Harry W. McWhorter (d. 1935)
Harry McWhorter was originally from Pennsylvania and he came into the Yukon during the Duncan Creek stampede.1) McWhorter and Jake Davidson were prospecting partners. Davidson staked Hell's Gate claim in the Mayo Mining District in August 1903 and then left to prospect in the Beaver River area in 1905. Before he left, he gave a specimen from the Hell’s Gate claim to McWhorter. Even though it contained more than 300 oz/ton of silver, McWhorter did not get excited and the assays did not reach Davidson.2)
McWhorter staked claims on Dublin Gulch and then left for Alaska where he made money selling a claim in the Iditarod area to the Guggenheims. He returned to the Yukon in 1912.3) In October 1912, Albert E. McKay and Alex Nicol arrived at Gordon's Landing intending to stay the night. As McKay moved up the bank from the river to the cabin of his old partner Henry McWhorter, the dogs started barking. McWhorter called out, but McKay did not answer. McWhorter fired into the bushes, thinking he was firing at wolves but hitting McKay. McWhorter and Nicol took McKay to Mayo, but he died three hours later.4)
McWhorter and Alverson took a lay on the Midas and Ophir claims in 1912, and in February 1913 McWhorter purchased the Midas claim from Frank Carscallen and the two worked their way up the McQuesten Valley. They met Grant Huffman and Mark Evans and travelled to Davidson’s old silver discovery on what would become Galena Creek. McWhorter re-staked the claim as the Silver King and gave Alverson and Huffman a hundred percent lay in exchange for some work.5) McWhorter had financing from Thomas P. Aitken, a dredge owner in Fairbanks, Alaska. The partners hand-mined about fifty-five tons of very rich ore. It was hauled in 50kg sacks to Mayo Landing in the winter of 1913/14 and shipped to the Shelby smelter in San Francisco. Each partner made about $5,000. Aitken purchased the claim and recovered another 3175 tonnes of rich ore by the end of 1916.6) Around 1915, McWhorter sold the mine to Thomas Aitken for seventy-five thousand dollars.7)
McWhorter left Mayo to return to the Alaska gold fields where he married and built a fortune. In 1919, he bought a cattle ranch near Yreka, California and financed a bank in Fortuna that he operated for many years.8)