John Livingstone Phelps (b. 1917)
	
John Phelps was born in Whitehorse, the son of Willard “Deacon” Phelps who owned the local Yukon Electrical Company. John worked for the Calumet Mine near Keno Hill and spent a summer with Hugh Bostock, of the Geological Survey of Canada, while he was attending the University of British Columbia. Phelps graduated in 1940 and started work at The Yukon Electrical Company.((“John Livingstone Phelps, P. Eng.” Engineers Yukon, 2019 website:  http://www.apey.yk.ca/prominent_yukon_engineers.php?e=John+Livingstone+Phelps%2C+P.+Eng.))
	
In March 1942, the United States decided to survey a railroad grade from Prince George to Alaska. The Japanese were entrenched in the Aleutians and the Alaskan Highway pioneer road was just finished. The railway could haul more cargo and troops and the decision was made despite a shortage of steel and manpower.  By July, there were twenty-four survey teams in the field. One of the six Canadian parties was headed by Yukoner John A. Phelps. George Fairclough, of Carmacks, ferried men and supplies on the Pelly River using his boat, the //Pelly #5.// Five Ross River men: Soo Bill, Fred Tommy, Duck Johnny, Selkirk Billie, and Joe Ladue packed supplies, using ten or twelve dogs. The survey started in Fairbanks and travelled through Tok, north of Beaver Creek and into the Yukon on the Ladue River. It crossed the White River and followed the west bank of the Yukon River past Fort Selkirk and Carmacks, went along the north shore of Little Salmon, past Faro and Ross River, generally following the Robert Campbell Highway to Watson Lake and down the Rocky Mountain Trench to Prince George.((Donald E. Taylor in Watson Lake. "Letters to the Editor: Railway wisdom." //The Yukon News// (Whitehorse), 21 February 2001.))
	
In the 1940s, Phelps was approached by his brother-in-law, John Scott, with an idea to build a hydroelectric plant on Fish Lake Creek. The generating equipment was purchased from the Engineer Mine on Tagish Lake and the plant began producing power in the early 1950s.((Chuck Tobin, “Phelps family connected to electrical business.” //Whitehorse Daily Star// (Whitehorse), 12 November 2008.)) Phelps received his certification as a Professional Electrical Engineer in Alberta in 1950, the same year that he started Yukon Hydro.((“John Livingstone Phelps, P. Eng.” Engineers Yukon, 2019 website:  http://www.apey.yk.ca/prominent_yukon_engineers.php?e=John+Livingstone+Phelps%2C+P.+Eng.)) 
	
John Phelps was elected to the Yukon Territorial Council in 1952 and during his term he introduced a private members’ bill to create an ordinance for the Practice of Professional Engineering in the Yukon. The bill was passed in April 1955, the year he was elected for a second term in office.((“John Livingstone Phelps, P. Eng.” Engineers Yukon, 2019 website:  http://www.apey.yk.ca/prominent_yukon_engineers.php?e=John+Livingstone+Phelps%2C+P.+Eng.)) 
Phelps grew weary of the constant demand for expansion and capital financing, and Yukon Hydro was sold to Canadian Utilities Limited in Alberta in 1958.((Chuck Tobin, “Phelps family connected to electrical business.” //Whitehorse Daily Star// (Whitehorse), 12 November 2008.)) After selling the business, Phelps moved to Vancouver and graduated in the first class of the new MBA program at the University of British Columbia. He then worked as a consultant to Yukon Electrical, and for the firm of Stanley, Grimble and Robertson. Phelps was a founding member and first president of the Association of Professional Engineers of the Yukon.((“John Livingstone Phelps, P. Eng.” Engineers Yukon, 2019 website:  http://www.apey.yk.ca/prominent_yukon_engineers.php?e=John+Livingstone+Phelps%2C+P.+Eng.))