Yukon Gold

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When we were in Watson Lake at the visitor center at the sign forest, we found out about a Yukon tourism project that has Yukon Gold passports. The idea is to get you to stop at various interesting spots in the Yukon and have the passport stamped. If you get ten stamps, you can enter to win two ounces of gold. If you get twenty stamps, you can enter to win 5 ounces of gold. Well, my sister Janet sure got gold fever! We had fun driving around Whitehorse today finding interesting museums, etc. to get our stamps. Janet completed ten, including the ones along the way from Watson Lake and Carcross. We'll wait until after our return trip through the Yukon to turn ours in when we'll have twenty stamps! One of our stops was at the transportation museum. Outside it had a real airplane set up on a post that it claims as the world's largest weathervane! The whole Douglas DC-3 turned with the wind! Another stop was at the sternwheeler SS Klondike that steamed up and down the Yukon. At the Yukon arts Center, there was a lovely display of native dolls from all over the Yukon.
Next door to that was the Yukon Archives. We thought maybe we could find something about Rich's great-grandparents, so we went in. The first couple of places we looked, showed nothing. Then we had a chance to look at the Canada Census for 1901. There they were in Dawson City! His great-grandfather and two of his brothers and one of their wives, his great-grandmother, and three children! His grandmother was born up there! It was so exciting to find them! We decided that on the way back we'll stop in Dawson City to check it out and see what else we can find out!
After that, we went to see a long, wooden fish ladder that the salmon take to get around a hydro-electric dam on the Yukon. The dam was built across the place where there were rapids that the goldrush stampeders had to contend with. Whitehorse was named for the "foaming rapids that resembled white horses' manes.

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Comments

[Jodie]

Whitehorse
Wow! I didn't know that about Whitehorse! I think the largest weather vane is a great idea, and I can't believe it actually turns with the wind. How neat!