Document Record

Title

Commission to Inquire into the Treadgold and other concessions in the Yukon Territory
Commission pour faire enquête au sujet de la concession Treadgold et des autres concessions dans le Territoire du Yukon

Identifier

lac_mikan_169
RG 33 110
oocihm.lac_mikan_169

Document source

Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada

Description

Shortly after the discovery of gold in the Yukon Territory in 1896, it became evident that gold deposits in the benches, banks and other elevated grounds along the waterways of the Territory could not be mined profitably by placer mining methods. Because an ample supply of water was required to mine these areas, hydraulic mining was developed. In April 1902, the Government of Canada granted privileges to Malcolm H. Orr-Ewing, A.N.C. Treadgold and Walter Barwick (known as the "Treadgold Concession") in order to mine. This concession gave exclusive rights to the Klondike goldfields, including water and timber rights, to Treadgold and his partners for 30 years. Those living in the Yukon thought this would destroy the Klondike as they knew it. In March 1903, the Dawson Board of Trade petitioned the government for repeal of the Treadgold Concession. Similar petitions came from the Yukon Council. The Liberal Association of Dawson, which alleged that the concessions were obtained by "fraud and imposition," asked that they be investigated. Hearings were held in Dawson, Grand Forks and Gold Bottom, Yukon Territory from August 17 to September 5, 1903. The commission filed 267 exhibits. The original commissioners were: Byron Moffatt Britton and John Ernest Hardman. Hardman withdrew from the commission in July 1903 and was replaced by Benjamin Taylor A. Bell. Bell died on March 1, 1904, and the inquiry was completed by Britton.
This collection consists of transcripts of hearings and a typescript of the report of the commission signed by B.M. Britton.

URL

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_169