Frank and Karen Hawker

Frank and Karen Hawker came to Canada for a second time in 1991 and brought their family with them to the Klondike. They were dedicated volunteers for all Klondike Placer Miners Association events and Frank served two terms as a director for the association. The couple mined in many non-traditional areas of the Klondike and Frank was a careful and efficient miner. In 2003, they won the Leckie Award for Outstanding Placer Mining Reclamation Practices on their Sixtymile property.1) This ground was previously dredged and dozer mined. The Hawkers ran a New Zealand style operation using a floating dredge that operates out-of-stream and brings the soil and organic matter to the surface. The area where the Hawkers mined now supports abundant natural re-vegetation and has been converted to rolling hills.2)

1)
“For 2006, the KPMA continues the tradition of naming a Mr. and Mrs. Miner.” Yukon News (Whitehorse), 26 September 2006.
2)
“Frank and Karen Hawker.” The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 21 November 2003.