Leroy Napoleon "Jack" McQuesten (1836–1909) was an American pioneer explorer, trader, and prospector in Alaska and Yukon ; he became known as the "Father of the Yukon." Other nicknames included "Yukon Jack," "Captain Jack," "Golden Rule McQuesten," and "Father of Alaska." Together with partners Arthur Harper and Captain Alfred Mayo, he founded Fort Reliance and a wide network of trading posts in the Yukon, often providing a grubstake to prospectors. He was the most successful financially of the trio, becoming a multi-millionaire by 1898 and buying a large Victorian mansion for his family when they moved about that time to Berkeley, California .
17-653: McQuesten may refer to: Jack McQuesten (1836–1909), American pioneer explorer, trader, and prospector in Alaska and Yukon Mary Baker McQuesten (1849–1934), Victorian-era Canadian letter writer and activist Thomas McQuesten (1882–1948), politician in Ontario, Canada See also [ edit ] McQuesten Airport (TC LID: CFP4) near McQuesten, Yukon, Canada McQuesten, Yukon , an unincorporated community McQuistan [REDACTED] Surname list This page lists people with
34-448: A family of Scots-Irish descent. His family moved to Illinois in the 19th-century westward migration, and then to California by the time he was 13. He was there for the gold rush . McQuesten joined other adventurers in the Yukon, becoming partners with traders Arthur Harper , an immigrant from northern Ireland, and Alfred Mayo, of Irish descent from Bangor, Maine . Together the three founded
51-467: A multi-millionaire. McQuesten resettled with his family in Berkeley, California , where they purchased a large Victorian mansion for their big family. The youngest several children all attended school there, graduating from Berkeley High School. He wrote a memoir, Recollections of Leroy N. McQuesten, Life in the Yukon 1871-1885 (1952), which was published posthumously from his original manuscript held by
68-589: Is different from Wikidata All set index articles Jack McQuesten He was the first president of the Alaskan Order of Yukon Pioneers and also belonged to the Yukon Order of Pioneers . He wrote a memoir, Recollections of Leroy N. McQuesten, Life in the Yukon 1871-1885 , which was published posthumously in 1952. Leroy Napoleon McQuesten (called "Jack") was born in 1836 in Litchfield , New Hampshire to
85-536: The Klondike Gold Rush (1897–1899). The stores often served as the village courthouse and post office as well. Much trade in the stores was bartered, as few people had cash. The stores accepted such items as gold, fish and furs in exchange for merchandise. The stores were often the nucleus of small communities and communities often grew because of the stores. In 1922, the Northern Commercial Company
102-415: The surname McQuesten . If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name (s) to the link. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=McQuesten&oldid=1090840558 " Category : Surnames Hidden categories: Articles with short description Short description
119-625: The Alaska Commercial Company under the ownership of The North West Company . After the 1867 purchase of Alaska by the United States, the firm of Hutchison, Kohl & Company, including Hayward Hutchison, William Kohl , and Louis Sloss , bought the Russian-American Company . In 1868, Sloss, Lewis Gerstle, and August Wassermann bought this company, although Hutchison, Kohl & Company was in simultaneous existence and under
136-635: The North Country. He and Kate set up the Alaska Commercial Company in town. With the frenzy of the Klondike gold rush in 1897, he feared food shortages in Circle City and decided to leave Alaska. He bought some mining claims on Eldorado and Bonanza creeks in the Klondike district as late as 1898, and made a profit. The most successful financially of the trading partners with his various ventures, by 1898 he had become
153-610: The Northern Navigation Company and the Northern Commercial Company. The original owners of the Alaska Commercial Company, Louis Sloss , Gerstle, etc. carried on the business under the name of the Northern Commercial Company. Shortly afterwards, W.J. Erskine bought some of the old Alaska Commercial Company boats and set up a small successor to the Company in certain areas of Alaska. The Northern Commercial Company operated village stores in Alaska from 1868 to 1922, including during
170-566: The Russian mission school, as had her cousin Margaret, whom Mayo married. Satejdenalno became known as Katherine (or Kate) James McQuesten. Fluent in Koyukon, Russian, and English, she often acted as an intermediary for her husband and his partners in communications with the local natives. She was an important player in their business affairs, and they also had several children together. In 1879, McQuesten
187-629: The Yukon Order of Pioneers. It was reprinted in 1977 by Star Printing of Whitehorse, Yukon . Alaska Commercial Company Alaska Commercial Company ( ACC ) is a grocery and retail company which operates stores in rural Alaska, beginning in the early period of Alaska's ownership by the United States into the present. From 1901 to 1992, it was known as the Northern Commercial Company ( NCC ), and in 1992 it resumed business as
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#1732851869984204-481: The local culture. In 1874 Harper married a young woman he called Jeannine, who had not gone to a mission school and preferred to teach her children traditional ways. The three trading partners moved to Tanana after 1875, where they set up another trading post near the Athabascan village of Nuklukayet. In 1878 McQuesten married Satejdenalno (1860–1921). She was from Kokrines village, about 80 miles west. She had attended
221-492: The same ownership until 1872, when the new company paid off the purchase. This new company, formed in 1868, was called the Alaska Commercial Company, and did business under this name until 1901. In that year, because of increasing competition in the sealskin trade, the Alaska Commercial Company merged with the International Mercantile Marine Company and Alaska Goldfields, Ltd., to form two new companies,
238-550: The trading post of Fort Reliance in the Yukon. Later, Dawson City developed six miles upriver of their post. Their post was such a point of reference, that prospectors both up and downriver named creeks and rivers in reference to their distance from Fort Reliance, as in Sixtymile River and Fortymile River . McQuesten and his two partners each married native Athabascan women of the Koyukon people , strengthening their ties among
255-552: Was hired by the Alaska Commercial Company to manage their trading post. McQuesten had helped found the Alaskan Order of Yukon Pioneers, and was its first elected president. He also belonged to the Yukon Order of Pioneers, as did Mayo. Their motto was the Golden Rule : "Do unto others as you would have others do unto you". In 1894, McQuesten founded Circle City , Alaska , which developed the largest log cabin district in
272-567: Was reintroduced to the stores and the remaining eleven rural stores were sold to the Community Enterprise Development Corporation (CEDC) of Alaska . In November 1992, the CEDC sold the stores in turn to The North West Company , a Canadian retailer mainly serving northern communities. ACC now has 33 stores in 30 remote Alaska Villages. Northern Commercial retained the heavy equipment division, which continues to operate under
289-420: Was sold to a group of employees, who moved the headquarters to Seattle . It opened department stores , auto dealerships, and tire stores in Alaska's cities, and became a major supplier of heavy equipment and machinery in Alaska. By 1975 the Northern Commercial Company sold its department stores to Nordstrom . The Goodyear tire stores were sold to Bandag . In 1977 the old name, the Alaska Commercial Company (ACC)
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