John Backe (d. 1970)

John Backe was born in Norway.¹⁾ Sally Backe came to the Yukon in 1941 as John Backe’s bride. They went to Keno Hill and panned for gold in the Lightning Creek and Thunder Gulch area before advancing to a sluice box operation, and then to mining.²⁾ When he was $5,000 in debt and there was no more credit, Backe started driving a truck for Happy Lepage and lived in Whitehorse. In 1946, O'Hara Bus Lines began a bus service to Fairbanks, and they required a bus refuelling stop about 100 miles out of Whitehorse. John agreed to set up a station, and so the business section of Haines Junction was born. The same year, the RCMP established a post in the area. The Humes and some other families lived there at the time. John and Sally originally built on the west side of the highway and their trading post store and gas pumps were called the Kuskanaw. They built the Haines Junction Inn in 1947 on the other side of the road. John and Sally purchased the materials to build the first Shakwak Valley Community Hall and, when the club got into trouble, they bought it. In the mid-1950s, they donated the ball field located by the hockey arena to the community club. In 1967, the government assisted the community in building a new club. John was the first chairman of a Haines Junction Board of Trustees set up in the 1960s. John passed away suddenly in Vancouver.³⁾