Dawson City and Part of What Stephen Harper Wants to Take Apart

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First a rant, then on to less upsetting topics. (And I hope nobody would be unkind enough to suggest that they are also boring or useless topics at hand.)



To be honest, when I heard about what was entailed in the latest budget this past spring, I wasn't too concerned. There were going to be cuts to Parks Canada, and that was likely going to result in cuts to some services that were offered by Parks Canada. Big deal, I thought. I've seen it before. So more things like the Cave and Basin in Banff were going to be privatised and there would be fewer manned booths when entering a national park and having to buy a pass of some sort. Sure it was going to be sad for those who would be out of a job as a result, and it was sure to be harder on the park staff trying to protect bears and other wildlife from the ugly tourists, but would it really be so bad?



Now, I'm sure there is going to be a problem. The national historic site at the top of the Rogers Pass was manned by people who were very friendly and professional. I got loads of great information from park staff when I was in Pacific Rim National Park, and they were also very professional and friendly. And here in Dawson it has been the same. But more than that, I've learned that Parks Canada isn't just about national parks and being able to go out and experience nature. It's about interpretation of what I am experiencing. It's about preservation of our Canadian history and of sites that can't or won't be protected without someone protecting them. It's about pride in Canadian heritage and keeping accessible to all of us so that we can participate in that pride, even when we don't know that's what we want, protecting it until we do. With no exceptions so far, the people I have seen doing their jobs in their capacities as Parks Canada personnel have been passionate about where they work, and about giving Canadians something to experience, be it nature, a historical site, a campsite in a beautiful setting. And they have been maintaining that professionalism in the face of this serious threat posed by this budget. (Of course, part of that is that they have apparently been warned against speaking against their “employer,” the federal government, on penalty of some kind of sanctions. Given Stephen Harper's reported iron-fisted approach to the Conservative caucus, I can only imagine what the sanctions might be.)



The things I have learned about and been able to see are facing a threat. Some interpretive tours in Dawson City are to be axed because the budget they are to be allotted will not cover them. Work on the preservation of a very important piece of Klondike history is about to stopped before completion because the budget won't cover it. Staffing levels are about to be decreased because there won't be enough budget to employ everyone. And in this instance, Canadians will suffer for it. Unfortunately, most may never truly appreciate the loss they face.



I agree with the need for fiscal trimming. And I don't really have any real alternative to offer, mostly because I don't really understand the politics of national finance. But there really must be another way. If anyone reading this thinks it could be so, we need to start writing to our MPs to let them know we want to find that other way. Maybe a collective voice can be heard.



Now let me try to share the day that leads me to be thinking these thoughts.



I intended to do my own thing this day. (As always.) I was going to go and see the Dawson City Museum. There was the Jack London home. I also wanted to see the local First Nation's cultural centre. There were a number of other spots as well. I thought I might even be able to see almost everything I wanted this day and then be ready to head off the next day to other spots. Then I went to see about an oil change. I wouldn't be able to get my car in until Wednesday. I have lost track of what day is which and I initially thought it was going to be 4 or 5 days. When I realized it would be 2 days, I made the appointment. That was going to give me two full days to see Dawson City. So I headed into the visitor centre and spoke to them about what to do. They gave me a few pamphlets about the stuff that is on in town. Much of it is interpretive programs of various sorts. There was a walking tour in the morning. There would be a Best Klondiker “contest” at the old theatre. There was a program at the local cabin where Robert Service lived. (Yeah? Me, too. I had no idea who that was either. Oh, you did? Well, I was never into poetry, so how was I supposed to know.)



The city walking tour sounded interesting, so I decided that I would do that. It was to start at 9:30, and I had arrived shortly after 9. Perfect timing! And the Discovery Pass I had bought was going to get me into most things in town. It was going to be paying for itself here.



At 9:30 Janice, our guide, gathered us all together. She was dressed in period costume, which was not so great as that meant a long skirt and a full-sleeved blouse with a high neck. It was also quite warm in the sun. I didn't envy her. She took us over to the Danoja Zho Cultural Centre, where we received a greeting from a representative of the Trondek Hwechin, the local First Nation. This was interesting as we were welcomed and heard one version of the origin of the great land slip just at the north edge of town.



Then it was on to the old post office. There are 28 buildings in town that under the care of Parks Canada. They maintain them, administer them and present them to the public under various circumstances. Without Parks Canada's conservancy, they would have deteriorated back to earth long ago.



