Day 4 (August 26, 2021): “There’s gold in them thar hills!”

Bzzz bzzz bzzz. When the alarm sounded at 3:45 AM, it felt like an injustice of great proportions. But then I realized I was the author of this unjust plan, to fly to Dawson City at 6 AM (the only flight connecting Whitehorse and Dawson).  At such an hour, the good news is that our hotel was directly across the Alaska Highway from the airport, so the trek to YXY (Whitehorse’s airport code) took all of a minute. And for this internal Yukon route, no security screening was needed - a total surprise for a domestic Canadian flight in 2021. 

We landed in Dawson City amid pouring rain at 7:30 AM. As there are no taxis here, our hotel shuttle transported us into town, which is 14 km from the airport. We got breakfast at a local hotel and then picked up our rental car. Our first stop was the town’s visitor center, where we booked three tours by Parks Canada. 

The first tour, at 11:30, was of Dredge Number Four, southeast of town. The tour of this formidable feat of early 20th century engineering told the story of the largest of 12 dredging operations in the area. After the short-lived gold rush (which started in 1897) ended, a more industrialized approach to gold mining took over, using dredges.  Dredges were massive machines that floated in man-made ponds and traveled half a mile per year, scooping up tons of rock along the way, sussing out the gold, and leaving work-like tailings.  Dredge Number Four, now a National Historic Site, operated for over 50 years, until sinking in the 1960s. Much of it lay in a submerged and frozen state, until the Canadian Army and Parks Canada raised it in the 1990s.

The second tour, which we took at 3 PM, was of Bear Creek Compound, the support community for the dredging operations, which ceased in 1966. The abandoned workshops, warehouses, and support infrastructure, all tell a fascinating story, 55 years later. The two-hour tour provided an incredible insight into the dredging operation and life at the time.

Between the two tours, we travelled up the mountain to Midnight Dome, which overlooks Dawson. And after our second tour, we took the ferry across the river and drove 1/5 of the hundred kilometre route to the Alaskan border. This hard-packed gravel route is known as the “Top of the World Highway”, an incredibly scenic drive. Time didn’t permit us to make the full drive. Besides, the border between Canada and the USA remains closed. 

By the time we had dinner at a restaurant back in Dawson City at 8 PM, we could hardly keep our heads up. It has been a long but wonderful day.

Twenty-one people were on the Air North flight, which left 15 minutes late. The aircraft was an ATR-42. 

A pre-dawn view of sleepy Whitehorse. The airport is top left. The Yukon River is at the bottom. 

The cargo hold separates the cockpit from the passenger cabin on the ATR-42. In addition to a seemingly traumatized dog in the cargo hold, which barked most of the trip, most of the seats on the right-hand side of the plane were filled with cargo.

I had heard that the in-flight food is quite good on northern airlines, but I had no idea that on a short hop of 75 minutes we would receive such a wonderful breakfast! It comprised two delicious pieces of cinnamon loaf, a generous cluster of grapes, a piece of cheddar, orange juice and coffee. 

Dawson City Airport - one of the smallest we have ever experienced. 


Air North in Dawson City is either late taking down last Christmas’ decorations or very early for Christmas 2021!

On the banks of the Yukon River in Dawson, there is a moving plaque to the memory of the 343 people who died in October 1918, when the Canadian Pacific steamer, Princess Sofia, sank in a snowstorm near Skagway, Alaska. 100 of the victims were from Dawson, and the reminder were from Yukon and Alaska. No one survived.

This mammoth structure is Dredge Number Four, a Parks Canada National Historic Site and one of the most important things to see in Dawson. It is an engineering marvel from the early 20th century. We had a private tour by a gifted Parks Canada interpreter. 

An example of the seemingly endless tailings from the industrial dredging operations in the area, from 1906-66. (Taken upon descent into Dawson City Airport this morning.)

The Google Maps image shows the extent of tailings around Bear Creek resulting from over 60 years of dredging operations. 

One of Dawson’s top activities is a trip up to Midnight Dome, which gives sweeping views of the town and surrounding area. It had been pouring when we landed at 7:30 AM, and rain persisted much of the morning. But by lunchtime, the rain and thick fog dissipated enough to give us a great view of the valley. 

The view of the Yukon River, looking north from Midnight Dome. 

The view of the cliffs of West Dawson from the Dawson Ferry landing. 

The free Dawson Ferry, landing in West Dawson. It’s a very efficient load-and-go operation, which is expertly navigated amid the strong currents of the Yukon River. 

The bend in the Yukon River, just south of Dawson, as seen from the cliffs of West Dawson around 6:30 PM, after a heavy rainstorm had passed through. 

The view of the Yukon River and Dawson, with Midnight Dome’s peak behind it. Taken from the bluffs of West Dawson. 

This is not Photo-Shopped! The post rainstorm sky sprouted a double rainbow just over the town, after we had taken a selfie on the cliff in West Dawson. It was a surreal moment. 

Dawson’s streets are unpaved, as the permafrost would simply serve to crack them up. The clay makes for hard-packed streets but oh, are they ever muddy after a rain!  Wooden sidewalks are used. 

A sampling of Dawson’s Gold Rush-era buildings. Tomorrow morning, we will do a Parks Canada walking tour of the town and will highlight some of the best historic buildings then. 

Robert Service (1874 – 1958) was a British-Canadian poet and writer, often called "the Bard of the Yukon". I close this entry with a famous segment of one of his poems, painted on the side of a Dawson City building.