Otto Frederick Kastner
Otto Kastner was in the Yukon by 1906, as he stopped at the Nordenskiold Roadhouse on the Overland Trail between Whitehorse and Dawson in May of that year.1) He and Zoro Clare Dever applied for a marriage licence in Dawson in 1913.2) Kastner had an address at Minto Bridge in the mid-1910s and early 1920s. He was involved in hauling silver ore from the Keno Hill mines until motorized vehicles took over.3)
Otto Kastner, manager of the Dawson News, and Dan Coates, running general transport in Dawson, formed a new stage line in the fall of 1920 to carry the winter mail between Whitehorse and Dawson. They have a two-year Royal Mail contract.4) The company bought a new truck in 1921 with the intention of using it to handle the mail between Whitehorse and Dawson.5)
In late November 1921, there was a lack of snow, and the mail was being taken by auto from Whitehorse to the river [at Yukon Crossing] and then taken from there by horse team.6) The mail delivery at the beginning of December (or end of November) 1921 broke all previous records for speed of the trip from Dawson to Whitehorse. The election ballot boxes were in the mail and had to reach Whitehorse within a certain time so eligible citizens could vote. The trip took just three days and sixteen hours.7)
The Kastner family lived in Whitehorse until 1926 when Kastner lost the Dawson/Mayo mail contract to Greenfield and Pickering. The Kastners moved to Seattle.8)