Born in Ontario, Norman Macaulay came north in 1897 at the age of 28 landing in Dyea, Alaska. There he operated a grocery and hotel for a short time before venturing further northward to the Miles Canyon and the place where he made his fame and some say fortune. After several successful years of operating the tram, roadhouse and saloon at Canyon, Macaulay relocated to the new town of White Horse opening up the White Horse Hotel. During this period Macaulay also built a string of roadhouses on the Dawson Road eventually selling out to the C.D.C., the same company he sold his Canyon City interests to.
A man who certainly got around, Macaulay is later reported to have been in Fairbanks in 1906 and Cordoba Alaska in 1910, apparently “managing a store”. And between 1914 and 1916 he was in Dawson managing the Royal Alexandria Hotel and fox farming. Shortly afterwards however, after twenty years of successful entrepreneurship in the north, Macaulay relocated to the Olympic Peninsula in Washington State to become a farmer. This final relocation was perhaps not the best choice, as within two years he had passed away.
Mount Macaulay, a peak that borders British Columbia and the Yukon, has been named in his honor, as is the seniors complex in Whitehorse. It’s location being approximately where his famous tramline ended. Its name is Macaulay Lodge. Fitting for a man who spent most of his time in the north lodging people.
