William Hamilton Scarth

Inspector William Hamilton Scarth was with the second contingent of North-West Mounted Police to come to the Yukon. Scarth and his twenty-man detachment landed at Fort Constantine, across the Fortymile River from Forty Mile] sometime in June 1897 and were immediately sent to Dawson. Their first job was to evict the Indigenous people camped on the proposed site of the post. Nine buildings were built and three moved up from Fort Constantine.¹⁾ After the original group of Mounted Police officers were moved from Fort Constantine to Dawson, Captain Scarth was sent down to Forty Mile and put in charge of a penitentiary at Fort Constantine.²⁾ Captain Scarth was famous for never wearing gloves or mitts, and never freezing his fingers.³⁾

By 1900, Scarth had been promoted to Inspector. The officers of “B” Division in July included Scarth, Inspector Z.T. Wood, Inspector H.H. Routledge, Inspector C. Starnes, and acting Surgeon Dr. A. Thompson.⁴⁾