Ernest Schink (d. 1945)
Ernest Schink emigrated from Germany, where he was a baker, to New York and came to the Yukon in 1898. His travelling group divided at Skagway and some, including Schink, went over the White Pass, believing the Chilkoot to be too dangerous. He arrived in Dawson in the summer of 1898 and soon opened the Gem Bakery. It was very successful and he operated it for many years until he invested everything in the Donjek rush to the White River country and lost it all.1)
In 1910, Schink formed a partnership with Andrew Rystogi, a Polish immigrant who had also joined the 1898 stampede, to buy the Occidental Hotel. The 1911/12 Gazetteer lists them as also having a real estate business and Rystogi is listed as a Financial Agent representing an ‘outside’ bank. The Slavic population of Dawson made the hotel their watering place and the hotel was a success. Drinks could illegally be had by the shot, if the patron was allowed into the back room. Schink sold his share of the hotel and opened a grocery store.2)
During the 1913 Chisana gold rush, Schink operated a roadhouse on the trail and supplied lumber to the stampeders. His roadhouse and stables were at the mouth of the White River.3)
During the First World War, neighbours of German or Slavic background were viewed with suspicion and their businesses were boycotted. Schink was the father of Ernest (Ernie) and Florence. Florence and Magretta Ballentine Gaundroue were both told they were not welcome at Sunday School. Schink was not able to make a living in Dawson.4) In August 1943, the large plate glass windows from Schink's old store at the corner of Third and Queen in Dawson were taken out and shipped to the Northern Commercial Co. in Whitehorse.5)
Schink and a partner bought a coal mine near Carmacks.6) He mined at Tantalus Butte in the 1920s.7) For several years he delivered coal in Dawson, primarily to the government buildings and St. Mary's hospital.8)
In 1950, Colbourne and Schink operated a mine with two employees on Hester and Hunker creeks near Dawson.9)