Date: 1 July 2001 (Sunday)
Start:
End: Guggieville RV Park, Dawson YT (0 miles)
The temperature was 52f when we got up, and the skies were filled with high clouds but nothing down low threatening rain. By the end of the day the temperature was 70f. Low clouds rolled through, thunder was heard, a few sprinkles came down, but then they went away and the day ended very nicely.
This is Canada Day. There are holiday programs at several sites, but I’ll just do what we got into.
We went to the Dawson City Museum first. There, admission was free all day, and they gave us a miniature Canadian flag pin to put onto the cap. We toured the building, which has been used for many purposes through the years since 1902. Partway through, they announced a tour of the structure next door, which houses steam engines from the local mine-serving narrow-gage railroad. We wandered around, looking at things until noon.
Then we took up a place on 5th Avenue to watch the parade. It came along shortly, led by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police detachment. The mounted leader rode ahead of the six marching Mounties, all in their great red-and-gold uniforms. They were followed by two bicycle-mounted city police. The mayor and MLA (member of legislative assembly, I think I learned) walked after them. The mayor dodged from one side of the street to the other, passing out Dawson city cap pins (we each got one). They were followed by a 1931 Model A Ford Phaeton carrying other local dignitaries.
Next came an old fire engine with Diamond Tooth Gertie and her review girls on it, in costume of course. Then there were a couple more fire engines, one with Smokey the Bear on it, and that was the parade.
The Canada Day ceremony began shortly afterward at the museum. We had good places in the standing crowd. Staff folks passed out the words to the national anthem and small Canadian flags. Diamond Tooth Gertie and the girls led the crowd in singing "Oh Canada".
The various dignitaries gave speeches welcoming the visitors to the celebration and praising everyone who contributed to Canada during the 134 years. Then they invited everyone to birthday cake there on the lawn. It was all very nice.
We ate lunch, then went out to the Yukon Gold Panning Championships on the north edge of town. We watched the panning for a bit (they put gold flakes in the dirt the panners are going to work, then score on time and percentage of flakes found). A truck came in bearing an upright piano. During an intermission, the piano player (Barnacle Bob) and his guitar-playing assistant (the Arctic Tundra Monkey) played barroom honkytonk music. That fit, since they work at a local dispensary of alcoholic products. The driver also allowed they’d patronized a few bars en route, but not all of them.
We couldn’t really get into the gold panning competition, so we went back to the trailer for a fresh battery for the video camera. Then we drove up to Midnight Dome.
Midnight Dome got its name in 1901 when a bunch of the locals theorized they could see the midnight sun (that is, one that doesn’t set at night) if they went high enough into the hills on June 21. A group climbed up to this dome (2,900 feet) and watched the sun set, then rise two hours later (couldn’t have been any mathematicians in the mob, or they’d have known they needed a lot more height to be where they could see the sun 24 hours a day). Even though you can’t see the sun all the day, you can get excellent views for picture taking. You can see up the Bonanza Creek - Eldorado Creek complex where the gold was found that started the rush to Dawson. Our campground is at the point where the creek enters the Klondike River. You can see tailings all around where dredges have worked over the gravel to take out gold. Some folks insist there's still a lot of gold in the old tailings. There's a great view of the Klondike merging with the Yukon - the darker, cleaner, Klondike can be seen running down the bank for some distance before it merges into the Yukon. You can also see back over the Yukon to the Ridge Road / Top of the World Highway.
Then we went back to the visitor’s center and rented the walking tour audio tapes and players. We hiked the tour and learned something of the buildings of the town that remain from the 1898 gold rush period. The entire town is a registered historic district, so new buildings must conform to an idea of what the town was like. Most of the buildings on the tour are owned by Parks Canada.
We continued with a walk along the levee, which is also a park. Dawson also has a paddlewheel steamboat, the "Keno". There is a catamaran boat that runs down river to Fortymile and back for those who want to look at the river.
The day surely was fun. We’re very happy we decided to come here for their national day.
It came to 5:00 pm and we were running out of energy, so Dolores bought a few groceries and I bought beer and wine. We returned and had a chicken dinner in the little house.
In the midst of dinner, a motor home towing a Saturn pulled into the space next to us. The motor home bore a big VT (Virginia Tech) symbol on it. The driver had noted our Virginia license tags, so he came to us to borrow jumper cables when he found the Saturn’s battery dead. I loaned them to him and returned to eating.
Then I noticed him and his wife preparing to hand push the Saturn up next to the Winnebago to jump the two batteries together. I got out again and pulled the truck next to the Saturn. He put the cables on his battery, and I put them on mine. As I did so, his alarm went off (it defaults that way). I had to wait for him to unlock his door to connect my ends of the cable. Then he started his Saturn without incident.
Turns out they’re from Roanoke (Salem, actually, a suburb). They’d come 400+ miles today, totally skipping Whitehorse to get up here. They’re going to spend a few days here to recuperate.
He’s unhappy with his Winnebago. He had a part of the one-piece fiberglass roof pull away from the body. He had to duct-tape it down and drive slowly to a repair place that charged over $1,000 to make it right. Winnebago said they’d pay half the bill, but not all since "the wind did it, it’s not a manufacturer’s defect". He’s preparing a case against them (it’s under extended warranty).
I think he’s a little off, since he was within 200 miles of Forest City, Iowa, where they make those things. He should have gone there.
We had the TV on to watch the CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Company) special "The Thrill on the Hill", a celebration of Canada Day from Ottawa. The first performer was Gordon Lightfoot, and one of the songs he sang was one of my very favorite songs, "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald". The show is still going on (it will probably go on for some time, they show no signs of fatigue).
Tomorrow, we’re going to re-travel part of the Top Of The World Highway if the clouds favor us, in order to see some of the scenery we missed yesterday. We’ll also look around the town some more, and go out to Discovery Claim area to see the sights out there.
