William D. Wood (1858 – 1917)
William Wood was originally from Marin County, California with completed degrees in education and law. He moved to the Seattle area in 1882 to further his career as a lawyer. In 1884, he was elected Probate Judge of King County, but he was not re-elected. By 1887, his law career was behind him and he was a full-time land speculator in the Green Lake area real estate. In 1891, Wood persuaded Dr. E.C. Kilbourne to extend his electric trolley line to Green Lake. They organized the Green Lake Electric Railway that Wood managed. The 1893, depression put a stop to land speculation and building around Seattle and Wood turned to politics.1)
In April 1896 the City Council appointed Wood to fill the unexpired term of Mayor Frank Black who had heart trouble. Wood was attending a conference in San Francisco when the Portland docked with a ton of Klondike gold. Wood wired friends in Seattle and they formed the Seattle and Yukon Trading Company to ferry stampeders and their supplies to Dawson.2)
The Seattle-Yukon Transportation Co. was organized with some English money represented by treasurer E. Shorrock. W. D. Wood, president, and A. L. Hawley, vice president, were the other two principles.3) In July they chartered the steamship Humboldt and placed an ad for the $300 tickets of passage. Wood then wired the city to resign as mayor.4)
All did not go well. There were delays, the steamer was overbooked, and Wood tried to sail without twenty-five tons of passenger baggage. Wood was threatened, the baggage was reloaded, and the Humboldt left San Francisco on August 16th to arrive in St. Michael thirteen days later. There was no steamer there to take them upriver, just parts. The passengers unloaded the cargo and started to construct the Seattle No. 1. The steamer was completed in three weeks and followed the May West up the Yukon River. Both boats froze in at the newly named Woodworth (Worth was the captain of the May West). Most residents called the town Suckerville. Wood was forced to part with the supplies he hoped to sell in Dawson and left for St. Michael on foot. The passengers arrived in Dawson on 28 June 1898.5)
Blake D. Mills met Judge Wood in Dawson. The company boasted two ocean steamers, a store at Rampart and one at Dawson. Mills went to work for the company in 1899, serving as a purser on the steam schooner Lakme. The ship was to meet the Seattle No 1, Seattle No. 2 and Seattle No. 3 to ship goods up the Yukon River to Rampart, Eagle, and Dawson. Mills went up on the Seattle No. 3 loaded to the guards with supplies for the three stores. The amount of goods at Eagle was very limited. They were landed with a tarp pulled over them as Wood had purchased several lots in Eagle but there was not one dollar in the treasury to build. One lot had a cabin about 10' x 12' and Mills opened his store there. He sold enough goods to build a store, and he built a warehouse on credit. As things settled down, there were too many trading stations for the amount of business. Dawson was only 100 miles away and was competition. The Alaska Commercial Co. and the Alaska Exploration Co. merged, and they bought the Seattle-Yukon Transportation Co. as well, so Mills was out of a job.6)
In 1901, William H. Wood was enroute to wind up the affairs of his Seattle-Yukon Transportation Company. After he reached Dawson, the Klondike Nugget reported on June 5th that he had arrived to arrange the formal transfer to the Northern Commercial and Northern Navigation companies. The Northern Commercial Company was formed just four days earlier as the Alaska Commercial and the Alaska Exploration companies merged. It was nearly two years since Wood had last visited Dawson. Judge Wood was noted returning from Nome on the sternwheeler Susie on July 25th. He made the round trip to review his Seattle-Yukon Transportation posts along the river and make the final transfers. Wood was expected to remain in Dawson for a few days and to revisit Nome. Wood's later life was spent in Seattle.7)
Wood continued his business interests in Seattle, forming a partnership to build the Central Building, and selling investment securities.8)