Yukon who is who

Anton Stander (1867 – 1952)

Anton Stander was born Anton Prestopec in Litija, present-day Slovenia. He moved to the United States in 1886 and arrived in Alaska in 1896.¹⁾

Stander was an original staker of Claim No. 6 on Eldorado Creek.²⁾ He went down to the Forty Mile store to get food and tools. Jack McQuesten would have given them to him as a grubstake, but George Baker was temporarily in charge until a new man arrived.³⁾ Author Tappan Adney commented that both stores at Forty Mile attempted to get rid of the credit system after 1892, but neither company strictly enforced the rule.⁴⁾ Baker refused Stander his outfit unless Clarence Berry, a friend of Baker’s and a gambler at Bill McFee’s saloon, guaranteed it. Berry agreed to do this for half an interest in the claim.⁵⁾

The claim was very rich, and Stander and Berry were able to buy the neighbouring claim No. 5 from Halterman and Keller, two of the Whipple group, in 1897.⁶⁾ Frank Keller was the original staker.⁷⁾ Halterman and Keller had worked all winter to bring up the pay dirt and they never tested the ground. The claims were barely touched when they sold out, but they believed, without evidence, that the gold was only good in spots. The new owners paid them out of gold found in their own dump of pay dirt.⁸⁾

James Clements staked Claim No. 4 on Eldorado Creek and he became a partner with Clarence Berry and Anton Stander. Forty men worked the three claims in 1897 and recovered $100,000. Stander then purchased Clements’ interest in Claim No. 4. The interests were afterward divided; Berry took the upper half while Stander took the lower. In 1902, thirty to forty men worked all summer. An open cut 400 feet long by 100 feet wide had progressed to within forty feet of the left limit line of the claim.⁹⁾

Anton Stander married Violet Raymond about four weeks after she arrived in town from Juneau where she was known as the Queen of Burlesque. Violet quit her acting career to marry Stander, one of the richest men in the Klondike. She moved to his cabin on Eldorado Creek where life was very quiet. The Standers left Dawson in July 1898 with nearly $200,000 in gold dust and nuggets, $75,000 of which was a gift to Violet from Anton. He invested some of his money in a Seattle hotel but drank most of it away. Violet left him after one too many jealous rages. He died penniless and she left an estate of $50,000.¹⁰⁾