Dawson City, YT: The Northern Lights

We did not expect to see the Northern Lights on this trip for two reasons: 1. because the summer nights up here are too bright, and 2. because the weather has been mostly overcast, with very few clear skies.  We figured that if we really were gung-ho about seeing the northern lights, we would have to plan a future trip during wintertime.  But summer is wearing on, and the days are getting shorter.  Last night it was clear enough and definitely dark enough at 2:30 am.  Our first few shots would have been amazing if only we’d bothered to bring the tripod outside.  By the time we had the tripod set up, the auroras were a little fainter.  But still…success! 

We stayed outside for more than an hour, just gazing at the heavens in awe.  When we came back inside, Kevin had a huge grin on his face as he said, “I’m so glad we got to see that.  Now we never have to come back here!”  That’s the spirit!

Waking up this morning was a little more difficult than usual after our late night.  But there’s quite a lot to do here in Dawson City and we wanted to make sure we didn’t miss out.  We toured one of the old steam paddle wheel ships, the S.S. Keno, which is now dry-docked on the bank of the Yukon River.  For most of the twentieth century, steam ships were a vital link to the outside world for Dawson – they brought in mail and supplies.  Nowadays there are still a few paddle wheelers on the river, but they just bring in tourists.

One of the cruise boats that operates on the Yukon River

The Klondike Gold Rush brought stampeders from every walk of life.  One of the men who tried his luck at placer mining up here was Jack London.  Although the mining thing didn’t work out for him (he went home with only about $4 in gold), the Yukon proved to be a treasure trove of material for his future books.  I am a huge fan and have read and re-read his books many times, especially White Fang and some of his short stories.  So it was quite a thrill for me to visit the Jack London museum here in town.  They have a nice collection of photographs and letters, as well as a replica of his cabin.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that even though the Klondike stampede ended in 1899, there was still plenty of gold in them thar hills.  Mining evolved from small claims owned by individuals to corporate mining using heavy machinery to extract as much of the precious metal as possible.  Just a couple miles outside of town is Dredge #4.  Built in 1912, it is the largest wooden-hulled gold dredge in North America. 

Although it looks like an enormous stationary building, the whole structure is actually a boat.  It moved along in a pond of its own making.  A continuous line of metal buckets at the front would scoop up the gravel and it would then be processed similar to gold panning, but on a much larger scale.  After extracting the gold, the excess gravel and water would be deposited into the water behind the dredge via the conveyor belt-like stacker on the back of the machine (that’s the long chute you see in the photo above). 

The Parks Canada tour of the interior was fascinating – the gears are huge!  Dredges like this one operated 24 hours a day from the first thaw of spring until the pond finally froze solid in fall.  Although dredges are no longer in use here today, they operated until the 1960’s, and there is evidence all over the landscape.  The gravel that was left behind winds its way through the valley as though some gigantic mole had burrowed through the rock.  And everywhere you look are discarded remnants of the gold era – rusted gears, dredge buckets, etc.  But a few ingenious people have found new uses for these antiques.

Dredge buckets painted and re-purposed as flower pots