Wednesday, May 25, 2011 – On the road again…leaving Whitehorse this morning at 9:00 o’clock sharp and as Spike would say, “off we go!” It’s a beautiful day…great day for traveling. As we were traveling on the Alaska Hwy., we drove through agriculture country…hard to believe that way up here, but this is where they grow “Yukon Gold” potatoes. We left the Alaska Hwy. 1 and turned on Hwy. 2 the Klondike Hwy. towards Dawson City, driving past Lake Labarge. Lake Labarge was made famous by Robert W. Service with the lines: “The Northern Lights have seen queer sights. But the queerest they ever did see, was that night on the marge of Lake Lebarge I cremated Sam McGee,” (from his famous poem “The Cremation of Sam McGee”). We drove along the shoreline of Fox Lake and a burn area from a forest fire in 1998. We stopped for our first break at Braeburn Lodge where they make and sell the “World Famous” cinnamon buns. Of course we all got one to share, they’re big enough for four people. Later down the road, we stopped at Pelley Crossing for lunch. Pelley Crossing became a settlement when the Klondike Highway was put through in 1950. We went into the “Selkirk (First Nations) Heritage Centre” which was filled with wonderful artifacts. We later stopped again at Tintina Trench, which extends hundreds of miles across Yukon and Alaska, and the largest fault in North America. It seemed as though you could see for hundreds of miles across the Yukon. We all had an opportunity to hit a few golf balls as far as we could. As we were getting closer and closer to Dawson City, we started to see hundreds of mounds of gravel and rock piles (tailings) from the hydraulic gold mining operations on both sides of the highway, some dating back more than one hundred years ago.
Thursday, May 26, 2011 – This is the first day we’ve been able to wear shorts since we left Las Vegas. We met our group at 9:45 and headed into town to the visitor centre for a “Historic City Walking” tour of Dawson. We had a wonderful time listening to our costumed guide and wandering around the historic town centre, looking at all the historical sites this town has to offer. We went to the Red Feather Saloon and listened to an interpretive program about Robert Service and his poems.
Later, we went on another city tour with Spike in the vans where he pointed out additional historical sites: the famous author, Jack London’s cabin and listened to another interpretive program about him. He was born in California in 1876 and climbed over the Chilkoot Pass into the Yukon River in 1897. He stopped to guide other stampeders’ boats through the treacherous Miles Canyon and White Horse Rapids and then set out for the Klondike to prospect for gold. While he didn’t strike it rich, he later turned his Klondike adventures into fame and fortune with his legendary short stories and books. Disillusioned with gold mining and afflicted with scurvy, he returned to California in 1898 and died in 1916.
We drove over to the Klondike cemetery, then up to the Midnight Dome lookout (a five mile drive) overlooking Dawson City, the mighty Yukon River and gold fields (2900’ high with a 360° vantage point). The view was spectacular… We came back to our campsite, BBQed dinner, then at 6:30 off to Bonanza Creek to go gold panning. So much fun…didn’t get a lot of gold, but at least now we know how to pan for it.
Did I mention that its 11:00pm before you know it because the sun really never sets here. You have to force yourself to go to bed.
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| Jack London's Cabin (famous writer of White Fang and Call of the Wild) |
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| "Cache" that keeps food away from animals, especially the bears |
Friday, May 27, 2011 – Met our group at 9:45 and went on another Interpretive tour of the “Palace Grand Theatre” and heard stories about its glory days and the entertainment enjoyed by miners during the Gold Rush days. We had a lot of fun checking out this old theater, as well as it being very interesting. Later, we loaded up in the vans and Spike took us for a tour of Dredge #4. Not long after gold was discovered in large quantities in the Klondike, dredges were brought into the Yukon. Dredge #4 was built in 1912 and rests on Claim No. 17, just below the original “discovery” site on Bonanza Creek. It was the largest wooden hulled, bucket line gold dredge in North America.
We then walked through the “original” discovery site, birthplace of the Klondike Gold Rush. In 1896, three young miners “Sourdoughs” named George Carmack, Skookum Jim Mason and Tagish Charlie discovered gold on the Bonanza Creek (originally called Rabbit Creek) and changed the history of the Yukon forever. The claim on Bonanza Creek was officially reported by George Carmack. It did not take long before people from around the world began arriving in the Yukon seeking riches and glory. Thirty-thousand pick-and-shovel miners, prospectors, storekeepers, saloon keepers, bankers, gamblers, prostitutes and con men from every corner of the continent poured through snow-choked mountain passes and down the Yukon River to stake their claim to fortune on creeks with names like Eldorado, Bonanza, Last Chance and Too Much Gold. It was official, the Klondike Gold Rush was on thanks to George, Skookum and Tagish. The area's creeks were quickly staked and most of the thousands who arrived in the spring of 1898 for the Klondike Gold Rush found that there was very little opportunity to benefit directly from gold mining. Many instead became entrepreneurs to provide services to miners.
After dinner, we went back to Bonanza Creek to pan for more gold.
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| Palace Grand Theater |
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| Private Box Seating |
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| Dancers' Room |
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| Panning for gold on Bonanza Creek |
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| Looking for a "big" nugget! |
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Saturday, May 28, 2011 – Leisure morning ~ Made a “big” breakfast for Kenny while doing laundry. Kenny washed the jeep. Around 2:00 we went into town and there was a Farmers’ Market going on. We walked around town with Kula looking in the stores for interesting things. After a while of walking around, we took Kula back to the motorhome because it was just too hot for him. We then drove the jeep back into town and stopped by the “Jack London Grill,” home of the famous “sour toe cocktail.” Yep it’s a real toe (mummified) and it’s served in a 80 proof shot. Yuck! The bartender showed us the toe, but we wanted no part of that, but we did have a “Yukon” glass of beer. We went back to the campground and had an impromptu happy hour with some friends in the group. After our little cocktail party, we went back into town and had dinner at Sourdough Joe’s. This was our last night in the Yukon before we get into Alaska. It has been so interesting learning about the Klondike Gold Rush and we have had a lot of fun in Dawson City and the Yukon.
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| Sternwheeler going down the Yukon River |
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| Happy Hour - Kenny, Jack, Barry, Jerry and Anne |
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| Our campsite in Dawson City |
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