Simon “Simmy” Feindle

Simon Feindle was born in New Germany, Lunenburg County, Nova Scotia. He and his uncle, Isaac Feindle, came west in the 1890s where Isaac was a blacksmith and Simon went into transportation. Simon came into the Yukon in 1900 and spent twenty years as a stagecoach driver on the Overland Trail. He and Erne Burwash started at the same time. The only man with a longer record of service was William “Hobo Bill” Donnenworth who started driving with the old Canadian Development Company (CDC).¹⁾

Feindle travelled by sleigh and on wheels with a Concord stage on the Dawson-Whitehorse Trail, a distance equal to that from Dawson to the moon. He paid tribute to the White Pass herd of horses for their speed and endurance and whose performance many times exceeded those of the drivers. Feindle remembers bringing out Count Carbonneau and Belinda Mulroony and Chief Wills of the Bank of Commerce and several others, including lawyers in the spring of 1901. Driver Authier was ahead of them with Big Alex McDonald, and he intended to break the speed record to Dawson. They started a day ahead but arrived only four hours ahead of Feindle at three days and nine hours total time. The trail they followed was down the Fiftymile River to Lower Laberge, then on the cut-off to Chico Roadhouse and along the old CD Trail to Carmacks, and then by the river the rest of the way to Dawson. He encountered two deep snow drifts twelve miles above Dawson, and Wills was twice thrown out of the stage into the snow. It was late spring, and they were worried about breaking through the ice at Lightning Slough.²⁾

We know Fiendle drove during the winters of 1902, 1903 and 1904, as he signed the register at the Nordenskiold Roadhouse and indicated if he was going north or south on the trail.³⁾

The following is just background information.

WP&YR operated the winter transportation system from 1901 until the spring of 1921. A minimum of about 200 horses was needed to operate the winter mail stages. In peak years this number rose to 275. Four or six horses were used per stage, depending on the load and the road conditions. Roadhouse and stables were located about every twenty miles. Supplies of hay and oats and extra horses for the relays were maintained at the Posts. Wheel stages were used when there was not enough snow for the sleighs. The rate for wheeled stages was $125 between Whitehorse and Dawson, not including roadhouse expenses. The roadhouse served moose and caribou steaks and meals were $1.50 each and beds were $1 per night. Hand baggage was thirty cents a pound over an allowable twenty-five pounds. Wheel stage travel during spring breakup was very rough as the stages contended with floods, washouts, mud, and landslides. The fares were much lower on the passenger sleighs that held up to fourteen passengers. WP&YR had a horse hospital at Whitehorse with a veterinary and a surgeon. They also had a carriage shop, harness shop, and blacksmith shop. In the beginning, the stages were imported from Concord, New Hampshire, but the company soon started constructing their own vehicles to suit the road requirements. Most of the stages had wide leather straps, instead of steel springs. These stages were called thouroughbraces and were strong and easy riding. The coldest part of the year was from December 1 to April 10th. The passengers were provided with charcoal foot warmers and buffalo robes and practically all passengers wore coon-skin overcoats and moccasins or felt shoes. Every winter the walls of the WP&YR office were hung with tagged coats waiting their owners return. The stage drivers, or “skinners,” wore coon-skin coats with a long red sash tied about the waist and soft buck-skin gloves with black silk or wool gloves as liners. On cold days they might have to hold the reins in one hand and pound the other against their shoulder to keep up the circulation. The seat of honour was up on the box seat with the driver. In latter days, the stage would not leave a post if the temperature was colder than -40 but the temp might be -50 or -60 before they reached the next post. There were very few serious accidents. The wheel stages had heavy brakes that could lock the rear wheels and were operated from the driver's seat. Sleighs had chain rough-locks and also metal bars that could be set to dig into the roadbed. Drivers had to be good especially when a spring had glaciated across the road on a side hill and a hundred-foot drop was the alternative. Horses sometimes broke through the ice on river crossings and then choke lines were placed around their necks to prevent their struggles and they were floated downriver and hauled out on solid ice. Among the famous drivers were Simmy Fiendle, “Dummy” Coghlan, “Hobo Bill” Donnenworth, Billy Cameron, George Keeler, George Webster, Charlie Chinery, “Skookum” McAdam, “Hard Face” Ned Reeves, Ernie Burwash, Al Dart, George Howes, Charlie Gage, Jim Gannon, Jefferson, Lou Hautier, Arthur Haddock, Joe McDonald (The High Priest), and Ed Spahr. WP&YR successors used horses for the first season and after that winter the contractors used a variety of trucks and caterpillar tractors hauling sleighs and cabooses.⁴⁾