Alex Shaver (1866 – 1928)

Alex Shaver came north in 1898 with his wife and daughters. Alex worked on the Hepburn Tramway.1) He and his wife built the Pioneer Hotel in Whitehorse in 1899. They were operating the roadhouse at Thistle Creek in 1900 when their daughter Maud arrived in the Yukon. The steamers stopped at Thistle to load wood, and the sisters would get a ride a short distance up the river and float back home in a small boat.2)

In 1902, Edward Menard and Captain Thomas Whelan obtained acreages on the right limit of the Pelly River, across from the large White Pass & Yukon Route roadhouse operated by Alex Shaver.3) [The Menard acreage became the Pelly River Ranch.] George Grenier applied for a lease to mine coal near Wolverine Creek in 1911 and in 1912 he formed a partnership with Alex Shaver of the lower Pelly Roadhouse.4)

In 1922, the Shavers moved to the lower Pelly Crossing Roadhouse. Alex died at home after suffering a stroke and is buried in Mayo. He was survived by Mrs. Shaver and daughters Mrs. J.H. McNeill of Dawson, Mrs. J. Sullivan of Mayo, and a married daughter in Oregon.5)

1) , 5)
“Another Old Timer Passes.” The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 7 December 1928.
2)
Helen Ferby, “Original Settlers, Edwards Go South.” The Whitehorse Star (Whitehorse), 20 June 1957.
3)
Mike Rourke, Rivers of the Yukon Territory: Pelly River. Houston, BC: Rivers North Publications, 1995: 28.
4)
Mike Rourke, Yukon River: Marsh Lake to Dawson City. Houston B.C.: Rivers North Publications, 1997: 117.