By August 10, the hospital ship fund had grown to $1,800; the next day it had reached $3,000. A day later, that amount had doubled. Of that amount, a contribution of $2,500 was made by entrepreneur Joe Boyle. This was just the beginning of Boyle’s patriotic giving. Boyle was an active member of the British Empire Club and reportedly “never turned down any request to raise money for the despatch of parcels to Yukon volunteers serving in his company or any other Canadian units overseas.”32
The IODE wasn’t the only community group rallying to fund the hospital ship. On August 14, the Daughters of Nippon added another $85 to the quickly growing bank account. Other women’s groups, including the Order of the Eastern Star and the Women’s Patriotic Service League, began raising funds for the ship as well.
On September 1, Commissioner Black received a telegram from the Governor General asking him to become a vice-president of the Canadian Patriotic Fund, and he agreed to do so. The purpose of this campaign was to raise a national fund to provide for the dependents of Canadian soldiers, British reservists and others going to the front. He approached Martha, as regent of the George M. Dawson chapter of the IODE, asking that their organization manage the collection of money for the fund. The chapter agreed and they commenced immediately, stationing members at the government administration building, Scougale’s Mercantile and the post office to collect donations.33
In support of their effort, the Dawson Daily News pounded the patriotic drum in an editorial dated September 7: “Not a man, woman or child lives in Yukon who cannot give a golden nugget… The gold harvest here contains hundreds of thousands of nuggets. It will be a simple thing for those who have no nuggets at home to toss in their dollars or their quarters, and later for the committee to purchase the equivalent in raw gold direct from the miners, the dredge companies or the banks… Open the pokes—roll up the nuggets.”34
Whitehorse also responded to the call. Within days of the announcement, $2,170 had been raised, with the largest donation, $100, having come from Taylor Drury Pedlar & Company. The number continued to rise slowly through September and October. By early November, they had raised nearly $3,000.35 This prompted the Dawson Daily News in its October 5 editorial to report that the total raised to date in the territory was $10,000. They went further to point out that if the rest of the country were to contribute on the same per capita basis, the sum raised nationally would be $16 million. By Christmas, the total raised in the Yukon had risen to $20,000.
The community gave money to many charitable causes during the war. Early on, there was the fund for the hospital ship, the Canadian Red Cross Society, the British and the Serbian Red Cross societies, Belgian relief, Polish relief, the Duchess of Connaught Hospital Fund and the Queen’s Canadian Military Hospital at Shorncliffe, England. The number of funds multiplied. There was the Yukon Comfort Fund, which was administered by Martha Black when she was stationed in London, England. There was the Field Comfort Fund, and money given to both Dawson hospitals. There was a disablement fund, a Serbian relief fund and the Queen Mary Christmas Box fund.
In November 1914, the George M. Dawson chapter of the IODE decided to open a fund for Christmas presents for the soldiers at the front. The war office in Ottawa wanted to provide each man in active service with a pound of chocolate, a pound of tobacco and a pack of cards. Subscriptions to this fund were to be sent to Mrs. Frank Osborn, treasurer of the chapter. The ladies also planned an informal tea party at Government House (until they went overseas, Commissioner and Mrs. Black were generous in making their spacious mansion available for a variety of patriotic activities). A pair of wolf/Belgian cross puppies were raffled off at fifty cents a ticket, to raise another hundred dollars.36 When not busy with her IODE duties, Mrs. Black helped form another organization for wartime purposes: the Women’s Patriotic Service League, which also raised funds for the war effort. Before Christmas of 1914, they had ordered the material to produce hospital garments to be sent overseas. “Everything is for the war,” said Martha Black. “Any festivity arranged has a war fund for the motive; everyone is enthusiastic, and no sacrifice is too great.”37
Society in the Yukon was heavily invested in patriotic activities and all social organizations took part in the cause. Yukon women were prolific joiners, and during the war, a number of patriotic clubs and organizations were formed to provide support in one way or another. In 1915, the Sunshine Club put on a lawn party, and the money raised from the sale of handkerchiefs, jellies and candies went to the patriotic fund.
The First Nation people of the territory also pitched in. Reverend Totty at the Moosehide settlement reported that his congregation gave their church offerings to the Canadian Patriotic Fund. Those located at the village of Big Salmon sent nine pairs of moccasins and a cash donation to the IODE in Whitehorse.38
Even children became involved, both in school and out, with wartime activities. In November 1914, the Dawson Boy Scouts were picking up bundles of clothing assembled by Dawsonites for the relief of Belgians. On May 24 of the following year, the children of Dawson City raised $596.25 holding an “entertainment” at the Dawson public school.39 As for the girls, said Mrs. Black:
And the girls? I must tell you about our Girl Guides, who are very sorry they can’t be soldiers. Three years ago we organized the Guides with Mrs. Frank Osborn as Scout Mistress, and Miss Hilda Potter and Miss Hazel McIntyre as Lieutenants. Mrs. Osborn is also the Regent of the Martha Munger Black Chapter of the I.O.D.E. and President of the Women’s Auxiliary of the Church of England. Each summer the Girl Guides spend two weeks in camp about twenty miles above Dawson, on Klondike River. Lately sixteen of the Guides passed the Tenderfoot Test, and are now wearing trefoil pins.
They are being drilled too. Major Knight, the Commandant of the Royal North-West Mounted Police in Dawson is drilling the Girl Guides, the Boy Scouts, and two hundred Dawson Men who are ineligible for active service overseas, yet feel they want to be ready in case Canada calls for men for home defence.40
If there was an event honouring the new volunteers, the children were there to help with the celebrations. As Christmas approached, the Daughters of the Eastern Star put on a fundraising event to a full house at the DAAA (one hundred people had to be turned away). One of the features of the evening was a series of tableaux involving young schoolboys. For years to come, both the Boy Scouts and the Girl Guides played a significant role in any event that was sponsored in the communities of Dawson City and Whitehorse.41
Just before Christmas 1914, Mrs. Black stated in an article in the Dawson Daily News, “Dawson, the most northerly capital of the British Empire, realizes that, though far from the motherland, she, too, must do her duty, nor will the Yukon be found lacking for her people are united in their determination that their portion shall be One Flag, One Throne, One Empire, and that the British.”42 It was quite a pronouncement for an American who first came to the Yukon during the gold rush!
Mrs. Black concluded: “Yukon is proud of the fact that sixty-five of her stalwart sons have given themselves for the defense of the Empire, fifty of whom are yet in training with the second Canadian contingent at Hastings Park, Vancouver.”43
Fundraising activities continued at a hectic pace in 1915. The women of the Yukon found countless opportunities to open purses and wallets. One of the most powerful tools at their disposal was the publication of donors’ lists in the newspaper, which were aimed at shaming those unwilling to contribute to the war effort. Social pressure was a powerful tool to loosen purse strings. The civil servants of the territory were subject to special scrutiny, as they were in salaried positions of privilege. Later in the year, the Whitehorse chapter of the IODE received one hundred copies of the pamphlet Why Don’t You Wear a Uniform? for local distribution.
The theatres of Dawson became common venues for patriotic events. Included in the nightly film screenings were newsreels with war content carefully