Victoria Anna Belle Faulkner (1897 - 1981)
Victoria Faulkner was born in Tacoma, Washington. Her father, John Faulkner, stampeded to the Yukon in 1898 and his wife and daughter joined him in 1901. They moved to Bear Creek and then to Sulphur Creek where John Faulkner had a mining claim lay. In 1902, the family moved to Anderson Concession on Hunker Creek where her father had a claim. They stayed there for twelve years and moved into Dawson in 1913.1)
Victoria graduated from St. Ann's Academy in Dawson and went to work for Joe Boyle at the Canadian Klondike Mining Company in 1916. She moved on to a government job in 1918. Most of the male stenos were at war and she had a very responsible position. In 1917, Victoria's mother died, and she had to care for her younger sister Mary who was fifteen. She kept house for her father until he went to Mayo in the early 1920s as a labourer for Treadwell Yukon. When Keno closed in 1932, John was kept on as watchman at Wernecke Camp until 1938 when he moved back to Dawson.2) George P. Mackenzie was Yukon’s Gold Commissioner from 1913. In 1918, the positions of Commissioner and Administrator of the Yukon were abolished, and the power of these positions was transferred to the Gold Commissioner. Victoria Faulkner worked in Gold Commissioner Mackenzie's office and was soon acting as secretary to Mackenzie. Mackenzie was transferred to Ottawa in 1924. About four years after she was hired, Victoria became the Registrar of Vital Statistics. Percy Reid was appointed Gold Commissioner in 1924. In 1929, Victoria travelled to Hawaii and spent a good part of the winter there. Faulkner was working for Commissioner Collins in about 1960 when she was moved to the Historic Sites Branch of the Department of Northern Affairs. Her instructions were to begin researching the historic buildings in Dawson City. She spent two years interviewing old-timers.3) Her research supported the designation of Dawson‘s National Historic Sites.4)
When Faulkner finished with Historic Sites and returned to Whitehorse, she agreed to help out the local Chamber of Commerce coordinating the first Northern Resources Conference. That position lasted for nine years and she also ran the Tourist Information program. Faulkner retired again in 1972.(Joyce Hayden, Victoria Faulkner: Lady of the Golden North. A Biography. Whitehorse: Windwalker Press, 2002.)) The Victoria Faulkner Women’s Centre in Whitehorse is named in her honour.5) Brian Spiers, Yukon Archives, interviewed Victoria Faulkner in 1972. Topics include the Yukon education system, social life in Dawson, communities in the Klondike gold fields and government personalities.6) Victoria Faulkner is buried in the Gray Mountain Cemetery in Whitehorse. In her last years she suffered from Parkinson's.7)