John Thomas Chambers (b.1882)
John Thomas Chambers was born in the United States. He was a clerk in Dawson in September 1916 when he enlisted to serve in the First World War. He was recruited by Captain George Black and was in England by August 1917.1) Chambers owned a number of claims in the Whitehorse, White River, and Klondike regions. They were held free from cancellation during the war.2)
Chambers was discharged from the hospital on 23 November 1918 suffering from permanent defective vision aggravated by his war service.3) He was gassed and wounded at the front, and after the war he remained in poor health and in the hands of the doctors. He was advised that soldiers unable to do their assessment because of physical disability would receive further protection on their claims. He was asked to supply a letter from the doctor which he did. In December 1919, Chambers wrote from Juneau to ask about the status of his claims.4)
A letter from the Gold Commissioner to Superintendent Rowatt, Mining Lands and Yukon Branch, Dept of the Interior, stated that Chambers was the only returned soldier who asked to have his claims held free of cancellation because of his disability to perform the work. In a review of the case, it was determined that Chambers owned eleven mineral claims all in the White River area. Three of these were 150-acre copper locations. Seven of the claims were acquired by assignments recorded less than two months prior to the date of the Armistice. A circular to the Yukon mining recorders and the Gold Commissioner from the Department on 7 May 1920 advised that holders of claims would have to maintain their claims in good standing after 10 July 1920. A certificate of work should have been taken out with respect to the claim in question on the anniversary of the date upon which the entry was originally granted next following 10 July 1920.The department had no authority to reinstate these vacant Dominion lands. A letter on 31 October 1921 from the Gold Commissioner to Chambers stated that the Department had no authority to reinstate him in the claims and they were now vacant Dominion lands.5)
A letter from M.C. Chambers to the Gold Commissioner stated that his son was too sick to work the claim and the father was in California looking after him so he could not go and tend to it for him. “We do not want to lose this property after all these years of expense and labor…” A letter from Gold Commissioner to Chambers on 24 August 1922 re-stated their stand on the matter.6)