Yukon who is who

Frank Chapman

In the 1901 census, Frank Chapman and William Thompson were noted to be employees at the Swinehart farm, just downriver from Fort Selkirk. William Swinehart was listed as the head of his household of a son and two eldest daughters. Ham Kline was listed as a partner in the farm.¹⁾

In 1915, Frank Chapman and Pete Olsen bought property on the Pelly River and they established a farm; clearing and breaking up the land. They wintered horses, raised short-horn cattle, and grew hay for the livestock. They imported a hand-fed threshing machine, a steam engine, a roller mill, and other horse-drawn equipment. Their grain thrived and they ground the wheat into flour sold for human and dog consumption.²⁾

In 1918, Chapman and Olsen had 90 acres in oats. They threshed 1500 bushels representing thirty-five bushels to the acre. The oats weighed forty to forty-two pounds per bushel. The balance was left unthreshed for stock feed. They had two and a half acres in wheat that threshed to ninety bushels – thirty-five to the acre. One acre in Barley, hull less and breadless, threshed eighteen bushels. It was ripe three weeks earlier than the wheat sown at the same time. Three and a half acres of potatoes yielded seven tons.³⁾ In 1921, the oats threshed out 3,000 to 4,000 pounds but the wheat did not fill out so well. They tried out some earlier versions later. They used to winter Ray Stewart’s pack horses for $100 per head, and also wintered the Canadian government survey pack animals for many years.⁴⁾

Pete Olsen died and was buried in the cemetery at Fort Selkirk. The story was that his heirs were sent in to settle the estate and as a result, Chapman was financially broke and forced to return to the States. George and Mary Fairclough bought the Pelly Farm in 1927.⁵⁾