Alaska Trip - 2007 - Week 2

Day 8 - July 04 - Edmonton, AB to Dawson Creek, BC, Miles driven -375

We left Edmonton on the Yellowhead Highway for the journey to Dawson Creek. Starting in Edmonton we now had the benefit of the "Milepost" guidebook which gives mile by mile points of interest for any road that touches or leads to Alaska. Our destination for today was Dawson Creek in British Columbia which is the official beginning of the Alaska Highway. There is a marker in the town that indicates milepost "0". Our primary route was CA 43 to Grand Prairie and then Route 2 to Dawson Creek. There were no major attractions indicated on the intended route so we went with what we had. Sangudo a small town with a population of 398 boasts a Grain elevator shaped sundial which we stopped to photo. The restrooms at the visitors center were closed so we had to ride into the tiny town. While there was no public rest room around, the owner of the drug store took mercy on Mom and Ken found shelter at the city hall. The drug store had a nice gift shop which surprised mom as the rest of the town looked like it needed help.

From Sangudo we proceeded to the Rochfort Bridge to get a glimpse of the tallest and longest wooden railroad trestle still in use in Canada. It is impressive. For lunch we stopped in Fox Creek which is a bustling small community right on the highway. The lady in the visitors center was very helpful and friendly and gave us small town pins for our visit. The little town is only 40 years old and grew up out of the gas fields discovered in the area in the 1960's. The town now has a population of 2600 but is a full service town with a hospital and other services. Impressive.

Our next stop was the visitors center in Grand Prairie to see the professional sun dial there at the visitors center. As it was a sunny day I was able to verify that it was accurate. The local time was 3:30 PM and the shadow was halfway between the posts marked 3 and 4. Daylight savings time is not observed in Alberta. The sales lady in the visitors center gift shop was very interesting. She started out by giving us samples of Saskatoon Berry syrup and we wound up buying a bottle of syrup and a jar of jam from her. Jeanne also bought some jam from her. At the end of our visit she had given us some local town pins. I told her that she was a good salesperson and could sell ice to eskimos, bottled water to people on the Titanic and manure to dairy farmers. She was very pleasant. Grand Prairie was another one of those energy economy driven towns. It now has a population of over 47,000 and according to the people at the visitors center, jobs were plentiful in the town. Most of the growth in the town had come in the last 30 years when the oil industry took off here. The town calls itself as the oil capital of Canada.

Our last photo op for the day was at Beaverlodge, AB to take a picture of the largest beaver statue in the world. Canada seems to be full of the biggest, largest, widest etc. Arriving in Dawson Creek we dined at Boston Pizza where if you ordered from the international menu, you get a chance to win a trip to Cuba. We also went to Walmart to buy some groceries and a copy of Norton Internet Security for my computer that somehow had scrambled the program.

Sundial at Sangudo

Bridge over the Pembina River at Sangudo

Downtown Sangudo

Rochfort Bridge over the Paddle River

We are finally out of the flatland

Chairs made from Machine parts at Fox creek visitors center

One of our road hazards today, the other was oiling of the highway

Sun dial at Grand Prairie

Sundial time at Grand Prairie - it is 3:30 PM and correct

Beaver statue in Beaverlodge

 Day 9  - July 05 - Dawson Creek, BC to Fort Nelson, BC, Miles driven 285

Last night after I posted the journal I saw flashes of light and heard noises outside our room at around 10:30 PM. The guy in the room next to us was firing of fireworks right in front of our room. Since we were missing fireworks back home on July 4 we didn't mind and besides there were 4 of them out there in various stages of sobriety. This only lasted for about 20 minutes and by 11:00 PM things were settled down to a quiet evening.

