William Woodney
W. Woodney discovered and staked the Grafter Mine in the Whitehorse Copper Belt in August 1899. The Grafter mine ranks among the important mines in the district. Woodney dug a shallow shaft in 1899. In 1901, the claim was bonded to a local syndicate and the shaft was carried forward.1)
Woodney was partners with Wiliam Perkins in 1901. On 8 April 1901, Perkins wrote that the Grafter claim looked good and they were shipping ten tons of ore to the smelter at Tacoma, Washington. Perkins brought 1,500 pounds into the railway station as a test. Perkins and Woodney were living comfortably in a cabin on the claim. On 4 May, Perkins reported that they had shipped five tons of ore to the smelter for a test. In October 1901, Perkins 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.2) In 1916, the Grafter mine was owned by Edward Dixon, Robert Lowe, John P. Whitney and George Armstrong.3)