Laurent Cyr (1919 - 2006)
Laurent Cyr was born in Whitehorse to Antoine and Marie Cyr. When he was five, he had business cards, borrowed an RCMP hat, and had “Guide to Sam McGee's Cabin” printed on an attached ribbon. He met the trains and led the tourists to the cabin. He didn't charge but the tourists gave him tips.1) Cyr had a delivery service from an early age. His mother made bread and he would run around town and deliver it. He would take a cart down to the White Pass depot to see if there was anything light that he could deliver. His trucking business was one of the first in Whitehorse.2) When Laurent worked in the kitchens on the boats from Whitehorse to Circle City, he peeled potatoes and, if the tourists had questions, he talked while they peeled.3) Cyr worked as a dishwasher on the sternwheeler Klondike. In three seasons he crewed on the Whitehorse, Tutshi and Aksala.4)
Laurent Cyr lived at Champagne in the winter of 1937 managing the Taylor and Drury (T&D) store. He had been working at the store in Whitehorse, but the storekeeper in Champagne was arrested or was in trouble so Cyr took his place. He knew nothing about furs and Champagne was a trading post where no money crossed the counter – just fur pelts for credit. Cyr stayed the winter. People came in at Christmas and for a few days it would be really busy with people wanting flour and sugar, powdered milk, and maybe some of the smoked salmon they had traded in the fall, and then they were gone until March. The odd one would come in if they ran short. In March, they would come in to get supplies to go after muskrats and then Cyr would see them again in late May or June. The main means of travel was by dog team and a few had horses. In the summer it was by foot and dog pack. Bill Drury Sr. made a deal with George Chambers, who had the other store at Champagne, that T&D would not open in the fall of 1938 if George brought his supplies in. There was not enough business for two stores and Cyr didn’t go back out to Champagne. When he was there, Cyr had a truck and hauled his own wood and made the occasional trip to Whitehorse for supplies. He was paid $100 a month and allowed $30 for meals. He always had to dig into his own pocket to eat. The store carried everything to make home brew, although it was illegal. The storekeeper, Reg Low, used to make his own liquor and he got robbed. He was charged and sent outside.5)
A few miles above Byer's wood camp on the Yukon River, there is a small dredge built and abandoned by Laurent Cyr and his partner, Boyd Gordon. Neither man had dredge experience. The dredge was constructed in Whitehorse without plans and Cyr helped to build it. It was operated by a car motor and was expensive to build so they went into debt. The hull was 18' x 32' and 32“ deep. It was closed in and caulked all around. There were twenty 2/3 cu. ft. buckets with manganese lips. The chain was built out of caterpillar tracks with pads removed to install the buckets. It had a rotating trommel and a grizzly. There was a separate high-pressure water pump. They used it to dig into the bank in the fall. They bought a cat from T.C. Richards that had been used at Takhini to haul the ferry in and out of the river. They made a winch out of it to maneuver the dredge. There was a hand winch on the stern, and they made a system of cables and blocks to anchor the dredge. They used the 4-cylinder motor from a cat to move the dredge around and a small launch tied alongside helped to maneuver around bends in the river. They left Whitehorse on 5 August and did twenty days of digging to make $2,300 worth of gold at $32 per ounce. It was only used one year, in 1940, as Gordon did not want to return the next year.6)
In 1943, Laurent Cyr was the postmaster in Whitehorse during the construction of the Alaska Highway. He found himself surrounded by unsorted mail and no authorization to hire but he ended up recruiting several workers to help.7) In the 1940s, Cyr almost went broke operating a wood camp at Britannia Island about 130 miles south of Dawson on the Yukon River. The wood was green, and the spring flood took the stockpile away.8) Laurent worked for White Pass & Yukon Route various times in various positions and quit them. In the 1950s, he was foreman of the freight yards and he quit that job three times. It was just before the White Pass containerized their freight. It was chaos with long hours and Cyr was on a salary.9)
After this, Cyr started his own trucking business. He had eleven three-ton trucks as well as flat decks, tankers and dump trucks. He provided wood and water delivery and garbage collection to Whitehorse. His was the first business to truck food and meat from British Columbia to Whitehorse on a regular schedule. The Alaska Highway was under United States military control and permits were required for every trip. No stops were allowed, so food and gas had to be carried for the whole 1500 km trip. Most of the time the trucks hauled eight tons of goods. The back haul was beer bottles and that paid for the fuel used. Cyr was also the first trucker to haul ore from Mayo to Whitehorse both summer and winter. He also hauled to Dawson in the winter before the Klondike Highway was constructed. The old winter trail [Overland Trail] was not maintained, and travel was difficult. They often built culverts and bridges just to get through. One time he was enroute to Dawson on an emergency run when the grocery store burned. His delivery van had a hot water heater and a bearing went in the motor. He was 112 km from Dawson and the weather was -40. He had forgotten to load the charcoal heater for emergency use. He lit a small fire, removed the oil pan and located the damaged bearing. He then broke into a case of bacon and peeled off the rind to use as a repair. The repairs could not be done in Dawson, so he drove the truck all the way back to Whitehorse with the bacon still in place.10) Cyr lived on the philosophy of never giving up when things got difficult.11)
Laurent Cyr was awarded the Commissioner's Award for public service in 2001. He was a charter member of the Elks Lodge.12) He joined the Yukon Oder of Pioneers in 1958.13) He was president for several years and at other times was secretary and treasurer. Altogether he served with the organization for over fifty years.14)
Laurent was an early member of the Yukon Historical and Museums Association that was responsible for the establishment of the MacBride Museum.15) He was a lifetime member of the museum which he helped build.16) He volunteered with the organization for more than thirty years and served as president of the museum Board for many of those years. He was also a founding member of the Yukon Transportation Museum. In the 1970s, Cyr served a term as a city alderman.17)
In 2002, Laurent and Corrine Cyr were presented with the Commissioner’s Award for their public service to the community.18) Laurent Cyr was inducted into the Yukon Transportation Hall of Fame as the 2004 Transportation Person of the Year.19)