Charles “Charlie” Coghlan (1874 - 1953)
Charles Coghlan was born in Ontario. The family moved to British Columbia to farm, and Coghlan saw the river boats on the Fraser River. In 1901, he started to work as a deckhand on the Columbian on the Yukon River and did not return home for ten years. He worked on the boats in the summer, drove stages on the Overland Trail and ran a trap line near Lake Laberge in the winter.1) He was a stage driver for the Royal Mail Service in the early 1900s.2)
Coghlan received his ship’s mate ticket in 1913 and served on the sternwheelers Bonanza King and Casca. He got his captain’s certificate in 1921 and then worked on the Stewart River and Atlin Lake.3) He worked for the O.F. Kastner Royal Mail Services in 1925 on the tractor trains travelling three to five non-stop days between Whitehorse and Dawson.4) Mr. and Mrs. Coghlan spent the winter of 1924/25 at Crooked Creek and Mrs. Coghlan returned to Whitehorse in May 1925 by stage. Over the winter, Captain Coghlan was the mail carrier from Crooked Creek to Mayo.5) In the winter of 1926/27, Captain and Mrs. Coghlan were in charge of the roadhouse at Braeburn. They arrived home in Whitehorse in March 1927 and George Robinson took over care of the roadhouse.6)
Some of the steamboat captains would contract out to cut wood for the steamers in the winter.7) There was a large wood camp on each side of the river at Lower Laberge and this was an important fuel stop for boats coming upriver. Charles Coghlan was a wood contractor at Lower Laberge and lived there in the 1930s.8) He also had a house in Whitehorse.9)
Coghlan was a captain on the first Klondike, and was on board when the boat was wrecked in the Thirtymile River in 1936. Malcolm McLeod had worked as a first mate, mainly on the Klondike, and he had the wheel for the first time. Captain Coghlan had put in an extra-long shift and had stayed with McLeod through the rough water. After the crash, the passengers could see slivers in the water and the steering gear was gone with the first jolt. The Klondike drifted down the river hitting land and changing direction each time. Every time it hit, the hands would try and tie her off but finally everyone was advised to get off. There was crew scattered all along the shore for three and a half miles. The boat sank until only the wheelhouse and part of the upper deck showed and then it hit a sandbar. Andy Kaye got thrown off the bow and caught a passing gangplank. Walter Isreal rode the wheelhouse to its final resting place. Three horses and a cow were cut loose but the cow drowned and was the only fatality. The twenty-seven crew and fifty-two passengers were back where they belonged within thirty-six hours.10)
Coghlan then became captain of the Klondike II. During the Second World War, the Klondike was leased to the US Army and Coghlan delivered the boat to Circle. He was elderly and mainly sat in the wheelhouse to keep an eye on the pilot. The pilot made a very tricky landing, and Coghlan jumped up to get the cheers bringing a chuckle from the crew. Coghlan was captain of the Klondike until he retired at age seventy-four in 1948, and he died at Mount Lehman. Coglan’s house was located at 408 Wood Street in Whitehorse. 11)
Coghlan Lake, near Whitehorse, is named for Charlie Coghlan.