Yukon who is who

James [or John] Paton [or Pliny] “JP” Whitney (1854 - 1933)

James Pliny Whitney was originally from Pennsylvania, and he arrived in Whitehorse in 1899. He and W.C. Pedlar established one of the first businesses in town, Whitney & Pedlar General Merchants, supplying provisions and tools to the early prospectors. Whitney acquired a large interest in claims and mines in the Whitehorse Copper Belt including the Iron Horse, the Corvette, the Rabbit’s Foot, Anaconda, and the Copper King.¹⁾

In 1902, JP travelled to San Francisco and purchased the latest mining equipment for the Copper King. Almost 500 tons of high-grade ore was shipped from the mine before the end of 1904. By 1907, Whitney was majority owner and manager of the Copper King. His Copper Belt interests were said to eventually include over 12 square miles of mineral claims. He also owned several producing gold claims on Bullion and Fourth of July creeks in the Kluane District. When silver discoveries were developed in the Windy Arm District in 1906, Whitney & Pedlar established a store at Conrad City. JP was a president of the Whitehorse Board of Trade and an active member of the local smelter committee.²⁾

In 1912, the Taylor and Drury company amalgamated with their chief competitor Whitney & Pedlar Ltd. and the company became Taylor, Drury & Pedlar Ltd.³⁾ This partnership lasted five years until Whitney withdrew to mine and tend his fox farm.⁴⁾

In 1914, the Anaconda and Rabbit Foot were owned by a group of four: Whitney and Pedler, William Puckett, Edward A. Dixon, and Donald Ross.⁵⁾ By 1915 Whitney was co-owner and manager of the Grafter Mine.⁶⁾ In 1916, the mine was owned by Edward Dixon, Robert Lowe, John P. Whitney and George Armstrong.⁷⁾ The Grafter Mine was the second biggest operator in the Whitehorse area in 1917. There were fifty men mining and shipping a high grade of ore. In 1917, the property was owned by J. P. Whitney (also the manager), Bob Lowe, Ed Dixon, Chas. H. Johnson, and Mr. Armstrong.⁸⁾ Or - The War Eagle is owned by Bob Lowe and Sam McGee and is working under a lease to Hayes & Hayden.⁹⁾

Whitney also operated several successful farms in the Whitehorse and Kluane areas. One of these was the J. P. Whitney Black Silver Fox Farm located on the east side of the Yukon River across from the Canol refinery [now the Whitehorse grader station].¹⁰⁾ It was on ten acres of land. Whitney constructed a two-storey log building in 1914 to house Charles [Barlow], warden of Whitney’s fox farm. The farm bred foxes for a short period of time and was one of a number of fox farms established around Whitehorse. Taylor and Drury held shares in the company.¹¹⁾

In June 1915, Whitney’s fox farm had sixteen black and silver fox and thirteen cross fox at Whitehorse. In the same month and year, the Taylor and Drury farm was on the list of fox farms in the Whitehorse area, having four black and silver fox and ten cross fox. Other Whitehorse fox farms included J. R. Alguire (four black and silver fox and ten cross fox) and Wright Wenrich (one black and silver fox and ten cross fox). At the same time, S.E. Chambers had four cross fox and Leo Simmons had two cross fox and twenty mink in Carcross. Brown, Scott and McGlashan had forty mink at Tagish Lake and Oscar Burbank had twenty-five mink at Jarvis River.¹²⁾ The J.P. Whitney Black Silver Fox Farm company closed down around 1918. The skin of a silver fox bred and raised on the Whitney Ranch was sold in the London Fur Sale for 106 pounds and took fifth place in the sale. Just eight skins brought 106 pounds or more.¹³⁾

Whitney was the manager of the Copper King mine in February 1920 when he was forced to temporarily close down operations. The special blasting powder he ordered from Juneau had been waiting in Skagway for two weeks.¹⁴⁾ The railway was blocked with snow between January 7th and February 25th.¹⁵⁾ The powder was expected to arrive in Whitehorse on February 26th. Three cases of powder came from Skagway to Glacier by train, from there to Fraser it was carried by Bert Peterson with a dog team, and it came by dog team from Fraser carried by Nick O’Brien of Carcross.¹⁶⁾ On April 23rd, the Whitehorse Star announced that the recent Copper King development work opened the richest lead in the history of the mine in both quality and quantity.¹⁷⁾ The miners then found a sixteen-inch vein of high grade molybdenite running through the rich body of high grade copper ore. The molybdenite was worth three times that of copper.¹⁸⁾

In June 1924, J.P. Whitney, Frank Harbottle, Fred Gray, Dennis O'Connor, and Oliver Wilson offered tours of the Whitehorse area by auto. They put out a front page ad in the Whitehorse Star.¹⁹⁾

After spending almost half of his life as Whitehorse’s most upstanding citizen and promoter, “Old Man” Whitney succumbed to pneumonia at the age of seventy-nine in the Whitehorse General Hospital, among family and friends. He still held his copper belt properties.²⁰⁾ The two-story house built to house the Whitney fox farm manager burned in June 1996. The land reverted to the Crown in 1967 and the house was unoccupied for many years.²¹⁾