Bill Brewster (1924 - 2014)
Bill Brewster was from Camrose, Alberta and was raised in the Banff area, participating in the Brewster family businesses.1) He first came to the Yukon at age 16, as a horse wrangler for the Geological Survey of Canada.2) Brewster went overseas during the Second World War with the Royal Winnipeg Rifles, and saw service in France, Belgium, Holland, and Germany.3) He worked on the Alaska Highway south of Watson Lake and returned in 1950 to work in various lodges and stores around Haines Junction and Burwash Landing.4)
Brewster and his sister Sylvia moved to Burwash Landing in in 1946 where they ran a store, he had an outfitting business, and they operated Johnny Muska’s highway lodge near Silver City. In the early 1950s, they moved to Haines Junction and built Brewster’s Lodge. They hired Ricky (Julia) Uhrich from Alberta and she and Bill married in 1957. They had daughter Sharon in 1959. Bill and Ricky later purchased a big game concession north of Mayo and they operated that for several years in addition to running the Haines Junction lodge.5) In the 1960s and early '70s Brewster was an outfitter and wrangler in the Hart River country near Mayo.6)
Brewster started coaching hockey in Haines Junction in 1962 and, over the next sixteen years, he focused on improving and promoting hockey in Haines JUnction. He was president of the Yukon Amateur Hockey Association, chair of the Haines Junction Minor Hockey Association, and in 1972 he was key fundraiser for the Haines Junction hockey rink. He donated a guided tour by his outfitting business and coordinated walk-a-thons and bottle drives. The new hockey area was called the Bill Brewster Arena in appreciation for his work. He received the “Mr. Hockey” award in 1970/71 from the Whitehorse Minor Hockey League, and from the Haines Junction Minor Hockey Association for 1962 to 1978. Brewster was inducted into the Yukon Sports Hall of Fame in 1980 for his dedication to promoting and coaching hockey in Haines Junction.7)
Brewster was first elected as the Kluane MLA in 1982 and was re-elected in 1985, serving three months as the Minister of Renewable Resources. He lost the post when Willard Phelps' Conservative Party fell in May 1985. He won his seat for the third time in 1989 and then became a cabinet member in John Ostashek's Yukon Party government. He served as deputy government leader, minister responsible for the Worker's' Compensation Health and Safety Board, the Liquor Corp. and of Renewable Resources. He was shuffled out of Renewable Resources in August 1994 and given Community and Transportation Services.8)
Brewster first started trying get protection for the historic Silver City in 1982. Silver City grew after Dawson Charlie discovered gold on Fourth of July Creek and started a small stampede from Whitehorse to the hills east of Kluane Lake. It was the community at the end of a wagon road from Whitehorse. Five North-West Mounted Police were stationed there and there was a roadhouse and a mining recorder's office. [The townsite was later owned by Morley Bones and then Johnny Hayden.] In 1985, there was a flood through the site that damaged many of the structures. In December 1988, the Yukon legislature approved Brewster's motion calling on government action to try and obtain ownership of the historic buildings. When a flash flood roared down Silver Creek and flooded the historic buildings in 1988, the site was owned by the Victor family living in Alaska.9) Bill Brewster is also known for his efforts to open up the Kluane National Park with another access road [on the west side of the Slims River.]]10)
Bill Brewster left the Yukon in 1999 at age of 74 after spending 49 years in the territory.11)