James Williams

James Williams, a Dawson capitalist, became involved in the Dawson Electric Light and Power Company (DEL&PCo) sometime before October 1899 when he accepted delivery of eighty-seven tons of equipment for a new power plant. The equipment arrived on several scows and included two boilers, one weighing 7¼ tons and the other weighing 5,000 pounds. Williams believed the engine, with a capacity of 250 horsepower, would generate all the light that Dawson would need for some time. The town had experienced power outages during the last winter and Williams assured the Dawson Daily News reporter that all of the essential equipment was duplicated. William said $38,000 had been spent on the plant and the owners could not afford for anything to go wrong. The building to house the new DEL&P Co. equipment was almost completed in October 1899. It was large building, two and a half stories high. The mill was located at the south end of town in the government addition.¹⁾

Falcon Joslin, who arrived in Dawson in 1897, was involved in the formation of the DEL&P Co. Billy Chappel was president, Alex MacDonald was vice-president, and Joslin was secretary for the company that had $75k in capital at the beginning. Falcon Joslin was the chief promoter of the Coal Creek Coal Company (CCCCo). Henry Siemer had claims on Coal Creek in the Yukon in 1896 and James Williams became interested in the property about 1902. The CCCCo was owned by a syndicate that included James Williams, Siemer, another Dawson miner August Carlson, and Carl Magnus Johanson, commissioner of Circle City, Alaska.²⁾