The post office is a beautiful building. It has been restored to its former state, and with many of the old artefacts that were there over a hundred years ago. This was aided by the fact that the building, and many others were more or less abandoned as is after the gold rush moved on to other places. It was too expensive for owners (including the government) to get stuff out of Dawson City. The only way in or out was on a limited number of paddlewheelers that plied the Yukon River from Dawson City to Whitehorse or, in some cases, out to the Bering Sea through Alaska. Because they were limited trips, both in number in time frame (the river was only navigable for 4 to 5 months a year), freighting anything was expensive. It was cheaper just to leave everything and go. So many artefacts were left behind. Sometimes it was a matter of heating. Many government buildings were consolidated under one or two roofs because it was much cheaper to heat one or two buildings through the winter than 20 or 30, particularly when the boom had gone bust and there weren't nearly as many people seeking government services. Left to the elements, there was not much threat to the buildings (barring fire which was a constant threat to a town that had been built in a small area during a time when space was in high demand, creating a town with little or no space between buildings, and all made of wood). Decades later, the government decided these remnants of a colourful history were worth preserving and Parks Canada was given custody of them. There was a lot of restoration work to be done, for sure, but they also had a great many things items that had been preserved by dint of having been left behind and undisturbed because the need for the space had disappeared.



So, much of what we saw in the post office was original. We were, of course, asked not to touch any of these things so they would not be harmed by our dirty, oily little paws.



From the post office we headed off to the former bank. Again, it was well-restored and had plenty of artefacts for us to see and use to fill in our imagination of what it was like back in that time. Janice reminded us often of what the Klondikers experienced as they worked to survive in this place. (For instance, she asked us to imagine in the post office how it would have been to have to wait for up to two years to hear from anyone in the “outside world” or how they would pay someone to wait in line while they worked their claims to keep them active.” The bank again had many authentic artefacts from the time the bank had been operating. There were even account books and ledgers that had been used at that time.



I was particularly taken with the elaborate security in the bank, chicken wire between the tellers and the customers. With all that gold floating around town, it seemed more security would have been required. Only it wasn't. Dawson City was quite remote at the time. There was only one real way in or out. That was the river. If anyone was foolish enough to rob the bank or take something they shouldn't, the NWMP (the pre-cursor to the RCMP) had only to wire Whitehorse and have the person arrested as they disembarked. Because there was no real way to get away, there wasn't much real crime. And that was dramatically illustrated by chicken wire separating tellers from customers in the bank.



Next we headed on to a stop between a couple of buildings. This was the building of a madam. She operated until the 1950's. This seemed a bit peculiar, but she had been very philanthropic with the proceeds of her “service.” I suspect this helped shield her a bit. But prostitution at the time of the gold rush, although illegal, was also tolerated. In fact, it was the NWMP who instituted a system of monthly health checks for diseases and such. Once they were checked and cleared, the doctor would give the woman a certificate stating that, and that was put in the window of the place where the woman was working. It was, in effect, her licence to practice her trade. It was also, in effect, an acknowledgement of tolerance for the existence of prostitution in Dawson City. In addition, there were no pimps. The women made the money, and the women kept the money they made.



Our final stop was at the Red Feather Saloon. This was a bar from the era. Unfortunately, it had been severely damaged and was almost completely replicated, using photos from the era. It was quite ornate, particularly the bar. Janice explained that that was just a sign of the times and a circumstance of what was happening around them. It was the Victorian era, or just after. Ornate architecture was a part of that time. And although it was a rough and tumble mining camp in many ways, the men out there mining were making a lot of money (at least the ones that had the claims that were producing). They were living out in their little hovels beside creeks and on the side of mountains. They had no baths or luxuries. They had only sweat and scraps to eat. When they would come into town, they wanted places to feel that life could be better. A board plank bar with spittoons everywhere wouldn't help them think that. Classy places were where they would go. The establishments that provided that kind of atmosphere would get the business, and would make the money from the miners. Naturally they would put some money into making the establishments classier.



This had been a really good tour. Janice was very knowledgeable and interesting. She told us many great stories of the gold rush days. And she had asked us to pay attention to what she told us because what she said may or may not have been all true. If one of our number could find the story that wasn't true, we would get a gold nugget. We sat and thought and guessed. The guy who brought a load of kittens to Dawson City, how about that one. Nope. The selling of watermelons for 25 dollars, or a can of peaches for 5? (Remember that it was 1898, that was a LOT of money.) Afraid not. The lack of crime in a city with so much wealth around? Uh uh. We guessed and guessed from all the stories she had told. It had crossed my mind at the beginning when she had given us this challenge, but I didn't think again about how impossible it would be they would be giving a gold nugget away. It didn't occur to me again, that is, until after she said that was the one thing she had told us that wasn't true. Ha ha!



