.
One thing about the town of Chicken. There is no shortage of puns and cute sayings on T-shirts and bumper stickers related to chickens, eggs, etc.. Anyway, we scrambled out of town about 11:00 am, headed for the Canadian border. We continued on the Taylor Highway, until it cut north to Eagle AK (is there some sort of bird theme working here?) We then continued on the Top of the World Highway and crossed the border into the Yukon Territory. The crossing was smooth, but the border agent kept asking if we had been searched or had any trouble at any previous border crossing. The answer was no, but I figured if we had had trouble, he would have already been aware of it. So why ask?
At this point the road improved significantly. It was paved and relatively smooth. The topography also changed; it became almost alpine-like in appearance, with few trees. After a few hours we came to a high bluff and saw Dawson City from above. We descended the hill, crossed the Yukon River on the free ferry and proceeded to the Gold Rush Campground, where we made camp.
Dawson City is where it all happened. It is located at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers and this is where the stampeders were all headed. Gold was discovered in 1896, but the word didn't get out until 1897. By 1898 the rush was on. About 100,000 stampeders headed for Dawson City, most through Skagway and Dyea and across the White Pass or Chilkoot Pass. After a grueling 40 mile hike, hauling 2000 pounds of gear, they could build a boat and put-in at Bennett Lake, the headwaters of the Yukon River. From there they could paddle, row, pole or sail to Dawson City about 600 miles down-river. Only about a third of the stampeders made it, and when they arrived at Dawson City, they found all the best claims had been already staked. Most went broke.
Dawson City is a very historic town with many original buildings still intact. We took a walking tour of town with a costumed interpreter from Parks Canada (the Canadian version of our National Park Service), where we toured the old post office, the Palace Grand Theatre, the Bank of British North America, and the Red Feather Saloon. A number of elaborate government buildings were also established during Dawson City's boom years. Dawson City has taken measures to assure that the city retains its historic character. New buildings must be built in the 1898 style.
A number of notable authors lived in or near Dawson City. Jack London came to Dawson City during the rush and his experiences inspired some of his greatest works. His cabin has been re-located to the town. Pierre Berton one of Canada's most prolific and popular authors grew up in Dawson City in the 1920s. Robert Service lived here some years after the rush and after he had already been established as a successful author, but still drew inspiration from the tales of the old stampeders living here. Service is perhaps best known for his verse "The Cremation of Sam McGee".
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
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.
Service composed the verse one evening while walking in Dawson City. He wrote it down the next morning from memory. The verse was complete except he didn't have a name for the title character; he needed a name to rhyme with "Tennessee". Service saw McGee's name on a bank form while working at the bank in Whitehorse and asked him for permission to use his name.
I personally like the blessing Service wrote on his 6th birthday, said to be his first poem:
God bless the cakes and bless the jam;
One thing about the town of Chicken. There is no shortage of puns and cute sayings on T-shirts and bumper stickers related to chickens, eggs, etc.. Anyway, we scrambled out of town about 11:00 am, headed for the Canadian border. We continued on the Taylor Highway, until it cut north to Eagle AK (is there some sort of bird theme working here?) We then continued on the Top of the World Highway and crossed the border into the Yukon Territory. The crossing was smooth, but the border agent kept asking if we had been searched or had any trouble at any previous border crossing. The answer was no, but I figured if we had had trouble, he would have already been aware of it. So why ask?
At this point the road improved significantly. It was paved and relatively smooth. The topography also changed; it became almost alpine-like in appearance, with few trees. After a few hours we came to a high bluff and saw Dawson City from above. We descended the hill, crossed the Yukon River on the free ferry and proceeded to the Gold Rush Campground, where we made camp.
Dawson City is where it all happened. It is located at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike Rivers and this is where the stampeders were all headed. Gold was discovered in 1896, but the word didn't get out until 1897. By 1898 the rush was on. About 100,000 stampeders headed for Dawson City, most through Skagway and Dyea and across the White Pass or Chilkoot Pass. After a grueling 40 mile hike, hauling 2000 pounds of gear, they could build a boat and put-in at Bennett Lake, the headwaters of the Yukon River. From there they could paddle, row, pole or sail to Dawson City about 600 miles down-river. Only about a third of the stampeders made it, and when they arrived at Dawson City, they found all the best claims had been already staked. Most went broke.
Dawson City is a very historic town with many original buildings still intact. We took a walking tour of town with a costumed interpreter from Parks Canada (the Canadian version of our National Park Service), where we toured the old post office, the Palace Grand Theatre, the Bank of British North America, and the Red Feather Saloon. A number of elaborate government buildings were also established during Dawson City's boom years. Dawson City has taken measures to assure that the city retains its historic character. New buildings must be built in the 1898 style.
A number of notable authors lived in or near Dawson City. Jack London came to Dawson City during the rush and his experiences inspired some of his greatest works. His cabin has been re-located to the town. Pierre Berton one of Canada's most prolific and popular authors grew up in Dawson City in the 1920s. Robert Service lived here some years after the rush and after he had already been established as a successful author, but still drew inspiration from the tales of the old stampeders living here. Service is perhaps best known for his verse "The Cremation of Sam McGee".
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
The Arctic trails have their secret tales
That would make your blood run cold;
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.
Service composed the verse one evening while walking in Dawson City. He wrote it down the next morning from memory. The verse was complete except he didn't have a name for the title character; he needed a name to rhyme with "Tennessee". Service saw McGee's name on a bank form while working at the bank in Whitehorse and asked him for permission to use his name.
I personally like the blessing Service wrote on his 6th birthday, said to be his first poem:
God bless the cakes and bless the jam;
Bless the cheese and the cold boiled ham:
Bless the scones Aunt Jeannie makes,
And save us all from bellyaches.
Amen
Finally, We drove up on Bonanza Creek, the site of the Discovery strike that started the gold rush of 1898. The town owns a claim and lets visitors work the claim. We toured Dredge No. 4 one of the biggest gold dredges ever made, almost 300' long. Surprisingly, the dredge used electric power. All up and down the Klondike river, Bonanza Creek and other areas there were tell-tale ridges of dredge tailings.
Bless the scones Aunt Jeannie makes,
And save us all from bellyaches.
Amen
Finally, We drove up on Bonanza Creek, the site of the Discovery strike that started the gold rush of 1898. The town owns a claim and lets visitors work the claim. We toured Dredge No. 4 one of the biggest gold dredges ever made, almost 300' long. Surprisingly, the dredge used electric power. All up and down the Klondike river, Bonanza Creek and other areas there were tell-tale ridges of dredge tailings.
2 comments:
There used to be a ferry that size running between Carabelle,FL in the panhandle and Dog Island where Iene's family had a beach house. It was the last ferry in Florida.
Beautiful theatre. Things must have been really bad at home for the gold miners, or they were motivated by greed.
Actually there was a depression on. Folks were unemployed, desperate and had nothing better to do. Probably a touch of gold fever too.
Not all who made it to Dawson crapped out. Many went back to their old occupations. A barber, for example, could do well giving $10 haircuts to miners. Many got rich "mining the miners".
Myron
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