Dave Charman (b. ~ 1948)
Dave Charman was born in Dawson to parents Bas and Daphne Charman. His father worked for the Yukon Consolidated Gold Corp (YCGC). The family lived first at Granville and then in a small cabin on the terrace behind Bear Creek, near Dawson. The family then moved to “the island” at Bear Creek after which they moved into a house on the property now owned by Palma Berger in Bear Creek. That house was moved into Dawson by Jack Fraser a few years after YCGC closed and he thinks it is now the White Ram B&B. Dave talked about a two-story log building near his home in which both Ken Grychuk and Bryan Hilton lived at one time or another. This may have been a two-storey log building that was still standing when Michael Gates visited the island around 2008. Dave got a job working for YCGC in 1966, the last year of operation, and worked for thirteen weeks on Dredge #9 (Sulphur Creek) as stern decker. Dave said the company had a policy of hiring employee's children for summer jobs, usually on the stripping and thawing crew, which was hard dirty work. There was no need for stripping in 1966 as the company was shutting down at the end of the season. Dave lived at Bear Creek for his entire childhood. Michael Gates did two interviews with Dave parents in July 2007 and went over their photographs. Dave visited Bear Creek about 1995 and stood in the middle of the compound with a VHS camera commenting on each building.1)