Gordon Charles Bettles (1859 – 18 May 1945) was a Canadian-American fur trader, shopkeeper, prospector, and newspaperman active in 19th century Interior Alaska.

He had been mining for silver in Montana, but he abandoned his claims when he heard about a gold discovery on the Fortymile River in what was then Canada's North-West Territories.

[1] For several months, Bettles traveled through Fortymile country using a portable sluice box called a "rocker" to wash $50 per day from streambed gravel.

[1] In partnership with the fur trader Alfred Mayo [ru], Bettles started a trading station near the confluence of the Tanana River.

[5] By 1890 a group of miners discovered gold on Koyukuk tributaries north of the Arctic Circle, and Bettles responded by forming G.C.

Business was slow in the early years because only a handful of men were willing to brave harsh winters and prospect the frozen Koyukuk gravel bars.

In addition to running his store, Bettles owned the Yukon River steamboats, the Cora and the Koyukuk, and traded with Alaska Native trappers for the furs of marten, red and silver fox, beaver, and mink.

Early in his career as a shopkeeper, Bettles earned a reputation for generosity because he freely offered miners a "grubstake" of food and supplies that they could pay back when they found their gold.

[2][4] In the paper's first edition, he warned eager prospectors that a full season of back-breaking labor was needed on the Koyukuk before they might have a hope of seeing profit.