Jules Guise Andrew Hart (1878 – 1920)
Andrew Hart was born in Scotland. He was a member of the First Fife Artillery, a volunteer force, and drilled for two years seasons with the First Lamark artillery, took part in the Queen's review of the volunteers at Edinburgh, was three years with the Royal Engineers, and served with them in Egypt in 1882 in the engagement against Arabi Pashi after which he came to Canada. He served three years as a colour sergeant with the Nanaimo infantry and was at sea some time as a ship's officer.1)
In 1894, Hart crossed the Chilkoot Pass with a party that included John McDougal of Victoria.2) Hart came north with a man named McDougall and a tinsmith from Butte Montana. They were strangers travelling at the same time and became partners. They landed at Juneau, and while they waited for the weather to improve, McDougal talked to Sam Lansing, who had prospected the area and drew him a map of the area between Sixtymile and the Stewart River. McDougall tired of waiting and sold his outfit to Hart and the tinsmith who left Juneau in the middle of April with Lansing and a Frenchman. They travelled to Forty Mile where the tinsmith stopped to ply his trade. Hart and another partner named Hansen poled upriver, missed the mouth of the Klondike and travelled up the Indian River. They abandoned the boat at the mouth of Quartz Creek. They started up Little Blanche and found a gold prospect. They may have panned out $2000 that summer. They returned to Forty Mile and Hart was repairing a riverboat for the trader Jack McQuesten when he heard about the Klondike strike.3)
Hart was an early member of the Dawson Rifles. When the Boer War broke out he joined the Lovat Scouts in Scotland. He commanded the Dawson unit of the Legion of Frontiersmen and was a member of the Dawson Rifle Association. He received the Egyptian medal and a star for the 1882 campaign and the Queen's medal for South Africa with three bars. Hart was the Dawson fire chief starting in 1912 and the recruiting officer for Joe Boyle's WWI contingent in 1914.4) Hart enlisted for service in the First World War and was transported from England to German East Africa where he joined the Legion of frontiersmen, 25th Battalion, Royal Fusiliers.5)
On May 28, 1915 Hart applied through lawyer Charles R. Settlemier for an exemption from representation and from payment of renewal on placer claims on Henderson Creek and tributaries while he was at war. He had one third undivided interest in the claims, and they were in Settelmeyer’s name, as trustee. A memo on 28 May 1915 from the Gold Commissioner to Berton, the mining recorder, recommended that this happen even through the legislation to allow it was not final. A memo on 27 May 1915 from mining recorder Berton referred to Hart’s application to lay over forty-four claims on Henderson Creek. The claims included Discovery Claim on Eleven Pup; six claims on Sixty Pup; and the rest above and below on Henderson. There was a declaration that Hart’s 1/3 interest was free and clear and that he bought his claims with cash before he enlisted.6) A letter from Settlemier asked for the exemption of seven claims on Henderson Creek and tributaries, dated 3 July 1915. A letter from the Gold Commissioner exempted creek claims 6, 13, 15 above and 1, 16, and 27 below on Henderson Creek; creek claim 10 below on left fork of Henderson, and a third of each claim belonging to Arthur Hart.7)
On 16 December 1920, a fire damaged the main floor and contents of the Carnegie Library. Andy Hart, the caretaker, was injured and died shortly afterwards.8)