Frank G. Bowker
Frank Bowker came into the Yukon River watershed in 1888.1) In 1891, Bowker arrived at Fort Selkirk having come upriver from Forty Mile. He was traveling with two young First Nation men and they intended to spend the summer prospecting in the White River basin. Frederick Schwatka engaged Bowker to organize an overland expedition to cross the coastal mountains from Fort Selkirk through Scolai Pass. Bowker and his companions travelled to the head of the Kletsan, about 200 miles from Fort Selkirk. Schwatka and his companions, Hayes and Russell, continued on over the pass at the headwaters of the White River, and travelled down the Copper River into Alaska.2)
Bowker signed the founding charter of the Yukon Order of Pioneers at Forty Mile in December 1894.3) At the first meeting, Bowker was elected permanent secretary. He and Peter Wiburg [Wyberg] were appointed to a committee on constitution and bylaws, and H. English was appointed as an additional member on the bylaw committee.4) That same month, a miner named Sailor tried to shoot Bowker, but the shot missed when someone knocked Sailor’s gun off target.5)