Dawson City. Gold country!

Dawson City. (3,116 km)

Arrived Friday the 13th😧

Booked into the Gold Rush campground. 

We were fortunate to arrive in town on the Thursday night. It was the annual opening of the saloon and gambling hall. Diamond Tooth Gurdy's was a happening place. Locals had driven as much as 3 hours for the event. It was packed. All 4 of us took in the 8:00 show and it was a hit wth 2 lead singers and dancing girls who really got the audience involved, singing, moving and clapping to the music and generally having a great time. The card table and crown and anchor wheel ate up a few of my dollars and we had a memorable time.  The 4 of us eventually headed home, but I went back for the midnight show. 

On leaving from the late show I was amazed when I exited the main door. It was a little after 12:30 ambut still light outside. I actually took a picture of the building and goings on outside, without needing a flash!! Then, it was home to our spot only 2blocks away!

Our first 2 days saw temperatures in the high 20+ range, with blue skies. Very nice, but do not sit on the ground! The permafrost makes it very chilly as it remains only inches deep below the surface in town. However, they can farm on the low lands of the river area--very strange!

On the second night we took in the first  show. Terry got so into it that by the half way mark he and another guy were enticed up on the stage to do a dancing number with the chorus girls before a good size crowd. Although it was not pretty, it sure gave us all a hoot as the girls were very good!  Again I took in the third show for some added fun. 

On the third night we all made the short walk from our home site to Gurty's for the late show. Being a Sunday night it was a little quieter and we took a balcony seat, but the show was as good as ever. 

We planned on staying 4 days but the border to USA was closed until May 19th--a slight slip up in planning. However, this oversight did give us a chance to really enjoy and experience this great little town.  This place reminds me of a spread out Barkerville where you can drive vehicles. There is no pavement on all 19 roads in an area that is about 8 by 11 small blocks. This encompasses all the businesses and many residences. Newer homes are scattered on a hillside overlooking the town and river. 

On the second day we squeezed into George. We were heading to the heart of the gold rush on Bonanza and Eldorado creeks, just outside of town. Here is where Skookum Jim and his hunting partners made the first find in 1896. A year later when miners carrying sacks of the gold showed up in San Francisco, the news papers of the world were saying how anyone could make their fortune in the gold fields of the Klondike. 

Ships brought thousands of hopefuls struck with gold fever. Once they reached a port near Skagway, and after a short hike to the Canadian border, they had to walk the famous Chilkoot trail. The RCMP would not let the start the harrowing, often snow packed trail unless they could prove they possessed at least 1,000 lbs of provisions per person to tide them over for a few months when in Dawson. Obviously this required many trips on the trail for each miner. 

In a few minutes, George had brought us to center of the gold strike. At first miners panned and sluiced for Gold but with in a few years, power stations were created to enable the building of enormous electric dredges. Dredge #4 has been restored the near working order. It is bigger than any of us could have imagined. 72 scoop-shovels, each weighing 3,100 lbs. Operated by only 4 men, this machine could process the equivalent of 1,800 dump trucks of gravel daily. It did this for over 20 years! Many thousands of pounds of gold were extracted this way. 

Today the area is still being mined intensively.  Big excavators have replaced the dredges. The town has 120 families actively involved in mining from May to October. Young people of the town make enough money in that time to question why they would ever waiste time going for post secondary school training. This is a bit of a problem for the town in the long run. 

On the third day we took a run up the Dempster highway toward Inuvick. At kilometre 65 the temperature hit 2 degrees Celsius--ouch, and way too cold. We came to tombstone park which was right at the tree line. Hundreds of acres of spongy lichen covered an expansive almost treeless valley floor, with rugged white peaks on either side. 

Lunch outside told us it was time too head back--this was not an Arctic Expedition. We had learned that the ice roads were not safe and the ferries were not yet in place. Home we headed but not before we spotted a couple of moose, a friendly bear, an otter, rabbits, and many beaver dams. 

Back in town...

There are only 2 paved roads. One is the highway going beside the town. The second is called Dome road. Located just out of town, it takes you up to a breathtaking view of the town and river confluence. From here we could see one of the many forest fires in the region and met a miner who had just fled from his claim because of encroaching flames. He planned on staying in Dawson until the fire scene stabilized. 

Our hike around town took us to Robert Service's cabin. It used to be a center spot in a town of 40,000 people back in 1901 (largest town north of San Francisco at the time). 

The once thriving town was serviced by 250 steam-paddle wheelers plying the 400+ km river between Dawson and Whitehorse and on Bennet lake.   It is amazing that such a long stretch of river does not have Rapids to prevent this type of navigation. Another interesting thing is that back then Whitehorse was a mere spec on the map compared to Dawson, yet today it is a thriving territorial center of government for 4 levels--federal, provincial, municipal, and native. 

The shrunken size of downtown Dawson, with its combination of log cabins, homes built with a Victorian influence, packed dirt roads, rooming houses and stores built to mirror the older times, make an interesting environment. It almost feels like a stretched out version of  Barkerville where you can either drive your car or hitch your horse. 

Because of the permafrost, there is almost no cement in town. Sidewalks are all wood, and buildings are all built on wooden blocks so they can be easily releveled as the building heat slowly melts the permafrost below them. 

The "modern"  Dawson sits at 1,200 residents and Robert Service's cabin is now on the edge of town and the wooded a outback has erased most of the evidence that a town ever existed. 

Also we visited Jack Landon's home/museum. This famous author (Cry of the Wolf etc ) only spent a year in the Klondike but those experiences were the focus of the stories for some of his best selling books. Like Service he brought the feeling of Klondike life to his readers, but he did it in novel format. His books are still good sellers 100 years after his death, especially in Europe. 

A hike past 2 cemeteries was quite moving. The second one was large and revealed how hard life must have been with most people dieing at rather young ages. The average age at the RCMP section was under 30 years. On to Crocus Bluff lead to more spectacular views of the town and confluence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers. 

On our 5th day we awoke to rain and snow. In 4 days we have gone from dry, clear sunshine and temperatures pushing 30 degrees (warmest in Canada at the time) to rain and snow with near freezing weather outside. Thank goodness for the furnace in Frankie. 

Today we are planning to cross the free ferry that is part off the highway system. It is only as long as one normal sized tractor truck and trailer and wide enough for 2 vehicles. The low traffic count on the highway means it only operates on an as-needed basis when cars are waiting. In the winter, the ferry is pulled out and replaced with an ice road across the river!  Also a section of town is on the other side of the river, with farms and a golf course. We are checking it out today. 

The river proximity makes for a nice added touch to the town with its large dike-banks to walk along. They prevent flooding of the town, which used to be an annual problem. 

Once across, the road is called the Top of the World highway. This road has long sections of gravel and extents about 70 miles to the US border near the town of Chicken. 

Sent from my iPad