She also invited anyone interested to go and see another tour, a tour of the old Palace Theatre. She was going to be leading that as well. That sounded interesting, another period building to get a look around. So, instead of going on to the Jack London place, I decided to continue with the interpretive tours.



It was only going to be a few minutes until that started, so I headed down the street back to the theatre.



We went in and Janice told of its origins. The theatre had been put up by one Arizona Charlie Meadows, and it was specifically for separating the miners from their hard-earned gold. Arizona Charlie had been a contemporary of Wild Bill Cody, showman extraordinaire. So Charlie knew how to put on a good show. Again, while some might have expected that the shows that would be on offer to the miners would be low-brow, crude and lewd even, this was not really the case. And once again, it was because of the money these guys represented. The ones who had hit it big were worth thousands and thousands of dollars. And they were wanting to be treated well. That meant nice entertainment and all. Arizona Charlie provided it. The miners would come into the lobby and their first form of entertainment would be a gambling game. It was a pretty even split with no advantage to the house, but it got everyone in the mood. Around 6, the entertainment would get started and the audience area would be opened. As with so many other venues of that time period and earlier, height meant prestige, and the only way to gain that prestigious height was to pay for it. The bald-headed seats cost a mere 50 cents. They were so called because from the second and third floors, people could look down over the rabble and see who was follically challenged when they removed their hats for the show. For a dollar, one could move up to the second floor, where there were some booths and the dress circle. Janice told us a couple reasons it was called the dress circle. One was that women also came into the theatre, and many would sit there. Dresses were the customary clothing of the time for women, hence the dress circle. A more lewd explanation was that men who sat there could look over the very low railing into the crowd below, and down the dresses of the women below. The third floor was more expensive still, costing 2 dollars. Up there sat the Kings of the Klondike and they had closing and locking doors on their booths. Arizona Charlie also had his booth up there and he made sure there were lots of people there with him. Even when he wasn't present, he always made sure there were people in his booth, so no booth sat empty. Bad for business, don't you know.



The price of getting a drink on each level was similarly tiered.



On stage were a variety of acts and most were of a high calibre. There were signing stars, jugglers, even circus-type acts. They followed the gold rush circuit, trailing after the new money popping all along the gold fields of the west coast. Klondike Kate, the Queen of the Klondike was a featured act in town, although she apparently never graced the stage of the Palace.



The entertainment continued to midnight, when the show ended and the next phase of the mining of the miners began. A band would play and the miners would have the chance to interact with the cabaret girls, who would descend from the stage and dance with the men, for a fee of course. The more dances they got, the more money they made, so there was likely deals between the girls and the band to have short songs played. The also got money for drinks poured and for many other things. It was a big hustle to get as much of the miners' money as possible. And it worked. The Palace reportedly made a staggering 7000 dollars a night during its run. Unfortunately, that run was rather short. Arizona Charlie opened the Palace in July. In August, the Nome Alaska gold fields came alive, and the next gold rush began. Fortune seekers left Dawson in droves and in a few short weeks the city was a dying husk of what it had been. So was the Palace. Charlie left town to pursue the miners, and their wealth. He thought to take the Palace along with him, by floating it down the Yukon River, but in the end abandoned the idea, and the theatre.



The theatre endured a decline when it was used as a cabaret, then a place for light entertainment. But Dawson City was settling into a more subdued place. Those that remained sent for wives and children and the new family atmosphere bred an inhospitable atmosphere for such establishments of moral turpitude. A prohibition came into effect and without being able to sell liquor, the Palace finally died. It was used as a movie theatre and a rooming hours over the years, and finally abandoned, as a place for kids to ride their bicycles. The building had been built directly on the ground and the frost heaves from the permafrost caused the floor to buckle wildly. It was eventually taken over by Parks Canada as well and restored faithfully according to old photos and plans. For a while it was used as a venue for the a nightly show for tourists, some kind of follies. But the costs eventually outweighed its viability and that show has been dark for about 10 years. Now it sees an audience three times a week for a Best Klondiker show. And every summer a music festival brings out some of its former glory. It's a beautiful old building and it really deserves more than a daily tour to bring people in. It's kind of sad.



But this day was one of the days when the Greatest Klondiker contest was to take place. Three Parks Canada employees took on the personae of some famous people in the region from long ago and engaged in a debate over who made the greatest contribution to the Klondike and the Yukon. Our choices for this contest were William Ogilvie, government surveyor and first commissioner of the Yukon, Marie Tremblant, a Quebecois woman who came to Dawson City and was known for her generosity and hard work, and Sam Steele of the NWMP, keeper of law and order in Dawson City during the gold rush and the inspiration for Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.



We listened to their arguments for why they were the most important contributor to the Klondike. We got to ask them questions and then we voted for who we thought was the greatest Klondiker. We chose Mme. Tremblanc.



But this was still not the end of the interpretive stuff for my day. The Commissioner's Residence also had a tour later in the afternoon. I headed over that way.



As the gold rushers moved on to greener pastures, the town and the Yukon were left with sagging fortunes. But there was still gold to be had in the hills and there were corporations who were willing to invest. But they had to be wooed. In addition, the Yukon had just been granted the status of territory. The federal government representative needed a place to live and there needed to be something to show prospective investors a dignified face on the region, more than just a mining camp. The Commissioner's Residence was built. It supplied all of these.



Initially the commissioner was appointed and this created resentment among the population of Dawson City. The commissioners were not really considered of the people, they held themselves apart, and they often took off to warmer climes in the winter time. This didn't endear them to the people who stayed.



In 1912, that changed. George Black was appointed commissioner. He had been a lawyer for the miners earlier and had gained the trust of the miners and the people. In addition, he was married to Martha Black, who was to become a symbol of the people. One of the first things she did was to open the residence to everyone. There were often parties or other celebrations at the Commissioner's Residence to which everyone was invited, high society, and low.



This was all ended when the First World War came. In 1916, George Black resigned and formed a company to go and fight in the war. Martha endeared herself further by going as well. She spent much time with the wounded from Dawson City, comforting them and helping them get better.



In the end it is the era of Martha Black that is best remembered of the heyday of the Commissioner's Residence. But the residence was never again occupied, as the seat of government for the territory was moved to Whitehorse. The residence saw some use by a nun's hospital for a while. Luckily the nun's stored much of the furniture and other stuff they found in the house.



When Parks Canada gained possession of the residence, it was great disrepair and much damage had been done by floods, weather and vandals. A labour of love, as it was described to us, was begun and the house was mostly restored over a period of two decades. The best evidence of how it had looked was from photos of the Black era. They restored it to that time period and it is now very attractive.



In the end, we watched a film biography of Martha Black and it showed another piece of Canadian history that I didn't know. It was a fascinating look at an influential woman in Canadian development.



It had been a very packed day with a lot seen and done. I was very impressed at what I had done, but I wasn't even done yet. I had managed to clean off my car from the dust of the Dempster Highway. But that evening, I pulled everything out of the inside and wiped all the dust from the interior. I arranged everything once again and put it all back in some kind of order. I also did my laundry. What a productive day...

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Photos

A Joke
The government has put up all of these signs up telling the public about how much money they have put into public works in Canada. This one is particularly ironic after they slashed the budget of Parks Canada, admistrators of many of Canada's historic sites.

Janice in the Post Office
The guide for the walking tour in Dawson City was Janice. She dressed in period costume and really loved doing her job.

Post Office Boxes
The inside of the buildings managed by Parks Canada are beautifully restored.

Post Office
The outsides of the Parks Canada buildings are also faithfully and beautifully restored.

The Bank
The interior of the bank had only chicken wire between the tellers and the customers. With all the gold in town, why was that so? The answer: There are only two ways into and out of town, walking and on the river. How far can they get once they rob the bank?

Facaded building
Most of the buildings of the period had facades in front of fairly shoddily constructed buildings. It was a hastily built town built only to impress the miners and get their money. The actual buildings didn't need to be well-built.

The Red Feather Saloon
Fancy bars were the order of the day, all the better to convince the miners to part with their hard won gold.

The Palace Theatre
Arizona Charlie Meadows had this theatre put up to entertain the miners on their forays into town and fleece them of their gold.

The Greatest Klondiker
A mock debate was held in the Palace Theatre between three of the major figures in Klondike history. This day's trio was Marie Tremblanc, William Ogilvie and Sam Steele.

The Commissioners Residence
This residence was built to house the territory's governor and family in the years after the Klondike gold rush.