Pat Callison (1910 - 1999)
Pat Callison was born in North Dakota and grew up in the Peace River country. He became involved in freight and mail delivery ventures in northern British Columbia. Much of the equipment and material for building the Watson Lake airport came up the Stikine River to Telegraph Creek, then overland on Callison’s trucks to Dease Lake. Around 1939, Callison was the owner of a float plane and Cassiar Airways. He earned his commercial pilot license by 1941 and during the next year he flew on the Alaska Highway and CANOL pipeline projects. He and his family moved to Carcross in 1942 and he worked as a pilot for George Simmons’ Northern Airways.1)
When Northern Airways closed down in 1949, Callison moved to Dawson and purchased a WACO AQC-6 CF-DTB in June 1950.2) He started Callison Flying Service and for nine years he had clients in oil and mineral exploration as well as trappers, prospectors, and miners.3)
In October 1955, Callison’s Flying Service bought McCormack’s Transportation with trucks handling freight, mail, and perishables twice a week to Dawson. In December 1955, White Pass & Yukon Route announced the last year of operation for the steamers Tutshi and Klondike who would no longer be carrying freight to Dawson.4) Callison sold his planes in 1956 and started Klondike Helicopters, the first service of its kind in the area. He operated his business from the Downtown Hotel in Dawson until 1960 when the head office moved to Whitehorse.5)
Callison sold the business in 1966 and retired but continued to fly for pleasure and to support his many mining ventures. He had a forty-year aviation career as a pilot and aircraft mechanic and flew 20,000 hours of which 1,000 was in helicopters. He was awarded the Order of Canada in 1974 for his contribution to northern aviation. He was named to the Transportation Hall of Fame in 1999 as Pioneer of the Year. The Callison industrial subdivision in Dawson is named for him. He was survived by his wife Ethel and daughters Joan and Fay.6)