William Henry Smith W. H. Smith owned an enterprising and energetic sawmill company at the south end of Dawson in 1898. The company put in line of conveyors from the river to the wood yard that did the work of fifty men in lifting wood from the river to the banks. The machinery had a capacity of 100 cords a day and lessened the cost of wood to consumers.(("Improvement in Handling Wood. " //Klondike Nugget// (Dawson), 20 August 1898.)) The largest raft ever floated down the Yukon River was brought down by Bill Unger and some men in August 1898. The raft scaled 78,000 feet of lumber. W. H. Smith & Co. received the timber and it was only one of many rafts they were receiving daily. So many rafts meet with disaster that the successful handling of this monster was a matter of comment along the waterfront. Unger was one of the strongest men in the country and had a vast amount of experience in this line. He said it is easy enough to raft on the Yukon if you knew how.(("A Large Raft." //Klondike Nugget// (Dawson), 24 August 1898.)) In September 1898, wood cost from ten to twenty dollars per cord delivered.(("Improvement in Handling Wood." //Klondike Nugget// (Dawson), 20 August 1898.)) In September 1898, W.H. Smith was considered by a Dawson newspaper as a likely candidate to run for mayor and council. The politicians had to be British citizens and that eliminated a number of other worthy names.(("Politics already in Dawson." //Klondike Nugget// (Dawson), 24 September 1898.))