Louis Jacquot (1872- 1947)
Louis Jacquot and his younger brother Eugene were born in St. Marie-aux-mines, in the province of Romback-le-France, in the Haul (Upper) Rhine country of Alsace-Lorraine, France, which was occupied by Germany between 1917 and 1919. The brothers were European trained chefs and bakers. Louis immigrated to Canada in 1894 to escape compulsory military service. He worked as a cook in Winnipeg and Chicago and then returned to France to bring his brother Eugene back with him to Chicago.1)
The brothers crossed the Chilkoot Pass in 1898 and met Tom Dickson at the Pass. In Dawson they worked as cooks and got enough money to buy a claim. They sold this to go on a stampede to Burwash Creek in 1904. On their first season, Gene used their cabin as a small-scale trading post. In the fall of 1904 they built a larger trading post at Burwash Landing. Louis was more of a miner than Gene. The brothers had a reputation as cooks and so were drawn into the guiding business with Dickson.2)
Over the years, the brothers worked as miners, traders, farmers, blacksmiths, veterinarians and carpenters. They discovered gold on Burwash Creek, a creek they named after the local mining recorder. They made $50 a day from the claim.3) The Whitehorse Star newspaper reported that Louis Jacquot arrived in town in 1910 with 220 ounces of gold from his and his brother's claim on Burwash Creek. The Jacquots and Ernest Petrel owned claims No. 12-21 on Burwash Creek.4)
Burwash Landing Post was established in 1904 and named after their creek. Louis married Copper Mary, originally from Copper Center in Alaska, in 1920. Copper Mary was born into a family of eight and her five brothers all became chiefs in different areas of the Yukon: Copper Joe [Charlie] at Carmacks, Copper George at Burwash, Copper Jack at Snag, Copper Charlie at Carmacks, and Copper Jim at Carmacks. Louis and Mary had three children, Louis, Rosalie, and Josephine. Louis and Rosalie were educated in France.5)
The Jacquot brothers ran their outfitting business out of Burwash and could create miracles cooking over a campfire.6) One of the last hunting parties the Jacquots guided before the war included Nelson Rockefeller, Wild Bill Donovan (later head of the CIA) and General Woods (head of Sears Roebuck).7) In the 1920s most of the outfitting business fell to Louis, and Gene Jacquot who took over Morley Bones' outfit and formed the profitable firm of Jacquot Brothers.8)
The Jacquots used to haul freight to Christmas Bay (6 miles down from Silver City) on Kluane Lake where they kept a warehouse and barge.9) They did some road work near Silver City in 1923.10) They completed a bridge across the Jarvis River as a government contract in 1923. This was the final link that made auto traffic to Kluane possible.11)
Louis Jacquot had a mining claim on Bullion Creek. He had an accident in the mine shaft that cracked his skull. His partner, Ole Erickson, called Mary to help but she could not let him down on the windlass and he would not let her go alone. He called until Louis answered and got himself into the sling. They took him to Whitehorse and from there to Vancouver, but he never fully recovered.12)