Alfred H. Mayo (1844-1924) was one of a trio of prospectors turned traders who were the first to appreciate the mineral potential of the Yukon. Along with his partners, Jack McQuesten and Arthur Harper, Mayo helped establish a string of trading posts that made exploration of the gold country possible.
A wiry little ex-acrobat who loved practical jokes, Mayo arrived in the Yukon from the United States with partner Jack McQuesten in 1873. They signed on as employees of the Alaska Commercial Company, and Mayo was assigned to the Tanana Station post. In 1875 Mayo and Harper moved to the new post of Fort Reliance, built by McQuesten the year before. They remained three years until difficulties with the First Nations near the post (apparently over the pilfering of tobacco) forced them to abandon it.
Mayo was to be associated with three other trading posts: Fort Nelson, Fortymile, and Rampart City. Fort Nelson, also known as "Mayo's Post", was established at the mouth of the Stewart River in the wake of a gold strike there. Meanwhile Mayo had become the regular captain of the AC Company's steamer, the New Racket. In 1889, when all the other miners left for the new Fortymile strike, he attempted mining on the Stewart with a steam pump powered by the steamer's engine.
Mayo took over the Fortymile post after McQuesten left to establish the post in Circle City. During the Klondike rush, he operated the trading post around which Rampart City grew. He was considered the "mayor" of this boom town of 1000 people. Alone of the three partners Mayo spent the rest of his life in the Yukon, dying at Rampart in 1924.
