Day 77

August 14, 2017

Our first order today was a walking tour of Dawson City organized by the Information Center and hosted by Gabrielle who lives across the river in West Dawson in a one room cabin with no electric or water and outside toilet.  She has several dogs.  In fall she lays in supplies adequate for six weeks until the Yukon River freezes and she can get across by walking or driving on the ice.  Our first stop was the levee that keeps the Yukon from flooding the town.  Then we walked by the Keno, the stern wheeler boat, which in the early days was the last way to reach Dawson while the Yukon was iced over, followed by 1899 building of the  Bank of British North America, the first bank to come to Dawson City to provide a place for the miners to bring their gold to exchange for currency.

Then to the Red Feather Saloon, restored to its former splendor including some art above the bar.

We saw the original post office.

The cribs in “Paradise Alley” where the 40,000 men that descended on Dawson City during the gold rush came for comfort.  Each crib housed an enterprising female  that did a booming business but was regulated by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police requiring monthly health examinations at the local hospital for a fee of $5.  This allowed her to post a certificate on the wall that she had been examined .  This also kept the hospital open with the fees.  At the peak there were over 30 cribs operating in the town.

We walked past the Masonic Lodge building that originally was the Carnegie Library, 

the recreation center built to look like 1898 but containing the ice rink with zamboni and curling club and hockey games.

After a nice lunch in the Unity we drove 8 miles to the Dredge No. 4.

We had an hour presentation about how the dredge worked

then drove back into Dawson City for our evening at home.

This is our campground office.