Orloff King
Orloff King was an American who was a veteran of the Spanish-American war and drew a pension for his service.1) In 1943, Orloff was running his trap line out of a cabin at Montague on the Canadian Development Co. winter trail near Carmacks.2) He trapped for years along the Nordenskiold Valley, made a good living, and then retired to his mining claim.3)
King prospected and mined in the Mt. Nansen area thirty miles west of Carmacks for about fifteen years. His cabin was over a ridge above Nansen Creek. In the spring and early summer, he mined using a dam he built in the creek. When the reservoir reached a certain level, a gate was tripped open, and the creek banks were washed into the creek. This method of placer mining is called ground sluicing. Periodically King would push more dirt down from the eroded banks into the rushing water. He recovered the gold from the dry creek (as the reservoir was re-filling) with a gold pan and used a little mercury to recover any fine gold. He did the clean-up in the creek or in a washtub in his cabin. Orloff didn't get rich from his claim but he liked the life and the solitude. He had two neighbours on nearby creeks, and the three often visited. They spent their winters in Carmacks.4) King built his cabin in Carmacks in the 1920s.5)
Orloff King died at his cabin at Mt. Nansen, southeast of Mt. Freegold, while Nanson Creek miner Gordon Dickson was visiting. King had written a note on a magazine to leave his claim to his sister Lotte. Gordon-Cooper and an RCMP officer buried him near his cabin.6) King was in his seventies when he died.7)