(9 Sept. 1861- 24 July 1937), prospector. Born at Glen Nevis, GC. Parents: Dougald McLachlan and his wife Catherine McDonald or McDonell. He left home at 17 for the United States, beginning then or soon after a career as prospector which lasted for over half a century. Before the Yukon gold rush he prospected in the Seattle area and in B. C. “He was operating a mine near Nelson when news of the Yukon strike reached him. Selling out his property, he joined the trek. Long after many of the original prospectors had returned to their homes, he remained in the north, prospecting in both the Yukon and in Alaska. It was his partner, ‘Toughnut’ Jack, who made the Nome beach find, which resulted in the founding of the Nome settlement in Alaska.” When his brother John A. McLachlan died in 1908, Ranald was in Nome, Alaska. From the dates, it may be guessed he returned to take over the family farm left vacant by John A.’s death. At any rate, McLachlan returned to Glen Nevis some 28 years before his death and “farmed on the homestead” till he moved to Ottawa some 10 years before his death. Even after the return to GC, and till late in life, he continued part-time prospecting. Adjusting to times very different from those he had once known, he came to use air travel in prospecting.

     He died at the Ottawa General Hospital. Roman Catholic. The burial was at Glen Nevis. He was married to Mary McDonald (1873-1973). (seven children) Neil R. (Foghorn) Macdonald was his cousin. It has not been possible to identify Ranald’s partner “Toughnut” Jack with certainty, but the most convincing informed suggestion to date is that he was one of the celebrated “Three Lucky Swedes” who made the Nome beach gold discovery in 1898: John Brynteson, Jafet Lindeberg and E. O. Lindblom.

Standard Freeholder 26 July 1937 & (QF) Glengarry News 30 July 1937 * family gravestone, St. Margaret’s cemetery, Glen Nevis * Ross, Lancaster, 329 (from GN obit.)