John P. Hubrick (1858 – 1930)
John Hubrick came north in 1897 and worked in Dyea to accumulate $5,000 which he then lost in speculation. He moved to Dawson and in 1899 was reported to be carrying a poke of gold dust and $250 in gold nuggets.1) He very likely had mining claims on Hubrick Gulch.2)
John and his wife were returning to the Yukon around 1899 when their scow capsized near the Big Salmon and he lost everything in the barge. He partnered with boxer Frank Slavin and worked claim No. 34 Above on Sulphur Creek. It was one of the richest on the creek and by 1901 he was reputed to be worth $100,000.3)
Hubrick was in Dawson in 1900 when a small steamer was ferrying passengers between Dawson and West Dawson, across the Yukon River. The demand was high and Hubrick seized the opportunity to get approval for the construction of a cable ferry in 1901. Steel cable was attached to an anchor sunk five metres below Third Avenue and then rose thirty-eight metres on a tower that straddled Front Street just south of Queen Street. The cable spanned the Yukon River and was anchored in a rock bluff on the other side. The tower was complete by early 1902 and a road was built up the rock cliff on the West Dawson side. The ferry was not profitable for Hubrick and he tried to sell it to the government for $14,000.4)
In 1904, a downtown fire damaged the cable, and the replacement cost was an estimated $4,000. The government turned down a lower sale price of $8,000 and in 1904 Hubrick sold the ferry to D. A. Matheson who immediately sold it to the government for $13,400. The ferry operated for another forty years and was then dismantled after the tower was damaged in a 1944 flood.5)
In 1905, Hubrick was operating a roadhouse at 54 Below on Hunker Creek when Reverend George Pringle accused him of printing and exhibiting salacious cards. In 1907, Hubrick bought one of the first automobiles in town and used the car as a taxi for stops between Dawson and Granville on Dominion Creek. The 40-horsepower Pope-Teledo was nick-named The Red Devil. Hubrick departed from Dawson in December 1907, leaving many unpaid bills and wages. His driver, Carl Lillesternia, took possession of the car. In 1916, Hubrick was prospecting and living in McCarthy, Alaska and in 1917 he was leading big game hunting parties. He took a photography course in 1918 and had plans for a 1919 expedition to film the natural history of the White River in the Yukon. In 1920, he led hunting parties into the Pelly and Macmillan rivers. Most of his photographs were destroyed in a fire shortly after his death in 1930.6)