Our first stop for the day was to visit the Dawson Creek visitors center and museum at the "Milepost 0" for the Alaskan Highway. With the bombing of Pearl Harbor in 1941, the need for a military access to Alaska became critical. To expedite the building of the road, Canada provided the right of way to the US and waived import taxes for the equipment and materials with the understanding that the road in the Canada would be ceded back to Canada after the war. Construction started in March of 1942 and ended 8 + months later in October.  We watched an interesting film about the building of the road. It was amazing to see the hardships that the crews went thru to complete the road for military use in such a short time. One section shown in the film was called "Suicide Hill". At that time there had been a sign posted at the start of the hill "Prepare to meet your maker". This section has now been straightened out and the sign no longer applies. One of the interesting displays in the museum was a home made snowmobile designed and built in 1935 by two boys aged 13 and 15. The sled was powered by a small lawn mover type engine. We visited another building in town which dealt strictly with the road construction and then headed up the road to see what all the hub hub was about.

Our Route for the day was The Alaska Highway and we followed the directions in the "Milepost" book which is a necessary guide for any trip to Alaska. It records all of the services and available attractions mile by mile for all the major highways leading to and within Alaska. Starting from Dawson Creek we followed the new Alaskan Highway for about 17 miles where we turned off on to the Old Alaskan Highway to cross the historic curved wooden Kiskatinaw River Bridge. This 531 foot long structure is the only original timber bridge built along the Alaska Highway that is still in use today. The bridge is an impressive structure with a wooden deck. We drove down into a campground where I was able to get some good shots from under the bridge.

After re-joining the new Alaskan Highway we crossed the Peace River Bridge into the town of Taylor. Bridging the Peace River was a hard task. The original 1942 bridge washed out in high water. The replacement suspension bridge was completed in early 1943 only to be washed out in 1957. The present cantilever bridge went into service in 1960. In Taylor we went to the visitors center as the ladies had continued a "collect your passport stamp" game that they had started in Dawson Creek. The game entails getting a stamp in a booklet at as many of the visitors centers in BC as possible. We were assaulted by a very aggressive host at the center. She gave us enough stuff to do which if completed would have taken us two or more weeks. After escaping her we went to the Honey Place to visit the "worlds largest glass beehive" The beehive consists of three glass covered honeycombs which are busier than bees. The hostess here pointed out the queen amongst the workers. A tube at the top of the panel leads to the outside wall where holes in the wall have different colors around them. The sales lady explained that the bees recognize the color of their own hive and do not mix with the others. After purchasing some of her product we went to Fort St. John for a short visit to their museum and of course the "passport stamp" game at the visitors center here. Fort St. John is a town of 17000 and is bustling as a result of the "Energy" business which is so prevalent here. Gas transmission lines and gas processing plants to remove sulfur from the gas are numerous along the road all the way up to Fort Nelson.

After a pleasant lunch at the Shepherds Pie along the highway we drove the rest of the 220 mile drive to Fort Nelson. We were entering the Rocky Mountain area and at one point snow covered peaks could be seen to the west. Photos however were not possible as in the most scenic sections there were no pull outs available so we just continued on. We had been seeing signs warning us about moose on the road but for the longest time we saw none. Then I said that my objective for the day was to see a moose and that they had a lot of nerve putting up the signs without putting some moose out there. Within 10 minutes there was a female moose about 15 feet off the highway munching on grass. I then said that what I next intended to see was a bear. It was like "Ask and it shall be so". Within a minute, I saw a black shape scoot across the highway and tear into the bushes. When we got to that spot there was a black bear. I next asked for an elk as there were some elk signs also but I guess I ran out of wishes. 

We arrived in Fort Nelson around 5:00PM and of course went straight to the visitors center. You guessed it - "The Passport Game".

