William E. “Billy” James (1875- 1960)
Billy James was a hard-rock miner from California who joined the Klondike stampede and then prospected in the Fortymile and Fairbanks area. He started visiting the upper White River country in 1908.1)
James, Nels Nelson, and Fred Best established a base camp near the mouth of Beaver Creek, Alaska in 1912 and put in hunting and trapping trails in all directions. An Upper Tanana man, named Indian Joe, showed James a quartz prospect in Alaska on the Chathenda Creek’s middle tributaries. James panned the area and planned to return the next year. James and Nelson returned in the spring of 1913 accompanied by James' long-time companion Matilda Wales. James prospected on Chathenda and Nelson tried a nearby tributary where he found good gold. Nelson staked the discovery claim and christened the stream Bonanza Creek. Nelson and Andrew M. “Andy” Taylor, who was also prospecting the area, left for Dawson for supplies. While they were gone, James and Wales prospected further up Bonanza and found a richer strike on the western branch. They staked No.1 and named the creek Little Eldorado. Nelson and Taylor returned from Dawson with Fred Best, Nelson, James’ former partner, and Tommy Dole, a former Dawson bartender. Carl Whitham was also prospecting around the mouth of Bonanza and he obtained the second claim on Little Eldorado. Best returned to Dawson in the middle of July and gave a newspaper interview that started a stampede.2)
In September, Hugh Brady and Henry Dubois sued James, claiming that an outdated grubstake agreement entitled them to a share of the discovery. They obtained an injunction that temporary halted mining, but the matter was settled out of court and James retained most of his property. In 1913 a consortium of miners including John J. “Jack” Price, Frank Manley, and E. J. Ives leased the thirteen claims belonging to James, Wales, Nelson and their silent partner “Billy” Johnson for a reported $500,000. The partnership continued to mine in the area through 1917 and the members mined individually after 1918. In 1921, Nelson sold his claim and James and Thornton leased Bonanza No. 6. In 1922, James and Thornton had the biggest operation on the creek at Little Eldorado No.1 and Bonanza No. 6. Matilda Wales died in 1925 and James married Agnes the following year. In 1931, James was still using his automatic dam to ground sluice. James, Anges, and Almer J. Peterson formed the Nutzotin Placer Company to work James’ claims in 1947. Billy and Agnes James continued to spend much of their time in Chisana City during the 1950s. James filed on the eastern portion of the Chisana townsite in 1955 but died in Anchorage in 1960 before the title was settled.3)