George Simmons (d. 1985)
George Simmons came to the Yukon with his parents as a small child. His father managed the customs office in Carcross for many years.1) George moved to Colorado in the 1920s where his fur business failed.2) He raised fish, ran a fur shop, and took up flying.3)
When Simmons returned to the Yukon, he won a contract to carry the Atlin mail and he used a horse and sleigh starting in 1930. His Atlin contract said only ten trips a year but did not say how.4) Simmons leased a seven-place Fairchild 71 (CF-ATR) from Brooks Airways in Saskatchewan and pilot Bob Randall came with the plane. They started hauling fright, mail and passengers between Carcross and Atlin and advertised air service to Whitehorse and Dawson.5) In 1932, Simmons was approached by Everett Wasson, pilot for the Treadwell Yukon Mining Co. of Mayo. Wasson became a partner, having purchased Treadwell’s Fairchild FC-2W G-CARM. The pair formed Northern Airways.6)
In 1934, Northern Airways acquired a 1929 Fokker Super Universal from Consolidated Mining and Smelting. Over the years they hired many pilots including Pat Callison, Herman Peterson, Art Burt, Frank Burton, Les Cook, Al Warner, R.C. “Bob” Randan, Ron Greensalde, Bob Delert, Bill Holland, Lionel Vines, Des Murphy, Allen Fairweather and Ernie Kubicek. White Pass & Yukon Route company president H. J. Wheeler did not like competition to the White Pass transportation monopoly and the company started their own airline, hiring Bookwalter away from Clyde Wann [Skagway Airlines]. Then they hired George Simmon's Northern Airways pilot-partner Everett Wasson.7)
Simmons entered into a rate war with Whitepass Airways. At one point, fares between Whitehorse and Dawson City dropped to $5 per passenger but Wheeler broke the impasse when he negotiated a settlement and fares returned to a more reasonable $50 one way. In 1946, Bud Harbottle and Norm Hartnell started Yukon Airways in Whitehorse and George Milne started the Whitehorse Flying School. In 1949, the companies joined to become Whitehorse Flying Service. In the summer of 1949, George Simmons approached them and sold his company, Northern Airways, and they also bought the Fairchild 71 CF-BXH from Carcross.8)
George Simmons had one of Canada's finest records for air safety. He started with one aircraft and had six planes when he sold the business.9)