John Healy (entrepreneur)

This article is about the American entrepreneur. For other people named John Healy, see John Healy (disambiguation).

John Healy, photograph in Outing (1907)

John J. Healy (c. 1840–1908) was an Irish-American entrepreneur in the late 19th century, who also operated in Canada at various times. His pioneering business activities ranged from Montana to Alberta/BC, Canada and to Alaska/Yukon.

Originating from a base of operations in Montana, he and Alfred B. Hamilton established a whiskey trading post near present-day Lethbridge, Alberta in 1869. The post was originally named after Hamilton, but a second, larger post nearby was given the name of Fort Whoop-Up.

Healy sold the fort to Dave Akers in 1876.

He then took up work as the sheriff of Chouteau County in Montana, a newspaper editor and a businessman in Fort Benton, Montana.

Healy moved to the North, operating a trading post at Dyea, Alaska. He later moved to Yukon Territory to operate a transportation company during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Healy died in 1908 as a rich and famous man.

He was buried in Seattle, Washington.

Legacy

Healy, Alaska and Healy Pass in the Alberta Rockies are named after him.

Bibliography

• Birth of a Community: Water the Key to Development Archived 2006-09-27 at the Wayback Machine
• Healy's West: The Life and Times of John J. Healy Archived 2014-07-26 at the Wayback Machine