Dawson City - Heart of the Klondike
/Exhausted after waiting for our 2am ferry ride, we pulled off the highway into a large turnout well off the road about 40 miles south of the Peel Ferry landing and fell into bed. We slept poorly, rose early and headed to Eagle Plains where we gassed up and hit the road again. We gained an hour as we passed from the Northwest Territories back into the Yukon.
The rest of the drive down the Dempster was fairly uneventful even though things always look different coming from the opposite direction. We saw no animals except a red fox that streaked in front of us into the bush. It sprinkled off and on… just enough to combine with the dust to make the windshield dirty and streaky.
As we neared our destination for the day, we watched dark clouds approach and the temperature began to plummet… 50F—-> 46F—> 36F in a matter of minutes. Then the deluge… hail, sleet, rain. About two miles from Tombstone Campground, however, the clouds disappeared and bright sun shone.
We snagged a campsite at the Tombstone Territorial Park and took a nap for a few hours then walked over to the beaver pond again just to stretch and move around. Dinner at campsite and we were back to bed for a good night’s sleep.
It was only 70 miles from Tombstone to Dawson City… 45 miles on gravel and then pavement… blessed pavement and then we saw the sign welcoming us to Dawson City.
Friends had recommended Bonanza Gold RV Park and though it was crowded, it had an RV car wash, hot showers and Wi-Fi, three of our favorite things at the moment.
First things first, Blanche needed to have her ‘shoes’ rotated and a wheel alignment check. A Napa auto parts and a garage were right across the street from the RV park. David got an appointment for the very next afternoon.
Then, Blanche got a thorough exterior wash… as if she needed it. The ‘car wash’ was nothing more than an outdoor pressure wash that we pumped ‘loonies’ ($1 Canadian coins) into for each minute. We stood in the muddy puddles scrubbing and rinsing. We were innovative since there was no soapy foaming brush. We used a little dish detergent in a large bowl filled with water and scrubbed her down with the windshield squee-gee. Worked just fine and 20 loonies later, she looked like our white van again.
Now for the interior… David pulled everything from the garage including the bikes and vacuumed and swept and cleaned while I began the forward detailing. It took most of the day, but the results were worth the effort. Finally, it was time for the crew to take showers and just like Blanche, it was wonderful to shed the layers of accumulated dust and feel clean again.
We ended the day by driving up the steep, winding road to the Midnight Dome. On June 21, 1899, a large group of people climbed The Dome, the tall hill that is the backdrop for Dawson City, in order to watch the Midnight Sun on the Solstice. Everyone was quite disappointed when the sun actually set at 11:30 pm and rose again two hours later. Though there was no midnight sun, the Midnight Dome retained its name. The wind was howling at the top and it was cold, but the views of the Yukon River and the town below were awesome.
Once Blanche’s tires were rotated and all was good, we set out to explore the town. We took the ferry to the opposite side of the Yukon, found a campsite at the Yukon River Campground, and then walked back down to the ferry landing and crossed back to town on the ferry as passengers.
When I think about the Yukon Territory, Dawson City comes to mind. Perhaps, and I know I’m dating myself, it’s having watched ‘Sergeant Preston of the Yukon’ and his trusty Alaskan Malamute, Yukon King, as a kid. Sergeant Preston’s purview was always Dawson City and he was always dealing with pesky scoundrels or saving lives. Being in Dawson City conjures up all those old images of a gold mining town, rough and rowdy men and cold winters. Just to get me in the mood, I had just reread Jack London’s ‘Call of the Wild’. I was all ready for Dawson City.
There are no fast food restaurants or chains in Dawson City. All the shops and restaurants are unique and locally owned. Dawson is the Yukon River flowing alongside the town. It’s gold nugget sales and gold panning excursions and ongoing dredging for gold. It’s local saloons and Diamond Tooth Gertie at her casino and a small bakery that sells out early in the day. It’s boardwalks along side the roads to escape from sinking in the mud during the winter and spring. It’s the Heart of Klondike. It’s iconic and it’s delightful.
The town is celebrating the 125th anniversary of the Klondike gold rush this year (1898-2023). Originally a native moose pasture and fish camp, Dawson, in the space of two years, became the largest city north of Seattle and west of Winnipeg. The population of Dawson City in 1898 was estimated at 30,000, by 1900 it was 9100 and by 1951 it was 783. Interestingly, the population is growing albeit slowly. In 2022, the population was recorded as 2331.
In 1904, the Klondike was the largest gold producer in Canada and fourth largest in the world… 88% of all the gold mined in the Yukon came and still comes rom the Dawson area. They have a right to celebrate.
Sternwheelers plied the Yukon waters from 1896 to the mid-1950s. According to local info signs, ‘there were up to 70 of the majestic riverboats on the the Yukon River alone”. The SS Keno, now a Canadian National Historic Site, is now firmly embedded on land on a hill overlooking the Yukon River right on Front Street. Built in Whitehorse in 1922, she was used to move ore. No tours were taking place while we were there, but we did have the opportunity to take a look at her. Boats out of water are never as graceful as they are when water is lapping at their hulls.
We happened to notice a flyer in the visitor center about a free special presentation by ‘Diamond Tooth Gertie and her girls’ that very afternoon at the old Palace Grand Theatre. Originally built in 1899 by Arizona Charlie, entertainment ranged from vaudeville acts to silent movies. Parks Canada rebuilt the building in 1962 and now features musicals and summer stock theatre.
We were beyond surprised by the presentation and the caliber of the performers. The singing was quite good, but the dancers… the dancers were absolutely outstanding from modern jazz to can-can routines with lots of high energy synchronized choreography. All in all, a most entertaining couple of hours. Most of the audience, by the way, were locals and not tourists.
We wandered around checking out the old buildings. Some had been refurbed and some, had not. There was lots to see and appreciate. Don’t take my word for it… See for yourself. Just click on the thumbnail to enlarge it.
We had a beer and dinner at the Sourdough Saloon, home of the Sourtoe Cocktail. Atlas Obscura described this cocktail best. “Established in 1973, the Sourtoe Cocktail has become a Dawson City tradition and is exactly what is sounds like: an actual human toe that has been dehydrated and preserved in salt, used to garnish a drink of your choice. The first toe is said to have belonged to a miner and rum runner named Louie Liken, who had his frostbitten appendage amputated in the 1920s. Liken preserved it in a jar of alcohol in his cabin for memories. Roughly 50 years later, in 1973, Yukon local Captain Dick Stevenson found the jar containing the toe while cleaning a cabin. Captain Dick brought the toe down to the Sourdough Saloon and started plunking it into the drinks of those who were brave enough.” The drinks cost $10 plus the shot of your choice. You must drink the drink and the toe must touch your lips in order to received a special Sourtoe certificate. No, we didn’t do it. Toes near my mouth…especially amputated dead ones… uh, uh… no, thanks.
Dawson City was fun, but it was time to move on. Places to go and things to see. The way west to Alaska is via the Top of the World Highway and that’s where we’re all heading next.