Chalmers Mackay
Chalmers Mackay was born in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island.1) He came west as a buffalo hunter for the Dominion government and later had a contract on the canal at Canal Flats in 1888. Chalmers homesteaded a ranch in the Windermere, British Columbia area in the later 1880s.2)
In the spring of 1898, Chalmers hired two men to help him drive a herd of cattle to Dawson. In early 1899, Chalmers and his older brother William brought thirty tons of goods and 140 head of cattle into Dawson. They rented a tent for four months at $300 a month and sold their goods for a considerable profit. They attempted a second trip in the autumn of the same year and hired a steamer to tow five scows loaded with cattle and supplies before freezeup. A storm on Lake Bennett forced them to cut the scows adrift and their loss was about $30,000.3)
By the autumn of 1900, William had a retail store in Dawson and was working a mining claim. He and his brother were still in the Yukon in 1901. William was operating a $25,000 mercantile business, and Chalmers was a mine owner working a $25,000 claim.4) Chalmer’s ranch in Windermere was sold to Columbia Valley Orchards Co. in 1910.5)