David Doig

David Doig was born in Scotland. He was the manager of the British-backed British North America (B.N.A.) Bank in Dawson from 1899 to 1907. In early 1898, the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the British-backed B.N.A. Bank were rivals in establishing the first bank in Dawson.¹⁾ The B.N.A. Bank sent an advance party that sailed from Vancouver on April 11 aboard the SS Pakshan. The party consisted of David Doig (assistant manager), two clerks, E.O. Finlaison, and J.F. Stow, plus a voyageur in charge of the company north from Skagway. They travelled with barrister C.W.C. Tabor and an artist named L.C. Barff. When they reached Lake Laberge, Doig hired a First Nation dog team driver to take him the 32-mile trip down the frozen lake for about twenty dollars. When they reached Dawson on 17 May the party sold their canoes for about four times what they had paid for them.²⁾

The B.N.A. Bank party arrived in Dawson on 17 May 1898 and the bank opened for business under Doig’s management on 18 May 1898. The Bank of Commerce had the government business and had an assured site in the government compound. The B.N.A. Bank had to secure its own site in the commercial area, near the government reserve, in a rented room in the Victoria Hotel on Front Street between Princess and Harper streets. Every evening Doig sent the bank’s gold to the reserve in the custody of armed guards. The area was flooded on 6 June and Doig moved the bank two days later to a canvas tent at the corner of Second Avenue and Queen Street. He arranged for Alex MacDonald to build a log building for the bank on his property at the site.³⁾ The bank occupied its new building in the late summer of 1898.⁴⁾

Doig was a colourful character in Dawson. He had a taste for caviar and oysters and started off his day with a pint of champagne. He wore white flannels and a soft hat and smoked a small pipe with a white mouthpiece or a cigar. He was also a shrewd banker and businessman. He and onetime American senator Jerry Lynch were partners in a mining claim on Cheechako Hill and they recovered a fortune from it. There were stories about his honesty saying he loaned money himself to the best customers while leaving the riskier clients to the bank. His superiors in London questioned the entries for rum in his personal accounts and he allegedly replied that they should come and do a better job if they could. Apparently he was respected as he remained in the bank’s employ in Victoria after he left Dawson. Doig and Nevill Armstrong were friends.⁵⁾