Irvin Forest Ray (1904 – 1952)
Irvin Ray was born at Downeyville, California where his parents moved after leaving Nova Scotia. He came to the Yukon in 1922 when he was seventeen years old to join brothers Harvey and David. Harvey came north in 1915 and was a trapper, prospector, and successful miner on Highet Creek in the Mayo mining district. Irvin was offered a job with the Mayo Northern Commercial Company when he was still on the boat coming north. 1) He walked from Whitehorse to become a clerk at the store in 1923-24. He went from there to work as a mechanic at Wernecke Camp and then left the Yukon from 1929 to 1936. Irvin married Elsy in 1936, and they moved to the Yukon where Irvin mined for his brother Harvey for two years on Highet Creek. 2)
In the late 1930s, Ray and Ed Barker bought a D-4 Cat and formed the Haggart Mining Company. By 1940, the partners had 22 claims and twelve miles of prospecting leases along Haggart Creek. 3) In 1942, Hugh Bostock was examining the ground at Haggart Creek and Dublin Gulch for scheelite, a tungsten mineral needed during the war. To crush rock samples, Irvin made him a mortar from a worn bulldozer bearing ring and he used a worn track pin as a pestle. Bostock was impressed with hjis skill and ingenuity. 4)
In the early 1940s, Ray and Barker moved to Whitehorse where they formed a road construction company and put their equipment to use on the Alaska Highway construction project. In 1946, after the war, they mined on Shorty Creek in the Kluane mining district. 5)
In 1947, after Charlie Baxter’s death, Jack Elliot, Ed Barker, Irvine Ray, and Wardie Forest bought the Baxter ranch in Whitehorse for about $45,000. 6) The Baxter Ranch was seven acres in the north end of Whitehorse. 7) The partners wanted to run an auto court, but Jim Smith convinced them that would be seasonal, while a grocery would be busy year-round. 8) The Tourist Services business included a gas station, hotel, café, tavern and lounge with live entertainment, a bakery, and a butcher. Independent motel units stood in a line where the current hotel [Yukon Inn] stands today. The store generated money from day one and became a big operation. In 1954, Bruce Sung, who had leased the Tourist Services restaurant and operated it as Columbia Caterers, bought out the partners and kept Smith as the general manager. 9)
In 1952, Irvin Ray was hunting with Alex Strandberg at Mount Freehold when he experienced chest pains. Ray died about ten miles outside Carmacks on the way to the Whitehorse hospital. 10)
Ray Street in Whitehorse is named for Irvin Ray.