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John Thomas Richardson was employed as a carpenter foreman by the Consolidated Mining and Smelting Company of Canada Limited (Con Mine) in Yellowknife from 1936-1942. He sent these photographs to his younger brother, E. George Richardson who lived in Saskatchewan, as a souvenir of his life in the north. In 1942 Richardson left Yellowknife to join the Royal Canadian Engineers. He then served in Europe until the end of World War II. He was discharged with the rank of Sergeant in 1946, and was awarded several medals. J.T. Richardson died in Regina, Saskatchewan on July 30, 1992.

The photographs were taken by Vincent McCaffrey. Originally from Cobalt, Ontario, Mr. McCaffrey lived in the Yellowknife region from 1955-1969 and was employed as a foreman at Discovery Mine. He was also active in local politics and a member of the NWT Liberal Party.

Theodore H. Maranda worked as a Carpenter Foreman for Con Mine when it was first being established.

Alfred Klaus worked for Con Mine in Yellowknife from July 1941-July 1942, then left to join the Armed Forces.

The original 21 Giant Mine claims were staked by C.J. Baker and H.M. Muir in July 1935. Both prospectors were at that time working for Burwash Yellowknife Mines, Ltd. In August 1937, Giant Yellowknife Mines, Ltd. was incorporated. In 1941, Frobisher Explorations, a subsidiary of Ventures Ltd. examined the Giant claims and signed an agreement with Giant in which they gained control of Giant. The first gold brick was poured in May 1948. In 1962, Ventures Ltd. merged with Falconbridge Mines, Ltd. In 1986, the Pamour group of companies began acquiring shares in Giant Yellowknife Mines Ltd. and bought the company from Falconbridge for $200 million dollars. In 1990, Royal Oak Resources Inc. purchased the Pamour group of companies along with all of its subsidiaries, including Giant Yellowknife Mine, Akaitcho Yellowknife Gold Mines and Supercrest Mines Ltd. Royal Oak Mines Inc. was formed through the amalgamation of these companies. Royal Oak Mines Inc. declared bankruptcy in 1999 and Giant Mine was put into receivership and officially closed in the fall of 1999.

John Reid Day was born in Dealy, Saskatchewan on April 19, 1912. In 1937, he was hired by Cominco to assist in the construction of the camp at Yellowknife. In 1938, he worked as an independent contractor in Yellowknife and employed by various companies, including Cominco. In 1939, he worked for Cominco and Thompson-Lundmark in Goldfields, Saskatchewan. He left the north in 1940 but returned in 1945 to supervise construction at Negus mine until 1948, when he again left the north. From 1959 to 1960, he worked at a Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line site in the eastern arctic. In 1970, he retired to Anglemont, British Columbia.

Norman W. Byrne was born in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario on February 17, 1912. Although he had first travelled to the NWT with his father, who was a prospector, and his brother Jerry in 1932, he returned to McGill to complete his studies. In 1936 after graduating from McGill University with a degree in Mining Engineering, he moved to Gold Fields (Uranium City) and later to Outpost Island where he worked as a Mine Engineer. In 1940, with the closure of the mine at Outpost Island, Byrne moved to Whitehorse where he worked on the Canol Pipeline. In 1945 Byrne moved to Yellowknife and was asked to survey the Discovery claims. Byrne was so impressed with the claim that he, along with his father and brother, purchased it. Mining work then began at the Discovery Mines Limited property and on February 10, 1950 the first gold brick was poured. After the first 17 years of operation, over $35 million had been extracted from the Discovery Mines Limited claim.

Despite Byrne's involvement with the Discovery claims, he continued to work as a consultant
Mining Engineer. He was also involved in developing Rayrock Mines Limited, Northland Mines Limited and Tundra Mines Limited. In 1964 Byrne began a second career as a real estate developer in Yellowknife and his company constructed many houses and apartment buildings in the town. He was a strong supporter of the lobby group working to have the capital city of the NWT established at Yellowknife rather than at Fort Smith. He was also actively involved in many community organisations in Yellowknife and was a vocal advocate of the establishment of a separate Catholic school system in the community.
He was the chairman of the Separate School Board from its inception in 1951 until his death on November 14, 1973.

