O’Connor and Utter outfitters


Although little is known about the O’Connor & Utter outfitters of Dyea in 1898, there is a chance that the Utter might have been Charlie Utter of Deadwood fame.
He was born in about 1838 in New York and his death is unknown. After Wild Bill Hitchcock died in Deadwood in 1876 Charlie went to Colorado and then back to Deadwood for a time. He went to Leadville, Durango and then New Mexico where his trail disappears in the 1880’s.
Utter worked as an trapper, guide, prospector and saloon owner. To someone like Utter, the Klondike would have been irresistible so it is my humble opinion that he was here. There was a Charles Utter who worked as a prospector in Juneau in 1903 and later he worked as a bartender in Nome in 1907 to 1910.
Utter’s biographer, Agnes Wright Spring, traced Utter to Panama in the early 1900s. Now blind he owned drugstores in Panama City and Colón. The last record of him was in 1913 down there where he reportedly had a family. Seen above is the actor who portrayed him in the series “Deadwood”.

Anton Vogee photo of outfitters; Penningham p 437; Fairbanks newspaper notes 1903, 1907, 1909-1910

Comments

comments

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *