William A. “Big Bill” Anderson

Big Bill Anderson owned the Klondyke Hotel in Bennett during the Klondike stampede. In February 1898, the British Columbia government gave Anderson a townsite grant to survey the site and create town lots for sale. The town was full of stampeders who had overwintered and the majority of them moved on in May, even as new stampeders arrived. The community had a functioning police post, a post office, two banks, and a newspaper. The White Pass & Yukon Route railway was being built and would have a station near the town, and a telegraph was being planned from the coast. More hotels arrived with the railway and a visitor in 1901 described the town as nothing but saloons, restaurants, and hotels. Even as the town was booming, White Pass confirmed that the main railway maintenance camp would be in Caribou Crossing (Carcross) at the north end of Bennett Lake. Many of the Bennett businesses closed down, and owners sold off what they could. Buildings were moved by barge or on the ice to mining camps or into Carcross. Bill Anderson bought the Yukon Hotel, the finest hotel in Bennett, and in May 1901 moved it on a scow across the ice to Carcross. He located it as the Anderson Hotel across from the train depot and put the Vendome Hotel, which he had purchased at the same time, beside it. He advertised the Anderson Hotel for sale in November and then, with no takers, put in a store and a connected bath house, and sponsored community events like a Turkey Shoot. He also bought out his nearest competition, William Walmsley, who was operating another fine hotel called the Caribou House.¹⁾

In February 1903, Anderson sold the Anderson hotel and store to Dawson Charlie for a rumoured $9,000. Anderson moved to Atlin and operated two hotels in the gold fields in 1903-04. In 1905, he moved to Dawson and operated two more hotels. After the gold rush, he moved to Wynton, a now-abandoned site at the south end of Tagish Lake, and built the Lakeview Hotel. He was hoping to attack miners working at the Big Thing Mine on Montana Mountain. There was talk of a spur of the railroad that never materialised, and a road that was delayed many decades too long. Without a transportation link, the 300 residents of Conrad were not inclined to patronize the two hotels at Wynton. Anderson sold the Lakeview Hotel in 1907 and left the north.²⁾