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Published: June 22nd 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 nearly 100 years of growth there are finally trees and shrubs growing among the gravel, but it looks more like the landscape of some other planet than that of the Yukon.
When we got into town we set up camp and made our way for some info on the Dempster and NWT. Dawn at the interpretive centre was extremely helpful and
loaded us with more info then we expected. From there we headed over to find Diamond Tooth Gerties, the only casino in the Yukon. We tried our luck and struck a little gold on the slots. Cha-ching!!! We also enjoyed the entertainment of Can-Can dancers and old time music.
We might have stayed longer but we had a time line to keep. 9 o’clock at the Downtown Hotel is the starting time for the Sour Toe Cocktail. BJ & I have been itching to do this since we left on the trip. It’s a shot of any 40% alcohol of your choice with a preserved human toe. The tradition is that you shoot the cocktail and have to let the toe touch your lips. Let me say this once- IT IS A REAL HUMAN TOE. Ugly as can be, with nail and all. So we took our turns and did our shots, have the video and photos to prove it as well as the official certificate to verify our spot in history (we are now members 40629 & 40630!!!).
It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it was going to be, picking the toe up and placing it
your drink was more disgusting that anything for me (Erin).
I felt a little queasy when I sat down looking at the nasty black toe. But I picked it up, dropped it in my glass, shot it back and had to jiggle the glass to get it to touch my lips. Once it did I didn’t feel sick anymore. It’s a magical toe. Yum! (BJ).
The next day we headed out to sightsee. We checked out Dome Road, a great view point of the rivers and town of Dawson from an elevation of 2911 feet. Along the road there is an awesome old traditional graveyard. There are plots from when the gold rush was on, some now with trees growing right through the centre of them, others with wooden headstones that can no longer be read. There is even a site with just North West Mounted Police, Royal North West Mounted Police and RCMP; sadly the oldest of these fellows passed at 55 years old, most a lot younger.
From Dome Road we took a drive to Dredge #4, the only surviving Dredge from the Gold Rush Days. It was abandoned in the late 1950’s when it
The Sour Toe
It is a REAL human toepartially sunk in its pond and was too costly for the company to repair and put back into operation. It lay buried in ice for 30 years when Parks Canada bought it for $1 and have since been working to restore it. It is quite the massive beast and is responsible for a lot of the tailings piles that are outside Dawson city.
After grabbing some food for our drive to Inuvik and organizing the SUV for our trip up, we got some supper and food here in Dawson is mediocre at best. Feeling a little lucky we tried the casino again, but lost a little of our money. So blog time it was and now it is off to bed and on to the Dempster tomorrow.
Happy Travels!
Love BJ & Erin
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Bernadette
non-member comment
ICK!
Hey Erin, I was enjoying my bagel and cheese until this story "The Sour Toe', talk about wanting to heave...ICK!!. A warning would have been nice!:) Enjoying your blogg. I will continue to travel Vicariously through your bloggs. Peace out!