Alfred Ernest Wills (b. 1867)
Alfred Wills was born in Belleville, Ontario. He graduated from the University of Toronto in 1884, and from the Trinity Medical School in 1889. He travelled to London, England to complete his medical education and lived there for two years. In 1893, he was appointed to the North-West Mounted Police (NWMP) stationed at Calgary. In 1895, Dr. Wills was with the first detachment of NWMP sent to Forty Mile in the Yukon River basin. He was selected for his ability as a medical officer and a surgeon.1) Inspector Constantine relied on Dr. Wills, finding him ready to give assistance in any way.2)
Dr. Wills was interested in mining, and before the Klondike gold rush, he purchased an interest in a mining claim on Miller Creek in the Sixtymile River district.3) When gold was discovered on Bonanza Creek, NWMP members Hayne, Webster, Churchill and Wills took a week's leave and headed out to stake their own claims. Those who succeeded, hired labourers to work them.4) In 1896, Wills staked Claim No. 53 Above on Bonanza Creek in August and No. 4 Above on Hunker Creek in September.5) When the Portland docked in Seattle July 17, 1897, ex-Sergeant Philip Engel, who had staked some claims and was on the ship, told a reporter that Dr. Wills owned four or five claims on the best creek and would probably pull out with a big fortune.6)
In the summer of 1897, medicine was scarce in the Klondike, and he was called upon many times to use the NWMP store to save some stricken man.7) Commissioner Walsh was weathered in at Big Salmon when he learned that the medical officer at Dawson, Assistant Surgeon Wills, was going to Ottawa. He had been selected with two others, to represent the views of the miners on the mining regulations. Constantine informed Herchmer that Wills had submitted a conditional resignation, to be accepted if the government did not approve of his actions. Walsh ordered that Wills be assigned to the territory and his resignation not be accepted. Walsh may have not liked Wills because his father was a Conservative member of the Ontario legislature. In any case, Wills went to Ottawa and resigned from the police force while he was there.8)
After retiring from the NWMP in December 1897, Wills devoted his full attention to mining. In January 1899, he formed a partnership with J.A. [Jerone] Chute to form the Chute & Wills company. They had fifteen creek claims on Gold Run Creek alone.9) At its peak, the company had 150 workers mining their ground. A small townsite on Gold Run, consisting of forty buildings, grew up at the hub of their operations at Claim No. 28. Wills had an impressive two-storey log home, and there was a row of cottages, a large two-storey hotel (operated by Chute & Wills), a mess hall and bunkhouses. For a while, there was a school, a Presbyterian church, a NWMP detachment, a mining recorder’s office and a post office. In 1901, there was lively Gold Run Literary and Debating Society. Orr and Tukey ran a scheduled stage from Dawson out to Gold Run Creek.10)
In 1902, Charles and Belinda, nee Mulrooney Carbonneau owned Claim No. 12 on Gold Run Creek and Charles was trying to organize the rest of the productive claims primarily on the lower end of the creek. Charles learned that Chute & Wills were interested in selling their holdings on Gold Run as they had an impressive debt of more than $637,000 with the Canadian Bank of Commerce. Charles wanted to consolidate the Chute & Wills property with his No. 12 claim and finance the new mining company with outside investment. Chute & Wills transferred their Gold Run claims, plus equipment and improvements and some town property to the Canadian Bank of Commerce on 19 May 1902 for $1,500,000. The Carbonneaus signed over No. 12 Gold Run to the bank for $1, and Charles was given an option to buy all of the Gold Run claims for $1,750.000. The Gold Run (Klondike) Mining Company Ltd. was incorporated on 1 October 1902 with seven subscribers. Three of the subscribers were directors of the company: Charles Carbonneau, A.W. Wills, and Paris banker Francis Jules Marchand. On 31 December 1903, Wills transferred all of the property to Carbonneau who gave Wills the $650,000 mortgage and transferred the property to the Gold Run (Klondike) Mining Company, of which Carbonneau was named managing director. The Dawson newspapers announced that Alfred Wills was the general manager of the company and in charge of the local operations.11)
Jerome Chute had not been party to the negotiations. He was left liable for the money owed to the bank and he was notified that his services as manager were no longer needed. He obtained a restraining order against the bank and all transactions were halted until a settlement was reached on 17 March 1903. Lack of rain that year forced a shutdown of all the mines on Gold Run and neighbouring creeks. More troubles did not allow the mines to start up in 1904, however Wills and Belinda retained their part ownership in the company and were able to share in future profits.12)
By 1911, there were only twenty-six people living on Gold Run Creek, including four women and two children.13) Yukon Gold extended their operations to Gold Run Creek in 1911 with the purchase of Chute and Wills Co. ground and the Crueger Concession.14)