Milepost "0" on the Alaska Highway at the visitors center

Railroad station in Dawson Creek now a visitors center

Home made snow mobile circa 1935

The other "Milepost 0" in the center of Dawson Creek

Photo in museum dealing with road construction problems

Alaska building in Dawson Creek

Kiskatinaw Bridge from campground

Kiskatinaw Bridge on the Old Alaska Highway

Canola growing by Taylor on the Peace River

What I will look like at the end of the trip

"Worlds Largest Under Glass Beehive"

The road is starting to loose its flatness

Day 10 - July 6 - Fort Nelson, BC to Watson Lake, YT - Miles Driven 320

Today's objective was to reach Watson Lake, the gateway to the Yukon Territory. At breakfast we ran into a group of about 8 couples who were traveling in Model A Fords on their way to Calgary after having been to Alaska. The group was from various southwestern and western states. One of the ones I talked to was from Arizona and another was from Oklahoma. Some of them had taken the road to Prudhoe Bay which is a rough gravel road north of Coldfoot. One of the Model A's only had a 10 gallon tank and averaged 14 miles to the gallon. Service being sparse north of Fairbanks he carried plastic gas cans on the back of his car bumper. They were a nice bunch and were doing what they liked. They had to be ready for any kind of repair and one of them had replaced a universal joint while on the road. Reminded me of the time Mom and I met a bunch of Model A drivers on a round the world drive.

Before starting out on the road we visited the Fort Nelson History Museum. It was filled with artifacts particular and non particular to Fort Nelson. The jewel of the place was one Merle Brown who was the founder of the museum. He is a first class tinkerer. Today he was showing off his home made wood splitter which he says he made and gave to his wife for Mothers Day so she could split the wood easier. We also ran into our Model A friends at the museum again.

Starting on the road to Watson Lake we encountered our first animal viewing. This one however was not a pleasant one. Laying next to the road was a dead black bear. Sad to see. Along the way we had other animal encounters. Signs warned of animals in the road and they were right. Our first meeting was with a caribou in the middle of the road. He was proud to pose for pictures for us but he was not interested in moving out of the way. For a time he walked right down the middle of the road. Eventually we got past him only to come upon Stone Sheep in the road. It seems that the caribou and the sheep like to get their salt supply from the leftover residue from road salting. Later on we also saw a big horn sheep but couldn't get a picture of him as we came upon him in a curve and there were other cars behind us. We couldn't stop in time. Further down the road we came upon tons of buffalo and the coup de grace was a large bear next to the road which we photographed. Mom saw to bears of her own which she wouldn't share with the others in the car. 

The scenery was gorgeous on this leg of the trip. We saw snow capped mountains to the west and the granite mountains were impressive. For lunch we stopped at one of the small rest lodges that serve food, sell gas and also rent cabins. The services between Fort Nelson and Watson Lake are few and far between. At Muncho lake there is a larger Lodge which looked very nice but we had already stopped 25 miles earlier. At Muncho lake we spotted two amphibian planes being tied down on shore. I assumed that these were local planes used in taking people for sightseeing trips in the area. Wrong. The man was from the Addirondacks in New York and with another friend and family were making the trek to Alaska by air. They had been on the road for 6 days already. He said they got held up by bad weather in Duluth and that the planes only flew 100 miles per hour. 

We stopped at the Laird Hot Springs provincial park where I wanted to see the people soaking in the hot waters. I didn't take a soak myself but did feel the water. It was hot and would take some time to get used to it. An interesting site in this cold high country, We arrived in Watson Lake at around 6:00 PM and after settling in we went to the Northern Lights Center to see a video on the local flora and fauna as well a video presentation on the Northern Lights phenomenon. It was a bit pricy in our minds but then again what are you going to do in Watson Lake. The town looks like it is in need of a real economic push.

Model A on Alaska Roadtrip. Note the plastic gas cans on the rear.

Sled at the Fort Nelson Museum

Merle Brown at his special woodsplitter

Snow Capped Mountains north of Fort Nelson

Along the Alaska Highway north of Fort Nelson

Our stubborn Caribou

Lake well north of Fort Nelson on the Alaska highway

Stone Sheep along the Alaska Highway

Amphibian Plane from New York State at Muncho Lake

Bison at roadside north of Muncho Lake

Lair Hot Springs visitors

Bison north of Laird Springs

A whole herd of Bison north of Laird Hot Springs

Note the calves in the picture

Bruin the bear right next to the road.

