RINFRET, RAOUL - (342 - ENGLISH)

RINFRET, RAOUL - (342 - ENGLISH)

     RINFRET,  RAOUL …surveyor

Raoul Rinfret was a surveyor of lands for the crown; he was originally from  Montreal, PQ.  He came to Dawson City in 1898 after having been named by an  order frm the Privy Council in Ottawa.  He assisted Alexander McLeod who was an interim helper to Joseph Ena Girouard, officer of the miners’ registrations. Rinfret acted as McLeod’s councilor who was given the task to organize and put the mining concession dossiers of the Yukon up to date. It is  believed  that the Franco-phones, Rinfret, Gosselin and Girouard, named by the Prime Minister Wilfrid Laurier had done a good job because peace and calm returned to the minors  who had been clamoring up till then about the injustices in the allocation of lands belonging to the crown.

Rinfret worked until 1903 as a surveyor of the lands belonging o the crown.  At this time, there were few surveyors in the Territories, and since the issuing of titles was conditional to the land surveyed, Rinfret’s services were much in demand. His name can be found everywhere in the land registers, sometimes as owner, but mostly as surveyor. He did not hesitate to go everywhere in the Territories for his work.  In 1903, Raoul Rinfret demarcated  the boundaries of the 185 acres (75 hectares) for the future site for the town of Mayo.

While he was in Montreal, he worked as representative for the “Great Northern,” a transportation society which he promoted to the French-Canadians who desired to go to the Klondike.  In 1898 Rinfret published “The Yukon and Its Gold” and the minor’s  “Guide” which served the same clients.

Raoul Rinfret and his wife, Ethel Samuel, had one son in Dawson City, Guy Robert Raoul, born on June 3, 1900.

Ref.:Empreinte, vol.11, pages 49-50