Dawson Historical Complex National Historic Site of Canada

Old Post Office:

This post office was built in 1900. Although it was the first of the numerous public buildings constructed in Dawson by the Canadian government, it was Dawson's sixth post office. "The Mail" had been a vital part of Dawson life since the town was formed in 1896.

In the earliest days a crude post office was run by the North-West Mounted Police in a tent on Front Street near the Opera House. In 1897, Frank Harper was appointed the first post master; however, the N.W.M.P. still made up his staff, and the post office was moved to a small building adjoining the guard room of the N.W.M.P. barracks at Fort Herchmer. With the arrival of the first mail in the spring of 1898 this structure proved too small for purposes of distribution, and a saloon owned by one James Terry was acquired to complement the existing facilities. During the summer of 1898, the post office was relocated once again, this time to a building owned by Alex McDonald on Front Street. When that structure was destroyed in the fire which scoured Dawson on October 14, 1898, the government leased the Brewery Saloon. There, it set up semi permanent quarters until this post office was constructed.

Front view of the Old Post Office
© Parks Canada / KNHS0041

Until late 1898, the federal government was convinced the Klondike Gold Rush would rapidly die. For this reason, Ottawa restricted government activity in the area to a Commissioner, his appointed staff, and the N.W.M.P. Frank Harper, Dawson's first post master, was appointed by Commissioner Walsh. He was not an employee of the Post Office Department, as the involvement of that department was considered unnecessary. Ottawa officials regarded the effort and expense of organizing an efficient mail service a ridiculous waste. (insert image 1 here )

Canadian officials in Dawson did not share this attitude. They were frustrated with inadequate facilities. Dawsonites and miners on the surrounding creeks were constantly complaining of bad service. They were tired of lining up for hours and sometimes days outside the post office to get their mail. At a time when letters were the major means of communication with loved ones so far away, it was infuriating to wait months for a letter. The mail delivery itself was so crude and uncertain that many expected letters did not arrive at all.

Late in 1898, the Post Office Department was asked to assume control of Yukon mail service. I.J. Hartman, its first appointed post master, arrived in Dawson in October of that year. He attempted to consolidate and improve the postal services without incurring large permanent expenses. His efforts brought some change, but the facilities were still inadequate to provide proper service.

Finally, in January of 1899, the Post Master General recommended that money be included in the yearly estimates for construction of a post office building in Dawson. In February the Harper and Ladue Town site Company offered Lot 11 Block I on the corner of Third Avenue and King Street (then Third Street) for the site. The government accepted, and purchased half of Lot 12 next door for fuel storage. Preparations for a post office had begun. The Department of Public Works assigned T.W. Fuller, son of the architect of the Parliament Buildings, to design the structure. Then they called for tenders for construction from private firms. The tenders they received were moderate by local standards, but very high in comparison with costs in other parts of the country. Government officials were not willing to pay Dawson's inflated prices. Neither were they willing to delay the opening of the building. Fuller himself was swinging a hammer until a government construction crew could be imported from Atlin to work under his supervision. These men were expected to work on the building until the contract was picked up, but they ultimately finished the job.

In November of 1900 when the new post office was opened, it was heralded by one local newspaper as "a thing of beauty and a monument to the architectural skill of the man who designed it." The congratulations were indeed warranted, for the post office was one of the first elegant buildings to grace the muddy streets of boom town Dawson. Construction of such an edifice in Dawson had not been an easy job, as it had been necessary to import some material and specialized labour from as far away as Montreal. Moreover, the ground on the post office lot had been filled with permafrost which quickly melted into an oozing mud whenever the top layer was scraped away. This created a problem with solid footing. Two large metallic boxes had had to be sunk to provide resting places for the heavy furnaces in the basement.

The first floor of the building housed the post office. It contained all "the most modern fittings known for convenience and dispatch," including a large vault and a total of 1775 assorted brass-faced boxes and drawers to hold the mail. The postmaster's office, the delivery offices and the telegraph receiving room were also located here. On the second floor were ten offices. These were inhabited by the Customs Service, the Crown Lands Department, the Registrar of Crown Lands and the Telegraph Service. A small elevator for messages and parcels connected them with activities on the floor below. An annex on the side of the building housed Fuller's office; later it became the telegraph office.

From its opening in 1900 until its closing in 1924, the post office building was occupied by many government departments. The post office and the telegraph office were always among them. The Dawson offices of both these Departments were the head offices for the whole Yukon District. Mail and telegraph were the facilities that maintained communication between the far northern metropolis and the world outside. They were the facilities that allowed businesses to run efficiently and families to communicate. Without them, development of a modern city at Dawson would have been very unlikely.

For the men who had been in Dawson since the days of '98, and their relatives, the efficiency resulting from construction of the new post office was a miracle. "Your last letter received today-" wrote one niece to her uncle in the far away City, "one would not think it came all the way from Dawson for the envelope was as clear and whole as though it had just been mailed in town here..."