 Day 11 - July 07 - Watson Lake, YT to Whitehorse, YT - Miles driven 300              

Before skipping out of town in Watson Lake we drove over to the visitors center to look at the forest of signs that have been posted on poles provided by the local chamber of commerce. It seems that a homesick soldier during the construction of the Alaska Highway decided to put up his hometown sign in Watson Lake as a reminder of home. Others soon followed and pretty soon the idea caught on to the point that there are now over 61,000 signs in a forest of poles at the visitors center. More are being added every yer. That done we headed north to Whitehorse. The scenery along the way was pretty with snow topped mountains and lakes along the road. The critters were hiding today and we only saw a sole red fox walking along the road.

We stopped at a scenic overlook at Swan Lake and then proceeded to Teslin where the Alaska Highway crosses the Nisulin river on the longest bridge on the entire highway. The Nisulin runs into Teslin Lake at this point. The lake itself is 86 miles long and we ran beside it for a long time after leaving this area. At Teslin we first went to see the St. Mary chapel which is shaped like a teepee. It is a small but pretty chapel with stained glass windows and soft sacred music playing in the background. From the chapel we proceeded to Mukluk Annie's for a Salmon Bake lunch. When we got there there was a tour bus ahead of us and there was a 20 minute wait until we could get in the restaurant. We all ordered a small salmon portion which was cooked over an open grill burning pine and spruce logs. The fish was delicious.

After lunch we visited the Teslin Tlingit Council Heritage Center to watch a 30 minute film on the Tlingit culture and look at a display of Tlingit artifacts and modern art work. As the film was US made, the primary focus was on the Tlingit culture in Alaska. Not much mention is made of of the Tlingit community in Canada. We were the only people in the center when we arrived and also when we left. The host at the counter said that it is generally slow.

As we neared Whitehorse we crossed the Yukon river and noticed a hydroelectric plant which we drove down to. There were three men down there fishing and talking what sounded to me to be Russian. I asked one of them what the plant was and he responded that he didn't speak much English.

At the visitors center in Whitehorse we purchased tickets to the Frantic Follies Vaudeville Revue 7:00 PM show. It was a hoot. We were laughing all the time. One of the funnier skits dealt with the re-enactment of Robert Service"s poem "The Cremation on Sam MaGee". One of the players recited the poem from memory whit two others acted out the spoken word. It was very funny. I remember one of the funny lines during the evening. The straightman asked the drunk if he knew how many drunks there were in the Yukon. The drunks answer to the question was "No, but I have heard that the statistics are staggering." A fun time was had by all. 

Forest of road signs at Watson Lake

View over Swan Lake

Bridge crossing the Nisulin - North end

Bridge crossing the Nisulin - South end

Interior of the St. Mary's Chapel in Teslin

St. Mary's Chapel - Teslin

Mukluk Annie's - food was great

Totems at Tlingit Heritage Center

Artwork on display at Tlingit Heritage Center

View across teslin Lake at Tlingit Heritage Center

Yukon river flow control station near Whitehorse

Teslin River at Johnsons Crossing

Cabin Fever skit from Frantic Follies

Can Can girls in Frantic Follies

Dueling Banjo's in Frantic Follies

Day 12 - July 08 - Whitehorse, YT

Today was a sightseeing day and also a rest day. After 11 days of driving and activity our schedule was finally catching up to us old fogies.

Mom and I started off the day by attending Mass at the smallish Whitehorse Cathedral. The service included a baptism and we noted that the mother had tattoos on both arms. Looked out of place but then we were not the ones whose opinion counted or even was sought. After the church service we continued with out quest for the "largest, biggest, longest. widest" in the world. The first of these was the "Worlds Biggest Weathervane" at the Whitehorse International Airport. You would suppose that the International tag for the small airport comes from the flight schedules to / from the USA. In addition to US flights, Lufthansa has a direct flight from Germany to Whitehorse as Alaska is a popular destination in the "Fatherland". We heard lots of German spoken at the theater last night. But I digress. The "largest" weathervane is an old vintage DC-3 that is set on a pivoting post to indicate wind direction. The DC-3 had crashed  in the area and after years of neglect had been restored to the point where it became a tourist display.

