We crossed the Yukon River on a tiny ferry that just nosed up to the bank and you drove on. There was a huge current of 12 knots there so they really had to power up to hold the boat in position.
The ferry runs from Spring break-up to freeze up, usually mid-May till mid-October. As there is no bridge (or other roads) I'm not sure what the people who live on the Top of The World side do from then until the river freezes solid and they can cross by other means. The ferry put us in Dawson City, that legendary town of gold rush days.
Today tourism is a major factor, with supplying the bush a close second. The grocery store had everything in huge quantities- 20 pound sacks of potatoes, 2 pound boxes of cereal, cheese in big bricks, etc. Mining also still is a major part of the economy. The town looks much like it once did, but of course the buildings are all painted nicely now. Part of this is from necessity.
The streets are unpaved and there are raised board sidewalks, thanks to the permafrost. Some of the original buildings were still in use and hadn't been redone, just added on to. Most of them were log. There was a nice Danoja Zho cultural center as Dawson City is the seat of governance of the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation. We visited the Fireman's Hall museum, which had the pages of the local paper from Feb. 17, 1905 on the wall. Most of the news was actually stories from Russia.
One told of a so-called Benevolent Society there that had a council of men who met to decide who in the village was a drain on society, and was to be killed. Needless to say, this got out of hand. A family of brothers wanted their mother's money, so they brought her up before the council. She was condemned, but managed to escape and report to the police what was happening, thus ending the "benevolence." The annual Dust to Dawson motorcycle rally was in progress.
This goes "over the Top" and the festivities last for several days, so the streets were lined with bikes; a rather jarring sight next to all the Victoriana.
We headed out of town, through piles of gravel tailings thrown up by the hydraulic mining operations. The countryside became taiga- miles and miles of it. It is somewhat the equivalent of Kansas. While beautiful, the scenery never changes. At one point we drove through another recent fire area. You could still smell the burn. Acres of black sticks sticking up from the ground. It was interesting to note that fire doesn't take a straight path, and in some cases even appears to pick it's path, veering off and missing a clump of trees, then backing in and burning everything around them. We also passed an area where the dirt on the roadside was white and looked like the edge of the road looks when the snow has all melted, except that pushed up onto the side by the plow.
However, it was far too warm to be snow, even up here. It actually was volcanic ash, deposited 1200 years ago. It is a good time indicator as everything on top of it is younger than 1200 years and everything under it is older. As there is no record of volcanic activity in this area, it's origin is something of a mystery. It is thought that it was brought here by the retreating glacier. The top layer was thin- not much happens geologically in 1200 years! As we drove along the river, it got wilder, with deep gorges and many rapids. What a time those people must have had, and how great their desire for success, for them to have dared to challenge it with little or no resources or knowledge of what lay ahead. I guess that's what being a pioneer is. We are camped by Lake Laberge, a big, very pretty lake. This sunset is especially nice, taken at 11:30pm.
We are farther south now, so there is a bit less light. I kind of miss it.
June 26, our 39th wedding anniversary
We drove into Whitehorse,
another gold rush town, but the territorial capital so much more cosmopolitan. It's a flat city! There is not one tall building here, except for what they call the "log skyscrapers."
It's a nice little city, though, well platted so easy to navigate. We located Walmart to see if there were other campers there, in case we decided to spend the night, then went to the Visitor Center. As we got out of the van we noticed that there was fluid leaking from the radiator. We went to the Center, then to the public library across the parking lot to post the latest blog, and when we returned it had leaked some more. It was Saturday afternoon, so impossible to find a mechanic. Guess we'll be here for a while! Bill added more fluid and we went off to drown our sorrows at the Yukon Brewing Company. The beer was fine, but even better was the sign advertising the sheet-metal company next door.
We also visited the Old Log Church museum and rectory.
It is the oldest Anglican church in the Yukon, and was used well into the 1960's. The log buildings were interesting; they are chinked with rope or some kind of hemp fiber.
We went out to the Klondike Salmon Bake restaurant for dinner, one of the oldest in Whitehorse, and located in some of the oldest buildings.
It was a funky sort of place, the salmon was good, and the mixed berry pie was to die for! After dinner we took a walk along the river beside the waterfowl sanctuary. From a distance the Walmart parking lot looked like an RV sales lot.
The path was an old trolley line, and a lovely trail until we came to the end where there was big steel fence and a sign saying "Caution-Keep Out! Contaminated Land!"
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