Jim Mervyn (1866-1957)
Jim Mervyn was born near Stratford, Ontario in 1866. He trained as a carpenter in Chicago and then worked his way west. In 1897 he owned a sawmill near Walla Walla, Washington. He sold the mill when he heard about the Klondike but couldn’t stake good ground. He stampeded to Duncan Creek in the current Mayo mining district and mined on Parent Creek in 1902. He trapped with partner Billy Bowes and after two years in the bush they came out with 500 dark martin skins. The market was low in Dawson, so he took the fur to Vancouver. That venture was so profitable that he worked for Elmer Middlecoff on Highet Creek in 1911 to have enough money to become a trader. He was successful at mining a claim on Parent Creek, a tributary of Duncan Creek, and then had enough to start a business. 1)
Mervyn bought Lansing Post on the Stewart River from the Ferrells in 1915. 2) Mervyn ran Lansing until 1937. He married Julia, a Mackenzie River woman, sister to Senoa (Niddery), and they had eleven children. 3) Mervyn had to kill fifty moose every season to feed his family and four dog teams. He used poling boats and later bought two motor launches that he parked above and below Fraser Falls. He supplied Lansing from Dawson with one trip every summer. He did not use cash but traded across or used copper alloy coins with his name on them. 4)
Lansing was flooded in 1936, and most residents moved away. 5) Mervyn's daughter Maggie Wood and her husband Jimmy Wood ran the post in the winter of 1937/38 when Mervyn went back to Stratford. Mervyn bought the Binet Bros. firm in Mayo in the summer of 1838 and began operating the hotel in July. 6) Mervyn ran the hotel until 1947 and then leased it to Fred Matthews and Dick Mercure who ran it until about 1950. He sold the hotel to Ed Barker, Elsy M. Rowan, and Robert J. Rowan of Tourist Services. Dunc and Ruth McGeachy and their sons, Mike and Brian, moved to Mayo to manage the hotel. Mervyn sold the store stock to the Northern Commercial Co. He returned to Ontario in 1954 and died there. 7)
Mount Mervyn in the Yukon is named for Jim Mervyn.