George Chambers (~1905 - 1941)
George Chamber was born in Champagne to parents Annie and Harry “Shorty” Chambers.1) He learned to read and write at the Anglican Church and was able to take over running his father’s store.2) In the 1930s, Taylor & Drury (T&D) established a store at Champagne, run for a time by Roy Churchill.3) George used to haul freight from Whitehorse for the T&D store as well as his own, because T&D never had horses.4)
Peter Jackson was George Chamber's right-hand man, at least part-time. George always had a couple of people working for him, cutting wood and putting up hay. He had cattle at one time. His father had them first and George kept them for a while and then got rid of them. He also sold the vegetables he grew, especially potatoes, if he didn't have any in the store. But he was usually in the shop. He was a first-class mechanic and could listen to a motor and tell what was wrong with it.5) One time he ordered car parts and put a kind of snowmobile together with big tracks on it and then he turned the horses loose down at the hay ranch. He cut wood for the store and roadhouse and would sell wood to the First Nations people in the area for a dollar a sleigh-load. Chamber's store was built by George, old Nelson, and some others. George and old Carl Patterson put on the back addition to store groceries. It would take George three days to go to Whitehorse with the horses; they would stay a couple of days and then take three days to come back to Champagne. George's wife, Sue, usually ran the store when George was away getting supplies or out with the mail run in the winter.6)
George had a lathe and he made stoves and sold them.7) He would take a whole bunch to Whitehorse and T&D would buy them. Then they would ship them to Fort Selkirk or wherever.8)
Chambers had a boat and would go over to Dezadeash Lake where he built a tiny house. He would take groceries and trade them for salmon. Then he would sell them during the winter to the trappers. He would take the horses to Dezadeash and haul fish back from Klukshu and put them in the boat and bring it back to Champagne.9)
T&D closed their store in Champagne in 1938 and in return, George promised to buy goods from their store in Whitehorse.10)
George Chambers died in the spring of 1941 from a ruptured appendix. The army asked permission from George in April that year to put the camp in the town of Champagne. There was another big camp at Mendenhall, a sawmill near Champagne, and another one at Four Mile. The people and soldiers got along as most of the men were away working and just their families were there. The store did a good business.11) George died the year after the highway started to go through the area. His wife, Sue Van Bibber, took over the store with Alec Davis.12) The Chambers family continued to operate a business at Champagne until 1962 when the roadhouse burned.13)