Next to the airport is the Transportation Museum which is a "Diamond" class attraction in the AAA book. We entered the museum to find out that the classification fits. The best displays in my mind were the photographs recording the events in and around Whitehorse and the Yukon. One of the rooms was dedicated to the early days of the bush pilots. It was said that very few bush pilots retired at a full retirement age. Among the photographs was a picture of a plane that had partly broken thru the ice on a lake. To prop the plane up to prevent it from going to a watery grave, planks had been set up and then cases of the Pet Concentrated Milk cargo had been stacked to support one side of the plane. Daring rescues as well as failed rescues were documented.

Another of the rooms documented the "gold rush days" in the lower Yukon. The photo's here were amazing. One showed the gold seekers and their belongings on shore in Dyea, AK  with all their needs before embarking for the gold fields still close to 1000 miles away. Before the White Pass railroad became operational in 1901, the supplies had to be carried over the mountains and then rafted via rivers and lakes to the Yukon river in the Whitehorse area. Other photos showed Skagway and Whitehorse in the same period bustling with human activity in the frozen snow. In the room depicting the Alaska Highway building and the aftermath there was a display detailing "Helen Knabel's Ordeal" in 1963. Helen and a companion flying a small plane bound for San Francisco from Fairbanks had become lost in a snowstorm and crashed in a remote area. With serious injuries to both and very little food that they consumed in the first week, they managed to survive 49 days before rescue. An amazing story.

From the museum which was excellent we went to the second "biggest, longest" display of the day at the worlds longest wooden fish ladder. They weren't kidding. I believe that this claim is accurate. The fish ladder is below the spillway of the Hydroelectric Dam and Power Plant on the Yukon river at Whitehorse. After swimming for close to 2000 miles from the Bering Sea, the salmon must ascent a winding set of step like pools before getting up to the level of the river above the dam. The fish ladder is maintained and operated by the First Nations Council. The fish ladder is drained during the winter months to prevent freeze damage and re-opened again in July. The water was running freely in the ladder system and we could see smaller fish climbing the ladder. The guide informed that the big boys generally arrive in mid August. This was an interesting site.

For out next display we wanted to go see the riverboat SS Klondike which sits on ground as a display of the river transport available to the gold seekers. It was raining pretty steadily and we headed to the ship to get under cover. We were headed off at the pass by a young lady who advised that we must purchase a ticket at another building and then watch a 20 minute movie in a tent and then go for a guided tour of the boat. We told her that we would be willing to buy the tickets but we would draw the line at watching a movie in a cold tent. She did not agree with this negotiation tactic and said we must watch the film. We said that we would then skip the whole thing. She said that was up to us. Having looked her in the face for about two minutes I noticed that on each ear she had about 6 or more piercings, there was a piercing in her chin also. Not understanding how a museum could allow a metal decorated face to greet the public I told her that she had way too much metal. For a minute she was startled by my statement and then she recovered and flipped me the bird. I guess that I asked for that but i found it to be amusing. I am always willing to be diplomatic.

For our last activities of the day we had lunch at Tim Horton's as Ken had never eaten at one before, We chose a  right place for his initiation. We noticed that the people behind the counter were very young and I mean young. A woman standing in line with us explained that in the Yukon we will see things that we will not see anyplace else in Canada. Whitehorse has a very short but busy tourist season. There is a shortage of available help for the service industry and thus kids as young as 13 can work in the food service area. One kid  who said it was his first day didn't look much older than 12. Hard to believe that my grandkids Christopher and Brendan would be working at Wendy's or  MCDonald's. Even though they were confused in their work, they were pleasant.  You learn something new everyday.  

