John F. K. MacMartin (1856 – 1939)
John MacMartin was a member of the Yukon Field Force artillery, arriving early at Fort Selkirk to set up buildings for the soldiers. He took his discharge in Fort Selkirk and got a contract to set up a sawmill and cut the logs for the buildings.1) MacMartin lived just downstream from Big Creek on the Yukon River in 1900.2) In 1909, MacMartin applied for a 160-acre homestead at the mouth of Big Creek.3) He cleared and constructed a cabin and stables and by 1917 he had two houses, two barns, woodcutter's cabins and fences and roads. In 1917, he farmed at Minto and worked at the roadhouse. Poor markets caused him to cut back on his crops. He had fifteen to eighteen acres in grain and vegetable crops but was spending more time at Minto and Selkirk. About this time his buildings were moved around by a flood and there was considerable damage. By 1922, he had moved to Selkirk and there were severe loses by fire at his homestead in that year. The property at Big Creek was never surveyed.4)
In the mid-1920s, MacMartin took at least one raft of firewood from Fort Selkirk to Dawson. In 1935, the MacMartins had a nice vegetable and flower garden at Fort Selkirk. They had to bring in the dirt from a local slough or swamp.5) When gold was discovered at Mount Freegold around 1937, MacMartin hoped for a market for his produce, but nothing came of the Big Creek homestead.6) He ran the post office at Fort Selkirk until he died.7) John MacMartin is buried in the Yukon Field Force cemetery at Fort Selkirk. Mrs. MacMartin wanted to be buried beside her husband but she may have left Fort Selkirk in 1940 and gone back east.8)