Highlights of History from The Whitehorse Star
The Atlin Pioneer Cemetery
Dateline: March 9, 2013. Last update: December 28, 2024.
James Henry Eastman was born in East Greenwich, Rhode Island, on November 25, 1895, the son of Frank Gaylord Eastman and Marjorie Teressa (Golden) Eastman. He was named after his paternal grandfather (1842-1907). His only sibling, sister Tina, was born about a year later.
James held several patents for violet ray machines, and in 1917, at the age of 22, established the Renulife Electric Company. By applying a high voltage, high frequency, low current to various parts of the body, violet ray treatments were said to cure everything from lower back pain to carbuncles, and Renulife became one of the three largest manufacturers of them. By 1927 the company, now called Beasley-Eastman Laboratories, was involved in manufacturing parts for aircraft, though health products including Life-Lite, their "Light Socket Sunshine" carbon arc ultra-violet lamp, were their primary focus. The ad below was published in The Detroit Free Press on June 11, 1928. One product, the Diathermy machine, was an electrical device for removing tonsils by coagulating the tissues "so they just heal out."
In The Pittsburgh Press of October 2, 1929, Beasley-Eastman ran this ad in the classifieds: WE WANT a live wire salesman in Pittsburgh as direct factory representative selling complete line of Physio-Therapy apparatus on resale basis: no investment necessary: $200 weekly possible. Write or wire Beasley-Eastman Laboratories, Inc., 1304 Harper ave. Detroit. Mich." In December 1929, Beasley-Eastman Lahoratories and
the Harris-Beasley Company joined with the Sanitarium Equipment Company, with all 3 to be operated as the Sanitarium Equipment Company from Sanitarium's new building at Merrill Park in Battle Creek.
On June 25, 1925, he married Mary Maurine Ledbetter in Detroit, Michigan. They purchased a home in Wyandotte, a Detroit suburb, and on May 17, 1926, James Henry Eastman III was born.
In 1932, James Eastman headed north on a new venture. A syndicate that including Eastman, Elliott G. Tryer of Toronto and others, surveyed the Atlin, Liard and Tesiin districts using three aircraft, finally taking up a number of leases in the Atlin area, on Spruce, Dominion and Bull Creeks, and the O'Donnell River. One of his pilots was Lynn Staples, who would soon be off on his own northern mining adventures.
On July 24, 1936, The Whitehorse Star reported: "Lynn Staples of the Inca Mining Company at Iron Creek and James H. Eastman of the Columbia Development Company of Atlin, have been in town for the past week repairing the Eastman Flying-boat that has been in storage here for the last few years. They left with the plane on Monday night for the trip to Atlin. Mr. Staples had the misfortune to slightly damage his ship at Iron Creek and will replace it with the flying boat that they have repaired."
At the end of the 1936 mining season, Eastman reported that his Columbia Development Company had 60 men and two steam shovels working on Spruce Creek, and just before one was closed for the season the cleanup in five and one-half days amounted to 840 ounces, valued at $23,420. The company has financial backing from Kaufman Rubber of Kitchener, Ontario.
In 1940, the Columbia Development Company was developing a placer operation "of considerable magnitude," having acquired John Noland's ground. Comfortable accommodations had been constructed for housing a crew of about 40 men, with the development program being under the direction of James Eastman and Elliott Tyler.
The Whitehorse Star - Friday, August 30, 1946
We much regret having to record the death of Mr. James H. Eastman of Atlin, B. C., which occurred in the Whitehorse General Hospital last Saturday at 7 a. m., at the age of 50 years. He had been in the institution a week earlier, having been brought to town by a Northern Airways plane which had made an emergency trip for that purpose. Suffering from a ruptured ulcer he was immediately operated upon but too late to save him. Peritonitis set in and caused his death.
Deceased was a shareholder in and for the past twelve years was manager of the Columbia Development Co, Ltd., operating one of the richest placer mining areas on
Spruce Creek from which hundreds of thousands of dollars in gold has been taken out. He first arrived in Atlin in 1932 with a large party of prospectors bound for the Liard
country and making Atlin their headquarters. They arrived in five planes of which the late Mr. Eastman was the designer.
The remains were shipped by plane to Atlin where the funeral services were conducted by Rev. Archdeacon Grant of the Anglican Church with Mrs. Cairns at the organ. The church was crowded, many being unable to secure entrance. The last rites of the Masonic Order were administered at the graveside by members of Atlinto lodge. The large attendance at both services and the wonderful array of flowers were a silent tribute to the memory of one who was regarded with real affection and held in the highest regard not only throughout the Atlin community but also by his many friends in Whitehorse, Carcross and elsewhere here in the north, several of whom flew to Atlin to attend the ceremonies.
The deceased leaves to mourn his loss his widow and son James, who were in Whitehorse during the late Mr. Eastman's illness, to both of whom sincerest sympathy is extended in their bereavement.
Jim Eastman was buried at the Atlin Cemetery, now called the Atlin Pioneer Cemetery. With a large headstone and a propeller laying across it, his grave is one of the most impressive ones in the cemetery.
