James Kelso Gordon

• 1895 in Portland Oregon Directory rooming at 35, 9th st.
• 1896 Directory, same place
  • shown as a Carpenter
• 1897 Directory, same place
  • but now he is Front Clerk for The Dalles, Port & Astoria Navigation Company

which was formed in 1891 operating sternwheelers on the Columbia River.

• 1901 he shows up in 1901 Yukon Census in Dawson City, single, age 33,
• came into Canada in 1898
• Now I found out J. K. Gordon was Postmaster at Amsbury, from Oct 1, 1918 to Dec 1, 1918. It was a Post Office and flag station for the GTP railroad. 9 miles west of Terrace and 2 1/2 miles west of Remo.
• 1910 US census shows James married to Josephine (see below), with her son from her first marriage Frank Phiscator Jr. and listed as a gold miner
• In the papers at the time it says they were well respected residents of Hunker Creek.
• James was in the freighting business at one time, and later owned the Athol Hotel, which was an Old Valley Roadhouse,at Gold Bottom Creek, Yukon. It was renamed “The Dawson” by one of the owners in 1903, a Mr. Herbert (Gold Bottom Creek was a tributary of Hunker Creek.)
• James K. Gordon arrived in Terrace in 1911.
• He started as an agriculturist, and by Oct 1931 had over 16 acres of many varieties of Apple trees and was in the business of selling them.
• He owned 15 acres of apple trees on the bench, just west of a Mr. William West's dairy farm.
• Billy West pre-empted land where Heritage Park Museum sits today. so somewhere west of that was his orchard.
• He was one of the Original Commissionersof the Village of Terrace.
• He resigned this position Dec 12, 1931.
• He was the one who took the lead in the Incorporation of the Village.
• Other commissioners that accepted his resignation were Kenney and Agar.
• Mr. Gordon was heading south for the winter, from Jan to Feb.
• He was heading for Vancouver, Victoria and a visit to Oregon.
• As early as June 1913, J. K. Gordon was raising his own beef, pork and poultry for the hotel.
• 1931 he was still buying lots in Terrace, at tax sales.
• He hosted an annual bachelor Christmas Eve dinner.
• He was elected President of the Terrace Board of Trade Apr 1932 he held this position.
• shows up in BC directory in 1920 as owner of the Lakelse Hotel and no Terrace Hotel is shown, so they got the name wrong.
• I wasn't sure if he was married or not, but when he sold the hotel in 1931, an article said He and his wife were expected to stay in Terrace, and he was concentrating on his apple crop. He was moving to live at his orchard on the hill at the time.

He also had an orchard below Terrace. (south side?) * a Mr. Frank Phiscater was living in the house on the “south side?” it seems. (turns out that it was his step-son)

• I'm not positive but appears, Mrs Gordon lived here also.
• Frank was James Gordon's step-son, age 49 in 1940, born in Montana,
• per US census James, Josephine, and Frank were in Monohon WA in 1940 at his brother-in-law's place
  • Brother-in-law shown as- Edward J. Sharp, (Smith?)
    • b- Wyoming, age 57, in 1940, shown as single (sister to Edward) wife of James K. Gordon-
• Josephine went to Seattle in 1909, in her obituary (1953) it said James K. Gordon was a Building Contractor and Department Store Employee, and he died 7 years before her (she.

Who would believe the original owner of the Terrace Hotel was related to characters in Anne of Green Gables? And also one of the richest men from the Klondike!