William "Billy" Redford (1861- 1944)
	
William “Billy” Redford was from Devonshire, England.((William Douglas Johns, "The Early Yukon, Alaska and the Klondike Discovery as they were before the Great Klondike Stampede swept away the old conditions forever." Yukon Archives, William Douglas Johns Journal, pages 109. Coutts 78/69, Box F-89, Folder #20.)) Redford was in Forty Mile by at least 1893. He mind on the Fortymile River and followed Howard Franklin's method of thawing the gravel with wood fires. Redford located at Quartz Creek in 1894 but did not record his claim until September 1896. He was the first man to sink a hole to bedrock on the Klondike side of the Yukon River. Redford gained the confidence of Joe Ladue because he always had a full poke. Ladue persuaded Henderson and Jack Conlins to change their plans and go up Indian River to Redford’s claim.((Yukon Archives, D.E. Griffith in Coutts 78/69 MSS 087 f.5.)) Redford hired Henderson to work for him on Quartz Creek.((William Douglas Johns, "The Early Yukon, Alaska and the Klondike Discovery as they were before the Great Klondike Stampede swept away the old conditions forever." Yukon Archives, William Douglas Johns Journal, pages 109. Coutts 78/69, Box F-89, Folder #20.)) 

In the summer of 1896, about twenty men were working for Redford, and there were others mining in the stream. The men who accompanied Henderson to Gold Bottom all came from Quartz. When the Klondike was discovered, Quartz Creek was abandoned by all but Redford.((R. C. Coutts, //Yukon: Places & Names.// Sidney, B. C.: Gray’s Publishing Ltd., 1980.)) He remained mining on the creek until August 1937 when he became ill and went to the hospital in Dawson where he died.((Yukon Archives, Correspondence from D.E. Griffith, Bob Coutts collection 78/69 MSS 087 f.16)) Old timers credited Redford with starting the influx into the mining district that became known as the Klondike.((“Wm Redford, first to mine in Klondike area, closes notable career.” //The Stroller’s Weekly// (Juneau), 24 November 1944.))  
	
A post office was opened on Redford's Discovery claim on Quartz Creek on 19 August 1905. The first post office was called "Radford" and was closed from April 1934 to September 1934. In November they changed the name to "Redford." It closed permanently on 31 December 1952.((R. C. Coutts, //Yukon: Places & Names.// Sidney, B. C.: Gray’s Publishing Ltd., 1980.))