William Perkins (1872 - 1902)
Will Perkins was born in Australia and arrived in the Yukon in the spring of 1898. In June, he built a cabin in Klondike City with logs he dragged down from the hill behind the town. In September 1899, he was working on a mining lay on the Last Chance mine with two Australians and a Russian, and boxing in town. He spent the fall on Wade Creek, on Bill Summerville’s property, and the winter working on a Hunker Creek claim for ten dollars a day.1)
In April 1900, Perkins travelled to Whitehorse over the ice with a little mule and a sled. In May, he had a half interest in the Grafter Mine in the Whitehorse Copper Belt. He also staked “Carnage” and “Newhaven” quartz claims; one four miles from Whitehorse and the other at Tagish Lake.2) Will Perkins wrote from Dawson to report that he had boxed with F.P. Slavin on 3 July 1900. They went nine rounds and Will was paid $1,200 dollars as his share. The house was packed from floor to ceiling. Will thought he had Slavin beat in the eighth round, but he left a chance open and the referee counted Will out. Will was looking forward to leaving for Australia and expected to make $10,000 on the sale of a claim. By the time he left the Yukon he was considered to be an expert on quartz claims.3)
On 8 April 1901, Will wrote that the Grafter claim looked good and they were shipping ten tons of ore to the smelter at Tacoma, Washington. He brought 1,500 pounds into the railway station as a test. He and his partner were living comfortably in a cabin on the claim. On 4 May, Will reported that they had shipped five tons to the smelter for a test. In October 1901, Will returned from five weeks in Dawson and was still waiting to sell the copper mine. He reported that The Best Chance copper mine sold in October 1901 for $35,000 and he still had high hopes to make a profit from his mine which he considered to be better than Best Chance. His partnership with W. Woodney was not on paper and he had to take his partner to court to receive $5,000 after the claim sold.4)
In March 1902, Will was the manager of the Grand Hotel in Whitehorse and running his Gymnasium and Physical Culture School. Perkins died suddenly in the Whitehorse hospital of acute appendicitis. His brother came to the Yukon after his death to look after his mining property. Will was buried in Whitehorse and his marble headstone was first in the Whitehorse cemetery.5)