Clarence W. Porter (1859 - 1918)
Clarence Porter and his wife went north in 1899 from Gladstone, Oregon. He worked as a blacksmith in Dawson before moving to Fairbanks in 1904. He continued to work as a blacksmith, and he invested in prospectors looking for mining properties in the Ruby district. He made $30,000 from one claim but lost money on most of his investments.1) He was operating an automobile stage from Fairbanks to the creeks and also to Chitina, Alaska before he booked a ticket to Seattle to look for employment. Clarence Porter drowned when the Princess Sophia sank in the Lynn Canal.2)