Albert E. Henderson (d. 1922)
Albert Henderson was an officer of the Canadian Development Company that organized a Royal Main Service and operated steamers on the Yukon River until 1901. When White Pass & Yukon Route (WP&YR) bought the company, Henderson was the shipyard foreman in charge of building and repairing steamers, and later became the superintendent of the River Division of White Pass. Sometime before 1906, Henderson built and occupied a house in Whitehorse now called the Scott House.1) The Scott house at 206 Hawkins Street was at the upper end of the housing scale when it was built. Other houses of this vintage can be seen on Wood Street.2)
Henderson was a member of the old guard for the WP&YR. He was the foreman in charge of the Whitehorse ship construction and repair work for over twenty years. He designed the steamers Casca, Nasutlin, Tutshi, Keno, and Tarahne, and all the barges.3) In June 1910, foreman Al Henderson had a crew of six men working on the Casca after it bumped into a rock and sank in seven feet of water in the Thirtymile River. They soon had her stern out of the water.4) The sternwheeler was taken to Whitehorse and hauled out on the ways at the shipyards. It was estimated that the repairs would cost almost as much as building a new boat.5) The Casca was on the ways for four weeks as it was being practically rebuilt. It was on its way downstream at the end of July, replacing the Bonanza King that was badly damaged after hitting a rock in Five Fingers.6)
By the 1920s, Henderson may have spent the winters outside. He and thirteen shipyard carpenters arrived in Whitehorse by train in mid-March 1920.7) Henderson died in the fall of 1922 and Fowler, who was Henderson's assistant for years, was appointed foreman in is place.8)