Whitehorse
Happy Victoria Day! Canadian holiday happening about the same time as Memorial Day in the US.
First thing today off to see Miles Canyon. This is a narrow canyon on the Yukon River just up river from Whitehorse. For the most part the Yukon River is navigable much of the way to its origin. It was the major supply and transportation route to the Alaska gold fields. Everywhere except Miles Canyon. Boats would travel down the Yukon to a town that developed above the canyon. People and supplies would then take a tram (small train) to Whitehorse downstream from the canyon where they load on to paddlewheel boats to continue on. This is why:
A dam has been built between the canyon and Whitehorse (same one the fish ladder climbs) and this is the canyon now
Next stop a tour of the SS Klondike.
This was the largest paddle wheeler to sail the Yukon. It is nearly 210 feet long. It could haul over 250 tons of cargo in less than five feet of water. The boiler for the steam engines consumed a cord of wood an hour.
One cord.
Going down river to Dawson City took 36 hours. That is 36 cords of wood. Going up river from Dawson to Whitehorse took three and a half days. That is a small forest consumed each trip.
The boat is completely restored and the hold is stocked with a typical cargo load. Very authentic. We toured every deck and received much good information from our guide.
Fun story of how the boat came to be where it is now. It was retired in the 1950’s and placed in dry dock at the north end of Whitehorse. Years later it was decided to restore the boat and place it at its’ present location as a national historic landmark. That location is at the other end of town (upstream) from the dry dock area. No problem. Just float the boat upstream and then pull it out on land on slides just like at the dry dock. Small problem. In the interim a bridge had been built across the river just down stream from the designated final display spot. Sooo… they built skids for the bottom of the boat (remember it is 210 feet long), located three bulldozers, and hauled the boat right up main street from one end of town to the other. The boats progress was aided by the use of eight tons of soap flakes, slightly moistened. They have pictures of the boat in the middle of town passing buildings that are still there today.
On to view the log church.
Then to Walmart (milk) and back to carbus for lunch.
After lunch we planned to take a tour of a local brewery but it was closed (Victoria Day). Along the way we stopped to watch the weather vane plane turn in the wind. Pretty impressive and not much wind blowing to turn it.
These pictures were all taken from the same spot.
Near the plane is a museum dedicated to Beringia. This is the area of the Bering Straight that was exposed during the last Ice Age and includes part of eastern Russia and all of Alaska and part of northern Yukon Territory. The rest of Canada and part of the northern US was covered in ice but this area was not. This was the land bridge that allowed the migration of humans and animals from Asia to North America. Lots of cold grasslands. No trees. Lots of interesting animals. Here is Sue meeting a few .
Should have taken this from the side. That is a giant sloth about to pounce.
Last thing of the day was to take in a live show called Frantic Follies. A Vaudeville style show with a Klondike flavor.
This guy is playing an elk antler as a percussion instrument.
Lots of fun, multi-talented performers, and Sue and Auburn, CA were part of the show. We sat in the front row of the small theater. Very early in the show the MC type(he did lots of other things too) was making some seemingly idle banter and asked Sue where she was from. The rest of the show was filled with references by many cast members to “Auburn, California” and the “Lady from Auburn, California”. The audience got a kick out of it.
The show started at 8:30 in the evening. As we walked to our car at 10:20 the sun was just starting to set behind tall mountains to the west. It would stay light for several more hours.
