Percy deWolfe (1877 - 1951)
Percy deWolfe was born in Wolfville Nova Scotia and he worked his way west as a young man. He followed a King's County tradition of going out west for the harvest, but he never returned. He worked on a farm in Saskatchewan, somewhere near Brownlee. A one-time school mistress who was then the post mistress remembered him, but his son could find no records.( (“Percy DeWolfe Junior see his first Mail Race.” Klondike Sun (Dawson), 10 April 2001.))
DeWolfe and his partner, Pete Anderson, arrived in Dawson on 28 June 1898 via the Pelly River. Anderson had been a fisherman on the coast and the partners were able to buy a fishnet on credit. They set up ten miles below Dawson and brought in the first fresh salmon to the town.1) They established a fishing business in the summer and a freighting business to the Fortymile mines in the winter. They built a roadhouse at Sixteenmile River and two years later they constructed Halfway House, halfway between Dawson and Forty Mile, where Percy lived for many years. They stampeded to Fairbanks in 1903 but returned to Dawson in 1904 and resumed their fishing, freighting, hunting, and woodcutting business.2)
In 1915, Percy took over Elie Verreau’s contract to deliver the mail between Dawson and Eagle. Elie had carried the mail since 1908 at the constant annual rate of $9,000. The American government paid part of the cost. This was unusual as most mail contractors were paid per trip. When Percy got the contract, he was paid by the latter method and contracted to carry only the winter mail and let the steamers take the summer mail. He agreed initially to make the 204 round trips once a week for $125 and earned only $4000 for each of the first two years. After that, he contracted for $160 per trip and only went three times a month, so his total was often less than in the first years. He carried freight and passengers on his rounds and still had his private freighting business. Each fall, deWolfe would supply way stations and cabins at Halfway House, Forty Mile, Midway Point, and Eagle with thirty tons of hay, oats, dogfood and groceries. The winter mail arrived by horse, dogsled, motor launch, or on Percy’s back, and they called him “Iron Man of the North” in the Yukon. His route took eight days, four each way. In the summer, he freighted along the river, fished commercially, and in the early 1920s, tried fox farming.3)
Percy and his wife, Jessie Philips, raised seven children. Jessie died in 1917.4) DeWolf was interested in Silver City, down the Yukon River from Twelvemile (Chindandu) River. It was an occurrence of lead/zinc/silver noted at the turn of the century and development was supported by Percy deWolfe who had visions of a major mine. Five tons of hand-picked ore was shipped out before the claim was abandoned.5)
In 1947, the temperature dropped to minus 73 degrees Fahrenheit when Percy was on his way back from Eagle. He was a week overdue, and a ground and air search began. When Pat Callison, of Callison’s Flying Service, flew low over Halfway House, Percy heard the plane and came out to wave. He was unaware that a search for him was underway.6) After thirty-five years of continuous mail delivery and over 100,000 miles, Percy retired from the service in 1950 at age seventy-three. In Dawson, he was presented with a silver medal in commemoration of the Silver Jubilee.7)
Percy DeWolfe died at St. Mary's hospital in 1951 after being ill for several months. A sled dog race to commemorate Percy's accomplishment was conceived by the Klondike Visitors’ Association (KVA) Dawson Diamond Jubilee Committee in 1976 and prize money was awarded several years later. At first, the race was geared for working teams and a minimum sled weight was required. With the demise of bush camps, the number of dogs was raised from seven to nine and the weight rule was dropped to attract racing teams. After the Yukon Quest started in 1984, the trail was opened earlier and was better maintained and marked. The race is generally held the third Thursday in March. The teams stop for six hours at Eagle and return to Dawson with the mandatory snowshoes, axe, dog food, and sleeping bag.8)