From last nights Frantic Follies

From last nights Frantic Follies

An audience victim in last nights Frantic Follies

The drunk in last night's Frantic Follies - he was really funny

Whitehorse Cathedral - it is small

The "Worlds Largest Weathervane"

Mural at Transportation Museum

Gold seekers offloaded at Dyea before getting over the White Pass

Street scene in Whitehorse in 1901

Lead and Silver ore stacked in Mayo waiting for the spring shipping season to the smelters

Yukon River spillway in Fish ladder area - below the dam

Hydroelectric Dam in operation

Fish Ladder working up the incline

Fish ladder at the Yukon River Spillway. It is long

The SS Klondike which didn't want us to visit

Day 13 - July 09 - Whitehorse, YT to Dawson City, YT - Miles Driven 330

Today we were going to spend most of the day in the van as we had at least a six hour drive to Dawson City. The scenery on this day was beautiful just like it was the other days. Our first stop was the Braeburn rest area where we purchased a cinnamon bun which was big enough to feed four people. Perhaps it was the worlds largest Cinnamon bun in keeping up with the other "biggest" things we had seen. I would have taken a picture of it in the store except that the fellow behind the counter was so surly I thought I was going to get an argument. When Jeanne asked him how much it was he said $7.00. Jeanne handed him a $20.00 and received $15.00 in change. In the van Jeanne said that he had made a mistake. I said that it was no mistake, he was just too lazy to pick up the two "loony" coins.

We stopped to see the remains of the Montague Lodge which had been  a stop on the Whitehorse to Dawson city Stage line. In the winter months the passengers were expected to carry enough overproof rum to keep the driver happy in the evenings. In yesterdays posting I mentioned that the airport at Whitehorse is serviced by a non=stop flight from Germany. Well today we found out that the plane had landed. When we arrived at the First Nation Heritage center in Carmacks we saw that all the signs in the center were in English and German. Even the donations request sigh was in German and English. If I were a French Canadian I would have complained about this pandering. (Its a joke son, don't be that PC). All during the day we kept running into German speaking people. At the Heritage center we learned about the natives customs and were shown displays of their life. At one table some women were working on a Moose skin to make a display in the center. The handywork in the center was excellent.

From the center we stopped at the Five Points Rapids on the Yukon River where I climbed down the 219 steps to try to see the rapids up close. The rapids however were another kilometer away so i returned up the same 219 steps to continue our journey. Our intended lunch stop was at Penney's in Pelley Crossing but when we arrived we found out that Penney and her husband had split and moved since the guide book was published. The guy outside the gas station said that there were good homemade sandwiches inside his store. It turned out that the sandwiches were good but they were made by a business called "Starvin Marvins" in Whitehorse which was over 140 miles away.

We arrived in Dawson City at around 4:30 and checked into the Downtown Hotel, an old but comfortable place. We took a small walk around town and then a quick supper before all places closed. Getting back to the hotel around 8:00 PM, Ken and Jeanne retired for the evening. Mom and I decided to go to see the Diamond Tooth Gertie's show at the local casino. For $6.00 each we were treated to 40 minutes of entertainment by a singer and of course the required dancing girls. Not the full production show we got at Whitehorse but it was fun. After the show we put $10.00 into some slot machines and thanks to mom we walked out with $12.00. A two dollar profit.

