George Gladstone Murdoch (1911 – 1996)
George Murdoch was born in Paisley, Scotland and immigrated to Edmonton with his family in 1912. After finished school, George mined for gold in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. He arrived in Whitehorse in 1938 by train and then walked to Dawson on the Overland Trail. He worked as a placer miner on Henry Gulch and then became a foreman with Yukon Consolidated Gold Corp.1)
Murdoch met his wife Gladys Elizabeth Allen, nee Bryant in 1943. She was a projectionist at the Dawson City Theatre. They bought the Klondike Nugget and Ivory Shop in 1945 from founder Charles Jeanneret and Charles trained Murdoch as a jeweler. George mined on Hunker Creek and used the recovered gold to make his jewelry. The Murdochs sold the store to George and Agnes Shaw in 1955.2)
The Murdochs left the Yukon for a couple of years and then returned to live in Whitehorse and started Murdoch’s Gem Shop on Main Street. The territorial government asked Murdoch to make gifts for the prime minister, John Diefenbaker, and also for the Queen and Prince Phillip during their 1959 visit.3)
Murdoch always kept 2,000 ounces of nuggets, at $50 an ounce, for jewelry. In 1968, he retired and sold the store to Bill Weigand and partner Mike Scott. A couple of years later, gold rose to $500 an ounce and that jewelry gold was worth $1 million. Murdoch retired to White Rock British Columbia and continued to make jewelry.4)
Partners Clarence Craig and George Murdoch were involved in placer mining on Black Hills Creek in the 1970s. The property was later successfully mined by Territorial Gold Placers.5)