Hibbert E. Porter (d. 1914)
Hibbert E. Porter was a prospector with connections in Chicago.1) H. E. Porter staked the Pueblo copper concession in the Whitehorse Copperbelt on 7 July 1899. The original discovery was not made on the great copper-stained hematite mass which now gives it value, but on an unimportant quartz vein located near the eastern boundary. Soon after it was staked, the property passed into the possession of the Whitehorse Copper Company and was immediately bonded, with fifteen other claims owned by the same company, to the British-America Corporation. Some development work was done but the ore did not prove satisfactory and the bond was torn up. Early in 1906, the concession was bought by the Yukon Pueblo Mining Company, of Spokane and a systematic exploration of the ore body was made.2)
In 1902, a man named Porter left on a prospecting trip up the Hoochi River and returned on June 2. Another prospecting trip was taken by Porter to the head waters of the Pelly River. The coal mine owned by Mr. Porter on the government trail about fourteen miles south of Tantalus detachment remained inactive, although great preparations were made for the 1903 season's work. A company was formed in 1902 in Seattle with Colonel Sutherland, a capitalist, as president and Mr. Porter as directing manager. It seems the capital for development is not forthcoming. It is a valuable property but far from the river and would require fourteen miles of trolley line.3)
Hibbard E. Porter discovered deposits of stibnite and other minerals on Carbon Hill, in the Wheaton Mining District, at the end of the 1906 season.4) The Porter group and Goddell group on Carbon Hill and the Morning claim and Evening Claim on Chieftain Hill were the most important antimony-silver claims found.5)
H. E. Porter’s claims in the Wheaton River area on Carbon Hill were in danger of lapsing in 1908 but he apparently received substantial financial support from American investors. At that point, Porter had interests in the Porter, Empire, and Excelsior claims. In 1910, Porter sold the claims to William J. Fleming.6) The Whitehorse Star reported in 1912 that Porter was in the country and continuing to prospect.7)
Porter Creek and the Porter Creek subdivision in Whitehorse are named for Hibbert E. Porter.