Louis Whitford Bond

Louis Whitford Bond is remembered for having been one of two brothers who were the landlords and among the employers of Jack London during the Klondike Gold Rush. Their dog was the inspiration for his novel The Call of the Wild. Bond was born November 1, 1865, at Rushford, Allegany County, New York, and was the son of Judge Hiram G. Bond and Laura A. (Higgins) Bond. His younger brother was Marshall Latham Bond. After preparation at St. Paul's School, Concord, New Hampshire, he took the Select course in the Sheffield Scientific School within Yale University.

Birmingham, Alabama

Upon graduation, he spent some time in the coal fields of Alabama, in the service of the Tennessee Coal, Iron and Railroad Company.

Louis Whitford Bond then went to the Pacific coast, and for eighteen years he was closely connected with the interests of that section.

Santa Clara Valley

Having taken with his brother Marshall a fruit ranch in the Santa Clara Valley, he endeavored to unite the various interests of the fruit industry and aided in securing the organization of the California Cured Fruit Association, of which he was treasurer and to the management of which he devoted much energy for several years. At the same time, he took a course in mining engineering at Stanford University and thereafter gave his attention chiefly to mines and their development.

Klondike and Jack London

With the discovery of gold in the Yukon, against the advice of their father, he went with his brother's impulse, and he spent a year at Dawson City, in the Klondike gold region, enduring many hardships, but gaining valuable experience. He received a sum of money from Judge Bond and was responsible for any major expenditures while his brother Marshall operated the claims. During much of the fall of 1897 and the spring of 1898, the attendant at their cabin on the slope above Dawson was the aspiring author Jack London.

Goldfield, Nevada

On the opening of Goldfield, Nevada, Bond was highly successful as a mining engineer and became financially interested in several mines. He was identified with all the interests of the camp.

During the last year, he had spent much time in the examination of mining properties in the vicinity of Death Valley and in the oil fields at Mono Lake, California.

Mr. Bond died at his home in Berkeley, California, July 27, 1908, after an illness of several months from cancer of the stomach. His burial was in Seattle, Washington. He was 42 years old.

He married, at Seattle on May 24, 1894, Mary Hyde, daughter of Carlos Bancroft and Kate (Hyde) Wilson, of Montpelier, Vermont. They had two sons (Marshall Louis Bond and Edward Latham Bond) and one daughter, Kathryn (Kate) Hyde (Bond) Warner. His grandson is Whitford Bond, a Boston commercial real estate broker.

Sources

Obituary Yale University

This article is mostly based on the subject's Yale obituary, which was published in 1908 and thus, while it was copyrighted, that has expired.

External links

Whitford Bond & Co.

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