Cornelis “Steve” Veerman (1902 - 1976)
Steve Veerman farmed on the Carcross road, across from Robinson Roadhouse. He was raising pigs in log pens in the late 1940s and probably got into cattle about the same time. Food scraps for the pigs came from Whitehorse restaurants and the United States Army and Air Force mess halls. He cooked the lot in a big pig-scalding pot that must have been a bear attractant. Steve’s wife Margaret reported that he shot about fifty bears over the years.1)
Callison Flying Service sold the Robinson Roadhouse ranch in late 1947 or early 1948, and the Veerman’s took over the property. Steve also had a trap line in the area.2) In 1949, Veerman released his grazing rights on some land and in 1955 a work party cleared fairways and filled gopher holes to create the Annie Lake Golf Club.3)
In 1962, A fire at the Veerman farm destroyed his slaughterhouse, some equipment, and a pickup that was parked inside a building. None of it was covered by insurance. In 1964, the Robinson Roadhouse ranch property was transferred to the Yukon Government for non-payment of taxes.4) Steve looked after the farm while Margaret had a full-time office job with Territorial Supply, the local International Harvester dealership. The mess halls closed in the mid-1960s and Veerman could no longer afford to keep the pigs as he was getting a low price for the meat. His cattle sheltered in the old roadhouse out buildings during wet and cold weather, and by the 1970s the herd was small and in-bred. The Veerman house was a four-room tar-paper shack and there were cats everywhere. Margaret loved her animals, and a visitor once counted thirty-seven cats in the house.5)
Steve Veerman was heralded as a dedicated and hard-working farmer whose rewards were more personal satisfaction than financial. His farm was a labour of love.6)