Morley Elbert Bones (~1865 - 1945)
Morley Bones was an early prospector in the Kluane Lake region. In 1902, he found a large gold nugget on a tributary of Mush Creek in the St Elias Mountains.1) In September 1903, Joseph W. Smith, the discoverer of gold on Bullion Creek, and friends Morley Bones, Fred Alter and Frank Altemose took out forty ounces of coarse gold in a few hours but never again found so rich a pocket. This discovery started a stampede to the area.2) A Seattle newspaper reported that they recovered nearly $700 in nuggets in nine days.3)
In 1914, Tom Dickson hired Bones to take Harry Auer’s party on a big game hunt. Auer described Bones as having hair that was ten inches long and gave him the appearance of a human chrysanthemum. Bones developed into a reliable hunter and guide, and by 1919 was outfitting with his own clients.4) In the 1920s, most of the outfitting business in the went to Louis and Gene Jacquot who took over Morley Bones' outfit and formed the profitable firm of Jacquot Brothers.5) They also bought Bone’s cabin at Wolverine Creek.6)
By 1924, Bones had a well-established homestead and fox ranch at Silver City on Kluane Lake.7) He had a barn for horses and cattle and ten acres under cultivation.8) In October 1934, Bones sold his homestead to Jack Hayden and moved to California where he had a small fox farm.9)