Reed Good (b. ~1862)

Reed Good and his three brothers staked land in Tagish in 1910.¹⁾ Homesteads on lots 139, 140 and 141 and 142 at Tagish were surveyed by Dominion Land Surveyor H. G. Dickson in October 1917. There were extensive irrigating ditches. Reed Good had houses, stables and outbuildings on lots 139-140. A building, not yet completed, was on lot 141. Charlie Good had a 12' x 14' cabin on lot 142. Hay was his principal crop.²⁾

Reed Good was a farmer who had a mink ranch, grew hay, and bred Clydesdales and Morgan horses. The nearly 40-year-old Reed married fourteen-year-old Sophie Hammond although one of Reed's brothers had asked for the hand of another Tlingit girl and was refused because of his age. Sophie's mother, Dyea John, was old and worried about having someone to look after her daughter. Sophie's son, Bill Good, reported that mink farming was a good business and they sold 400 to Taylor and Drury every year for $18 apiece. They ploughed the fields with horses and grew hay under irrigation from the Tagish River. They baled the hay and hauled it to Carcross and shipped it to Atlin and Dawson by riverboat, 10 ton at a time.³⁾

When she was about 21-years-old Sophie met Billy Hall, a Tlingit man of her own age from Teslin. Billy was raised by his father and they came to Reed Good's farm to work. Billie and Sophie got together and had to leave the area because they were both Crows. Reed Good bore no grudge and gave the couple some mink to get them started.⁴⁾