Milo Jurovich (1901 - 1989)
Milo Jurovich left Yugoslavia in 1926 and travelled to Belgium and then Canada. He worked in Ontario, Saskatchewan and British Columbia where he met his wife Annie in Prince Rupert. In 1935 he travelled north to Whitehorse and then got a $50 ticket to Dawson on a huge snowmobile with a seating capacity of eighteen. He was hired by Archie Fourier of the Yukon Gold Corp. to cut wood at Guggieville. He bought a house in Dawson for $200. In 1936 he worked on Dredge No. 3 on Bonanza. Annie came north in 1937 and they were married.1) They had four children: Marie (1938) Danny (1939), George (1941) and Larry (1947). The family moved to Prince Rupert between 1943 to 1946 in search of higher paid work. They returned to Dawson where Milo worked on the dredges in the summer and cut wood in the winter.2) Milo was injured on the dredge in 1947 and had trouble gaining employment. In 1949, Harry Gleaves from the Royal Alexander Hotel, leased him the bar, hotel, and poolroom and Annie did the hotel laundry.3) Dan and George helped her. Every week during the summer the family would take Milo’s old Chevy pickup out to visit Milo’s mining friends on Bonanza or they would travel to Rock Creek to fish.4) They did this until the hotel was sold in 1951.5)
Milo and Annie moved to Mayo in 1951 and briefly lived in a cabin where the Motel is now. He bought some property and relocated a one-story house he bought from the Northern Canada Power Commission (NCPC) when the Mayo River dam was completed that year.6) They operated the Silver Inn Café for a few years before finding someone to lease it. Milo and partner Mike Franich bought the Silver Inn Hotel from Alex Arthur in June 1951. After Franich died, Milo hired a bartender, a watchman, and a chambermaid and added the Silver Inn Taxi service to the business. The hotel was subsequently leased to a number of people including Oliver Hutton, Alex Ruchun, Lino Battaja, Steve Van Bibber, and Drago Kokanoff. During this time, Milo worked at the Mayo General Hospital as a custodian. After Milo took over running the hotel again, costly renovations persuaded him to sell it to Alan McDiarmid and Brian Kates. The Jurovich’s sold their Mayo house in 1975 and moved into modern government housing. In 1985, they moved to Langley and a place near their four children. Annie passed away in 1987.7)