William Stephenson “Bill” Drury (1870 - 1953)
William Drury was born in Lincolnshire, England and was in Whitby, Ontario when he heard about the Klondike strike.1) In 1898, he and a group of young men took the Ashcroft route to the goldfields and landed at Telegraph in the fall. From there he travelled to Atlin where he met Isaac Taylor. They started a store under the name Talor & Drury Ltd and ran it for a year before moving their business to Bennett. They moved the store to Whitehorse after the railway was completed to the town.2) The Whitehorse store sold groceries, provisions and miners' outfits. Within a year, the business expanded to include the Bon Marche Men's Wear store adjacent to the main Taylor and Drury (T&D) outfitters store. Bill Drury was too busy during the gold rush to visit Dawson so the first time he visited was in July 1936. By that time, he was known as the greatest fur buyer in the entire north.3)
Even after he married Lucy Evans in 1917, Bill Drury spent his winters in the Whitehorse store and his summers travelling to T&D’s trading posts.4) He spent the first year (1901-02) managing the Little Salmon post himself and the First Nations taught him how to grade, handle and store furs. Furs were the main stay of the company from 1900 to 1950. They always gave generous credit to the trappers and only marked up the furs by ten percent. Their successful strategy was that a fair price would encourage the trappers and families to become regular customers. Bill learned to speak the [Southern Tutchone?], and this also helped to make him a successful trader. Over the years, the T&D partners had at least twenty outposts in Yukon and northern British Columbia including Atlin (1898), Bennett (1899), Carmacks (open between 1910 and 1918), Champagne, Coffee Creek (open between 1910 and 1918), Fort Selkirk (open between 1910 and 1918), Hootalinqua (closed by 1915), Keno (1920s-), Kluane, Little Salmon (1901 – ~1919), Livingstone Creek (1901 - ~1915), Mayo (1919 - 1972), Pelly Lakes (1905), Ross River, Sheldon Lake, Stewart Island (1929 - ), Teslin (1905 -), and Whitehorse (July 1900 - 1974).5)
In 1912, the company amalgamated with their chief competitor, Whitney & Pedlar Ltd. of Whitehorse, and the company became Taylor, Drury & Pedlar Ltd. This lasted until 1922 when Whitney withdrew from the company to go fox farming. Taylor and Drury held some stock and in this way the company pioneered fox farming in the Yukon. The Mayo store became the second largest in terms of gross sales. During the 1936 flood, T&D and their competitor there, Northern Commercial Co., told the people to help themselves to the canned goods after the commercial district received five feet of water. Other items were ruined. T&D had successful auto dealerships including Taylor and Drury Motors (1928) with a smaller branch at Mayo, and later Taylor Chev-Olds and Yukon Motors in Whitehorse. W. A. Puckett was the first to sell autos and he had Fords in front of his hardware store in 1914. Both Bill Drury and Isaac Taylor remained active in the company until they were well into their 80s. William Drury was a big man and stood 6'4“ - fast moving, slow speaking and always grinning. He had many friends and was respected, admired, and successful.6)
The Mayo and Carmacks stores closed in 1972. Whitehorse and all of the other locations closed in 1974 due to the falling economy. Over a period of 75 years, T&D grew to an annual gross sale of three million dollars and had eighty-five employees. It was one of the Yukon's oldest merchandising firms.7)