Canadian Development Company Post No. 2
- 1899, built on the right limit (south shore) of the narrows at Caribou Crossing.
- October 8, 1899, application for liquor licence; licence #21 issued.
- effective May 1, 1901, all assets of the Canadian Development Company were taken over by the British Yukon Navigation Company, a division of the White
Pass & Yukon Route.
- June 15, 1901, the building was sold by the British Yukon Navigation Company to Bishop William Carpenter Bompas, for $250.
- "... the house had been used as a road-house, also a post office. The house was a long, one-storied loghouse standing about fifty yards above the lake, and
about the same distance from its margin. There were two good-sized rooms in it, one with large tables and benches, also a small room or office, over
which we saw in large letters the words ‘Bar Room.’ The other large room had evidently been used as a sleeping apartment, as it contained bunks on
each side with very shabby broken-down shelves or bedsteads for the occupants. There was also an office with high desk, intended for whoever took the
duties of postmaster, and a fairly good-sized kitchen. The house was not attractive in any way, either from its present condition or the suggestiveness of its
past the place was infested with mice and squirrels. Other reminiscences of road-house convivialities were evident in the scent of tobacco smoke and whiskey
which haunted the apartments. The space round our house was strewn with empty whiskey bottles; an Indian boy soon cleared this for us We paid him 50 cents
an hour, and by working strenuously for the space of three hours, the bottles were carted off and flung into the lake."
(Archer, A Heroine of the North, p.170).
- in 1903, "The flooring boards were half an inch apart; so shrunken were they that it would be easy to rip them up and lay them down closer together.
Then the roof; it was papered, with battens across the paper. Ventilation is carried to excess." (Archer, p.180).
Caribou House / Scott Hotel
CARIBOU HOUSE: (1899-ca.1903)
SCOTT BROS. HOTEL: (ca.1903-ca.1905)
HOTEL SCOTT (ca.1905-1936)
- probably operating in the summer of 1899.
- October 8 1899, Charles K. Zorn applies to North West Mounted Police at Tagish for a liquor licence at Caribou Crossing.
- April 22 1901, Zorn has sold hotel to William Walmsley; NWMP reports the building is 2 stories, 25x60 feet, with 11 -
8x10 bedrooms with 16 spring beds and 1 - 8x10 foot bathroom; a 20x18 foot bar, 16x16 foot dining room, 10x14 foot kitchen,
3 - 8x10 foot store rooms, a 16x20 foot cellar, and a stable for 12 horses. The transfer of the liquor licence is recommended,
as it is felt that Walmsley, who had a hotel at Bennett, will run it as a first class hotel rather than as a roadhouse.
- May 1901, letterhead reads "Groceries and Provisions. General Merchandise. First Class Accommodations to the Travelling
Public. The Best of Meals, Liquors, and Cigars at Reasonable Rates."
- ca.1903, bought by John W. and Alfred H. Scott; renamed the SCOTT BROS.HOTEL.
- late 1906, the bar was run by Pete Engler; he had been a partner in the YUKON HOTEL at Conrad City that summer.
- n.d., the Carcross school was held in one of the hotel rooms for a time.
- July 13, 1936, destroyed by fire - see the newspaper article here.
A Guide to Carcross
The Bennett Sun,
