Dawson was called the city of gold because of the millions of dollars worth of gold mined in nearby claims. That gold often changed hands as the saloon owners and other entrepreneurs "mined the miners." Parks Canada offers several tours where you can visit some of these buildings or learn as you walk around the historic district.
One we did was the program at the Palace Grand, a theatre built by Arizona Charlie Meadows. They provided all sorts of entertainment, much of it vaudeville. A blend of luxurious European Opera House and a boomtown dance hall, the whole oepration concentrated on its goal: separating gold from the miners. The bulk of the audience sat on wooden kitchen chairs on the main floor. The millionaire miners would purchase more expensive box seats well above the regular folks - to see better and to be seen. After three hours of entertainment, the chairs were pushed aside and it turned into a dance hall. The girls would insist her partner buy her a drink. We also saw the rooms the women stars stayed in. They theatre has been nicely restored and sometimes hosts local productions.
Also from the gold rush era is the paddle wheeler Keno. Plus walking around town, you are looking at historic buildings. We had a little fun with some of the old buildings that are now leaning because of the permafrost underneath melting. (Would someone come relieve me?) Restored buildings are now built up on pilings so when the building is heated, it doesn't affect the permafrost.
On Eighth Avenue are located the Robert Service cabin and the Jack London cabin (left). Don't you love the grass growing right on the roof! The Robert Service cabin is one of the Parks Canada tours. Once a day, an interpreter talks about Service's life and recites some of his poems. Our interpreter was ironically named Sam McGee! He did an excellent job and was quite entertaining. Robert Service became a millionaire from his poems, unusual for a poet. Jack London lived near Dawson City for just over a year but some of his best known books, Call of the Wild and White Fang came out of this experience.
Across the Yukon River reached by walking to the back of the provincial park where we stayed is a trail to the sternwheeler graveyard. More than 250 sternwheelers plied the Yukon waters from 1896 to the mid-1950s. Each winter, they pulled the boats out of the water so they would not be crushed by the ice. One spring the boats were not put back into the river. Those remains have been there for 50-some years and are now mostly a pile of boards and scraps of metal. You can still make out the name "Seattle" on one - in November 1897 it returned from Dawson City with $800,000 in drafts and securities and 35 lbs of gold. There must be six or more of these once magnificent boats. You can make out pieces.
This trip we did not go out to the gold fields near Bonanza Creek but you can tour the dredge and pan for gold. Quite interesting. They are still working those claims, especially as the price of gold goes up.
Lucky for me, Dawson had an Internet cafe, The TastyByte Internet Cafe. Good coffee too, plus they do computer repairs. We also had delicious arctic char (a fish) at the Jack London Grill located in the Downtown Hotel.
Dawson is a unique city. It's bulding code means all buildings stay historic so wherever you walk, you get a flavor of its gold rush days. Unless you take the Marine Highway, we recommend that after leaving Whitehorse, one way you take the Klondike Highway to Dawson City and when traveling the other direction take the Alaska Highway via Haines Junction and Kluane. Jaimie Hall Bruzenak
Photos by George and Jaimie Bruzenak
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