J. L. Hawley
J. L. Hawley was superintendent of construction for the Arctic Express Company that built provision cabins all along the Yukon River so that dog teams could carry mail in and out of the Yukon.1) The first winter mail contracts were awarded to P.C. Richardson and he assigned them to the Canadian Development Co. The company had both Canadian and American mail contracts.2)
Hawley built provision cabins all along the Yukon River. He left Bennett around the beginning of September 1898 with eighteen men and a large scow equipped with tools. They tied up every fifty miles along the Yukon River and upper lakes to build 16 x 24 feet cabins. They could complete a cabin in two days even including floor and chinking. Hawley's scow was followed by scows containing provisions for the cabins. The cabins were marked on the bank with large signs bearing the company name. The supplies were divided among the cabins and left with the employees, many of whom planned to have their wives stay with them. The first cabin was located at Tagish Post, then Whitehorse, the foot of Lake Laberge, Big Salmon, Little Salmon, Five Finger, Fort Selkirk, Stewart, Dawson, Forty-mile, Eagle City, National City, Charles Creek, and Circle City. The locations below that were planned to be a day's travel apart. Bennett planned to have a force of eight men and four dog teams and there would be a similar number at Circle City. There would be relays of dogs at Fort Yukon, Fort Selkirk, and Big Salmon. Two men planned to accompany each team that would start out on the 1st and 15th of every month. The men would go right through and one would be the mail carrier and the other the driver. The company was a British one with head man President Battenbury [Rattenbury], of the Ora, Nora and Flora line of small steamboats.3)
The P. C. Richardson company operated in the winter for letter mail only, and for a twice-a-month service was paid $84,000 per year for four years. The Arctic Express Co. booked passengers as well as packages and freight. Passengers were boarded at the taverns and the baggage taken by dog team. In September 1898, the express part of the service was already insured with the United States Guarantee Co. It was a large undertaking with a goal of banishing the terrors of winter isolation from the country.4)