Dawson City was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush starting out as a muddy, bogged down tent city in 1889. But, amazingly, by 1902, as the gold rush moved on to other parts of the country, Dawson City was well established with many new well built homes and businesses and an economy that was not reliant on gold.
Last night we bar hopped between the Sourdough Saloon, home of the SourToe Cocktail and Diamond Tooth Gerties (a not for profit casino with a floor show circa 1910). At the Sourdough Saloon there was a lot of commotion at the back of the room that we later found out was caused by people drinking a shot of Yukon Jack with a mummified toe in it. Maybe we'll go back tonight to try it ourselves. If you do so an pay the appropriate fee you get a certificate.
Today we got information on traveling the Dempster Highway up to Inuvik and walking tours of historic places in town. We went into one shop and met a fantastic photographer who owns a nice shop of clothing and souvenirs. She has made her photographs into note cards and the pictures evoked a wonderful discussion of animals we might see on the Dempster or elsewhere in the Yukon. Just down the street we saw a shop about wine making so we went in and met the "wine sitter" as he called himself. In this shop, he sells the wine making kits, you add the yeast to your juice, then he 'wine sits' it for you until it ready to be bottled. He showed us the whole operation and then gave us a bottle of wine that he had made. Can't wait to try it.
After lunch we drove out of town to see Dredge No. 4 National Historic Site, a gold digging machine of mammoth proportions that represents corporate industrial mining. It is located on Bonanza Creek and is the largest of all dredges found in North America. This huge machine was built on a barge placed in its own 'pond' and dug the earth around it and in front of it, panning for gold from 1905 to 1966.
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