Blogs from Dawson City, Yukon, Canada, North America
Bear Country to The Klondike
Published: September 2nd 2011North America » Canada » Yukon » Dawson City
September 2nd 2011
Dawson City, once the largest city west of Winnipeg, now 1,800 year-round residents. We are at 64º N in September and the sun still sets past 10. We Left Tyson and Opal's in the early afternoon with the goal of going as far north as we could in a day. About 30 miles into the ride we got to Moricetown. They told us we would know where we were when we saw the river turn sideways and go through a canyon. That is exactly what it looks like there. They also said there would be people fishing there too, and there were. We went down to the canyon to watch them haul in the fish. They kept throwing the smaller pink salmon back, and keeping only the larger coho and chinook salmon. We asked a guy ... read more
August 8th 2011
August 8, 2011 DAWSON CITY, YT Today is our 47th Anniversary!! What an interesting place to be spending it. The tour bus picked us up at 10:00 a.m. and took us up to the top of “The Dome” for a view over the city of Dawson and the surrounding area. From there we traveled out to one of the largest Gold Dredges ever built which operated from 1905-1965. Dredge #4 was designed in Ohio, but many of the parts were built on-site here in Dawson City, and then it was put to work in the Klondike River valley. As you can tell from the pictures, it was designed to move huge quantities of dirt and the dredges dug up this entire river valley and all the feeder river valleys for miles around. The valley is now ... read more
August 7th 2011
August 7, 2011 TOK, AK to DAWSON CITY, YT UNBELIEVABLE!! There was a light rain through the night and this morning the skies are clear and sunny!! Just enough rain to settle the dust on our road today as we take a left turn out of Tok and follow Hwy 5, Taylor Highway, also known as “Top of the World Highway” to Dawson City. This road is 40% paved and 60% gravel, very winding and narrow with sheer drop-offs (no guard rails) and hairpin bends. It is open for only 4 months during the summer season. As we climbed farther and farther up the mountains into the tundra we were very fortunate to have clear vistas of the surrounding mountains - almost 360 degree views. The old settlement of Chicken was an interesting stop. In the ... read more
July 15--Dawson City, Yukon Territory
Published: July 22nd 2011North America » Canada » Yukon » Dawson City
July 22nd 2011
July 15th, 2011 Yukon River Provincial Park, Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. 58 degrees and raining. Starting mileage 11892. We drove out of the campground after placing our florescent orange safety cones across the end of the driveway to mark our space, and then paying for 3 more nights at the ranger station. Less than a block away was the ferry crossing of the Yukon River into Dawson City. The ferry loaded about 4 cars and us on. Same type of ferry we have been on before when we crossed the Mississippi River from Tennessee to Missouri and in Romania crossing the Danube River. We first drove to the Visitors Center for information on things going on in town and a map of the Park-owned buildings. Bought 2 annual senior passes for National Parks of Canada ... read more
July 16--Dawson City, Yukon Territory
Published: July 22nd 2011North America » Canada » Yukon » Dawson City
July 22nd 2011
July 16th, 2011 Yukon River Campground 62 degrees with high clouds with possibility of some sun. Starting mileage 11909 Crossed by ferry to Dawson City. Checked out the very small farmer’s market and bought a large sack of really fresh, washed Swiss chard for $3.50 and 1 zuke for $2.00. Town is absolutely full of people!! Lots and lots of them are young people in for the Music Festival plus the usual crowd that come to town on a Saturday to shop. Drove around town and read the historical signs on about half of the buildings. Looked at the fully restored Robert Service’s and Jack London’s cabins which were less than a block from each other. We then toured the ½ of the City Museum and watched a black and white, very interesting, d... read more
July 17--Dawson City, Yukon Territory
Published: July 26th 2011North America » Canada » Yukon » Dawson City
July 22nd 2011
Sunday, July 17 Yukon River Campground 11:00 when we left camp. 59 degrees and clearish. Mileage at 11936. Slept in a bit and then had French toast that Valerie made out of the fruit bread. It took us an hour to cross this morning on the ferry as there were many vehicles waiting for a turn. Our book warned that it could take as much as 3 hours to get across. They take tour buses, 18 wheel trucks, and tankers on this small ferry. Drove into Dawson City and parked near the gazebo to listen to the music being played. After listening awhile, we went down the road to the south, where we had seen an RV Park that also had a gas station in front. Filled Rosie with gas--$101 worth. That included a fee of ... read more
June 17th 2011
I was thinking about it today and I realized that I had no concept of what remote meant. Sure, it’s a vague idea in my mind that you are far from others, that there isn’t another town or community for a while, but I come from Alberta, and generally speaking you can find town within an hours drive from one another. On the road up here I started to figure out that there are places where a sign post reads 363km to Eagle Lodge- and they mean it. There is nothing at all for another 363km. Nothing, no town, no community, no village…. nothing. Just road, trees, space. Out here in Dawson City you find people who came for varying reason, some to find a summer of adventure, others to try their luck with gold. But ... read more
June 17th 2011
Where can you go to have a human toe cocktail? Dawson City! Where can you go to try your luck for gold? Dawson City!! Where can you go to find a never setting sun? Dawson City!!! And so, here we are! Coming into the city was a unique sight, there are massive tailing lines of rock and stone all along the highway and that stretch for further than you can see. It is a strange landscape, BJ and I couldn’t figure out if this was natural or brought here from the gold rush. BJ guessed right, all the stone was here from the early 1900’s when a dredge was operating just outside the city. It would tear up the Earth looking for Percer gold and deposit the gravel and stone behind it as it went. After ... read more
August 4th 2010
We started the day by calling Jodie to wish her a happy birthday! Then we drove out to “the creeks”. The road was built at the top of the hills because at the bottom, were the gold claims, and also, there was soft muskeg and other road-building problems. We came to a park sign explaining roadhouses. It seems that a roadhouse was built almost every mile in the area, providing food and shelter to the miners and those traveling to and from the creeks. It made us curious about Rich’s great-grandmother’s connection to roadhouses since she ran one in California after the gold rush. Something else to research. We found Caribou Creek and took pictures up and down, where the family claims were. A claim was five hundred feet of creek bottom and a thousand feet ... read more
August 3rd 2010
We started the day thinking that we needed to call Jodie and wish her happy birthday. She didn’t answer, so we sang her a message. Next, we stopped at the museum and archives. We had a lot of questions and weren’t sure how to find the answers. The young ladies there tried to help us, but we weren’t having much luck with our ideas. While they were dragging out files and looking on the computer, Rich was looking at a file of old newspaper reports about each claim. He thumbed through and found the claims on Dominion Creek. There, in black and white, was A.L. Stewart and his brother and another partner, owning four claims! We wrote down the numbers and locations. We were jazzed! Then, we went to the mining claims office to see where ... read more
