Tommy Brooks

Tommy Brooks came to the Yukon in 1905. He was in Carcross for a while and then worked on Bonanza Creek as a labourer before returning to Carcross and prospecting in the mountains up the Wheaton River. A local businessman grubstaked his ventures. One summer he tunnelled into Mt. Stevens and discovered gold/silver ore. A mining executive wrote him a $60,000 cheque for the property. Tommy's partner told the buyer that the property was worth twice that and the man ripped up his cheque. Tommy spent the winter brooding and then returned to the mountain in the spring, filled the tunnel with dynamite and blew it up. He was a bachelor who baked short bread and gave them to the Carcross children, played guitar for them, and sang songs of his native Scotland. Brooks had two of his poetry books published and achieved local fame.¹⁾ Tommy Brooks lived in a tiny house in Carcross from the 1920s to the early 1960s.²⁾