After getting settled at the campground, we headed to the visitor center to pick up information about what things we should not miss in Dawson. The town is fairly small, so that left plenty of time to get around and explore.
Directly across the street, along the riverfront, is the cultural center. Most of the towns that we have visited offer various education about the native people who settled the area first and how they contributed to the gold rush.
On our way up to Alaska, we picked up a Yukon passport that lists various places to visit to get a stamp. Once you have 20 stamps, you can submit your entry form for a drawing. The prize…gold!
Parks Canada gave us free tickets to tour the SS Keno. It was only open for two hours each day. This was one of the smaller steamboats that carried cargo down the narrower rivers and onto the Yukon. It was retired in the 1950’s when the road was completed and boats were no longer needed.
The Commissioners Residence was farther down Front street. Before 1953, Dawson was the capital of the Yukon. Commissioner George Black and his wife lived here and the inside of the house has been restored to the way it was in 1916.
A couple blocks behind the historic Black home is the Dawson City Museum. Part of the upstairs is still used for court proceedings. We spent a good hour looking around and learning more about the gold rush.
After a rocker box gold panning demonstration, we toured the train building. The first three engines used by the White Pass & Yukon Route Railroad were on display. Engine number one was fueled by wood.
We couldn’t pass up a chance to ride a riverboat and experience what it was like to travel before roads and trains. With three levels, the Klondike Spirit paddlewheeler could hold a lot of people.
We stayed warm in our coats as we stood on the front of the boat. The wind coming off the cold water made it at least 10 degrees cooler than it actually was.
The captain halted the boat at a few spots along the route. We stopped at the steamboat graveyard to see were these once majestic machines were laid to desintegrate. So sad!
Further down the river, we passed by the original native settlement in the area. It now serves as a camp for children and the church is still used for weddings.
One day we drove up to the Midnight Dome, a mountain overlooking the entire town. We saw the Spirit going upstream. The view was amazing in all directions.
There are many islands in the wide river bed. Some are completely barren due to sheets of ice stacking up and floating down the river, clearing anything in their path. We saw one island on our boat trip that still has a house and it was formerly a farm with animals and crops.
Facing the direction of the Klondike river, you can see the Bonanza creek valley and other valleys where gold mining has continued for over 100 years. I don’t know why the government does not require these miners to correct the damage that they do to the land.
The tubular mounds of dirt along the tree line in the picture above were created by a dredge. By 1912 there were thirteen dredges operating in the Klondike.
About 7.5 miles out of town, is the resting place of Dredge #4, where it ceased operations in 1959. Parks Canada freed it from 18 feet of ice, silt, and mud in 1991. It was excavated, refloated, and relocated to the current, now empty, pond.
The highlight of our time in Dawson was the Northern Lights! We got up at midnight and saw a spectacular show in the sky. It is hard to take a picture with a cell phone, so my picture does not compare to what we saw. The lights danced and shifted across the sky.
A couple of days is all you need to see everything that Dawson has to offer. It’s a necessary stop if you are driving north or south to Alaska. Most people visit on their way north, but we saved it for the trip south. I’m glad we did, so we could see the Northern Lights.
So awesome you saw the Northern Lights!