Remnants of Montague Lodge

Dugout Canoe out of Spruce in Carmacks Heritage Center

Fancy Bead Work at Carmacks Heritage Center

Five Points Rapids on the Yukon River

Stairway with 219 steps each way - It was tough

Pelley Crossing

Crooked Creek under the bridge

Stewart River Crossing

Sign at Moose Lodge - Lots of Germans here

Our Hotel in Dawson City

SS Keno - last riverboat to serve Dawson on the Yukon

General store/grocery in Dawson City

Statue dedicated to the Miner at Dawson City

Dancing girls at Diamond Tooth Gerties

Canary and Dancing girls at Diamond Tooth Gerties

Day 14 -  July 10 - Dawson City, YT

Today is Ken's birthday and we celebrated it by buying him lunch at the Sourdough Restaurant. Before that we first checked out the ferry landing to see how bad the exit would be from here tomorrow. The ferry runs continuously during the summer months except that on Wednesday the ferry shuts down between 5 and 7 am for maintenance. A 7:00 AM departure would be fine for us as we would then arrive at the US border when they opened at 8:00AM. However it is a small ferry and a caravan of campers is also scheduled to leave tomorrow. We watched several departures today and most of the campers in today's caravans were also towing cars. On most trips only one camper and one shorter(less than 19') fit on the ferry. Not encouraging for a great escape but it will be what it will be.

After the ferry stop we went to the National Parks Service visitors center to pick up tickets for the tour of the #4 dredge out on Klondike Creek. The dredge is now a historic site and was the largest dredge ever used in North America. The dredge is about 15 km's out of town on a washboard road. Beyond the present location of the dredge there was an operating gold operation which the guide said was a "hobby" operation. Further up the creek beyond the dredge location was the original "Bonanza" which created the rush of 1898. Up until around 1912 most of the mining in the Dawson area was done on individual claims. With the discovery of gold in Nome, AK, many of the small claimants left and the claims reverted back to the government. It was now the time for the corporate miners to come in. Several dredges operated in the area but #4 was the biggest. After working on the Klondike River it was brought to Klondike Creek and in the period between 1940 and 1961 it moved 14 kilometers up the creek to its present location when it was abandoned and later recovered by the National Park System as a historic monument. The dredge is a monster. In operation it moved river beds and left piles of rocks in it wake which are devoid of plant life. The amount of gold recovered by this unit was amazing. The dredge was cleaned of gold almost daily and in one record cleaning, the dredge yielded up one ton of gold.

After lunch at the Sourdough - which was excellent - Mom and Jeanne went shopping  and after a while I joined them for a visit to the St. Mary's RC church. Strangely the church is on the second floor of the building and the street floor is the church hall. One of the other buildings I looked at was Lowes Mortuary which displayed embalming tools as well as some photo's of funerals and also information on burial in Dawson. Since winters were brutal, certain amounts of graves would be dug before the freeze-up. There was one photo of a casket being pulled on a sled by a dog team. I couldn't get a shot of it but it was fascinating.

After a short walk around town and returning to the hotel to write out some post cards, Mom and I decided that a visit to Dawson would not be complete without  seeing the cabin of Robert W. Service and hearing some of his poetry. It so happened that a talk on the poet that gave us "The Shooting of Dan McGrew", "Spell of the Yukon", "The Cremation of Sam Mcgee" was scheduled for 7:00 PM. The fellow leading the program was dressed in period closing and was able to recite the McGee poem from memory as well as the Shooting of Dan McGrew. He was a very entertaining personality who lives in the Dawson area year round. Thanks to Ken who drove and picked us up for the program for saving us a long walk. We were also able to see the cabin of Jack London, author of "Call of the Wild" and "White Fang". Amazing that two of the most famous writers of this genre lived almost next to each other.

We enjoyed Dawson very much. It is a small town with a rich history and hopefully it will continue to keep it alive for generations to come.

Dredge #4

Business end of the dredge - cup scrapers brought up the rocks into the washing apparatus

Tail end that deposited the tailings

Picture of the #4 in action. See the spoils.

Lowes Mortuary

Photo of a photo - Horsedrawn sled funeral

St. Mary's Church on the second floor of building

Diamong Tooth Gerties Saloon

The Governor's residence when Dawson was the capital of the Yukon

Overview of Dawson, The landmark is a slide from centuries ago not mining

Robert W. Service's Cabin

John the R. W. Service poet interpreter. He was great.

       

 

       

 

 

 

Alaska Trip Summary

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