ Association, nd.))

In the mid-1940s, Kirk prospected in the McDame Mountain region and was aware of an asbestos location. Bob’s brother, Ron Kirk, was a caterpillar owner-operator on the Alaska Highway, Vic Sittler was a mechanic with the United States Corp of Engineers, and Hiram Nelson was a welder with the Air Force and was based at a nearby trunk road camp. These three men had weekends free and spent the time prospecting. They sold some claims on Sayyea Creek and then looked at other places including the Cassiar Range.(( Jane Gaffin, “Bob Kirk: The Prospector who cheerfully blew his million.” Yukon Prospectors’ Association, nd.))

Bob Kirk knew about an asbestos outcrop about 120 miles from Watson Lake and the four men explored it in August 1949. In June of the following year, Vic Sittler decided the outcrop would be profitable and he set out to stake it with Bob Kirk’s two pack dogs and his camping equipment. He sacked twenty pounds of asbestos samples and showed them to B.T. O’Grady, a mining engineer working for the British Columbia government. Although Sittler was the recoded owner of the Rugged Nos. 1 to 7 claims, the four prospectors held equal ownership. O’Grady’s report allowed Sittler to obtain a thousand dollar grant for a tote road. The //Northern Miner// reported the find in the summer of 1950 and a tent camp sprang up on McDame Creek.(( Jane Gaffin, “Bob Kirk: The Prospector who cheerfully blew his million.” Yukon Prospectors’ Association, nd.))

Conwest Exploration negotiated a deal with Sittler that included a promise to go into production immediately. Conwest later reduced the original terms and in 1951 the agreement was for $90,000 and 300,000 shares in the new Cassiar Asbestos company. Sittler accepted a percentage reduction to twelve percent of four million dollars. When the four million was cut to 2.5 million the prospectors launched a lawsuit that wound up in the Yukon, British Columbia, and NWT courts for ten years. Bob Kirk spent his initial money lavishly, saying when it’s gone you just go out and get some more. He died about the same time a final negative decision against the prospectors was rendered in 1972 by a Yukon court. Bob Kirk was inducted into the Yukon Prospectors’ Association Hall of Fame in 1988.(( Jane Gaffin, “Bob Kirk: The Prospector who cheerfully blew his million.” Yukon Prospectors’ Association, nd.))