In 1939, S. Hansen travelled towards the Beaulieu River District and staked the NORMA group of claims that would eventually lead to the discovery of the Beaulieu Mine. Immediately following the staking, Norma Tungsten and Gold Mines Ltd. formed to work on the claims and retrieved approximately 15 tons of ore from two pits. Beaulieu Yellowknife Gold Mines Ltd. formed in 1945 and took over the operations on the NORMA claims. In 1945, the construction of a mine site was underway. Between May and July 1947, a compartment shaft was sunk and a mill was quickly erected along with major camp buildings. Despite the initial promising reports of the vein size and grade, it was discovered that the claims were exaggerated. In 1947, A.D. Hellens, an engineer was hired to accurately assess the ore reserves. He reported on 1200 tons in reserve which was only enough to last the mine 2 weeks. The ore was mined during the summer months of 1948 and the Beaulieu Mining operation folded in chaos and bankruptcy at the end of 1948.

Bear Exploration and Radium Limited (BEAR) was incorporated as an Ontario company on June 6, 1932 to finance development of the Contact Lake Mine in the Echo Bay region of Great Bear Lake. The backers of BEAR were an Ontario mining interest represented by William Wright and Harry Oaks. Contact Lake Mine was purchased by BEAR in 1932 and produced silver and a small amount of uranium before shutting down in 1939. The property was later sold, although BEAR retained shares in the International Uranium Mining Company, which had purchased it.
BEAR established a presence in the Yellowknife area in 1933 when their employees C. J. Baker and Herb Dixon discovered free gold and staked the Quyta group of claims. BEAR established a subsidiary, Yellowknife Gold Mines Ltd. to develop the claims and several other subsidiaries in the following years to deal with other groups of claims. BEAR, together with Howey Gold Mines Limited, incorporated Giant Yellowknife Gold Mines Limited in 1937. Frobisher Explorations, a subsidiary of Ventures Limited, assumed management control over Giant Yellowknife Gold Mines in 1943. According to a 1944 report on BEAR, they were “a holding company engaged in the acquisition, promotion, financing and exploration of mining prospects in the Northwest Territories.”

BEAR continued to have numerous interests and associated companies, besides Giant, in the Northwest Territories, specifically the Yellowknife area, including International Uranium Mining Co., Yellowrex Mines Limited, Atlas Yellowknife Mines Ltd., Redpointe Gold Mines Ltd., Fort Rae Gold Mines Ltd., Neptune Yellowknife Gold Mines, Yellowknife Gold Mines Ltd., Admiral Yellowknife Mines Ltd., Moher Yellowknife Gold Mines, and Rich Group Yellowknife Mines. Around 1944, there was enough activity in Yellowknife that BEAR constructed a staff house on Lot 8, Block 1 (now 3612 Pilots Lane). N. H. C. (Hugh) Fraser and his family moved into the house when he became BEAR’s Manager of operations in the Northwest Territories in July 1946. At that time, BEAR remained headquarted in Toronto, Ontario with H.R. Swanson as President, Ralph Pielsticker as Vice-President, Carl Pielsticker as Treasurer and Director, C.A. Gardiner as Secretary, and G. D. Fairley and J.M. Brewis as directors. Several of these men also served on the boards of BEAR’s associated companies.

Hugh Fraser had worked in the Northwest Territories in the late-1930s as a geologist with the Territories Exploration Company and later Camlaren Mines and Thompson-Lundmark Gold Mines. In 1941, he was transferred by Frobisher Exploration Company to eastern Ontario, but returned to the Northwest Territories in 1944 and was in charge of Frobisher’s activities in Yellowknife until being hired by BEAR in 1946. Fraser continued consulting activities with Giant Yellowknife and Frobisher Exploration after being hired by BEAR. Fraser appears to have moved to Toronto in 1948.

BEAR became less active in the north in the years following, and the Yellowknife house was sol d to John Anderson-Thomson in 1948. He continued to do some work for them into the 1950s. Little is known of their later activities outside of the Territories, however, they underwent name changes, incorporating as Yellowknife Bear Mines Limited in Ontario in 1948, changing their name to Yellowknife Bear Resources Incorporated in 1981, and merging with Rayrock Resources, becoming Rayrock Yellowknife Resources Incorporated, in 1986, and then reverting to the name Rayrock Resources in 1998.