I’ve enjoyed the story of the Klondike Gold Rush since I was a child. It’s a fascinating tale of dreams, adventure, hard work, excitement, and disappointment.
A Brief History of the Klondike Goldrush
In August 1896 three prospectors found a rich deposit of gold nuggets while panning in Bonanza Creek, a few miles from where Dawson City is now located. News of this discovery did not reach the outside world until the following year, when steamships docked in San Francisco and Seattle carrying moosehide sacks full of Klondike gold. Gold Fever gripped North America, and several hundred thousand people gave up life as they knew it and made their way to Yukon for a chance to strike it big! Of these, only about 30-40,000 made it to newly created Dawson City, which served as a close gateway to the Klondike gold field. By then all the claims around the area had been taken by local sourdoughs, and the best most of these adventurers could hope for was to work for a wage mining gold for someone else.
During the mining frenzy, Dawson City was the largest city in Canada west of Winnipeg. It grew almost overnight so it was characterized by tents, rapidly constructed log cabins and a few businesses like stores, hotels, saloons and brothels. It was a bustling place and became the capital of the newly created Yukon Territory. With the collapse of gold mining in the Klondike a few years later, Dawson’s population collapsed and today is about 1500 individuals.
I have visited Dawson City on two different occasions, once at the one hundred year anniversary of the Klondike Gold Rush, and the second time a few years later. Both of these visits spanned several days, so I was able to get a good feel for the community. The photos in this post were taken during my second visit, and are likely somewhat dated (in that there may have been more improvements made since my visit). But I think they capture the spirit of Dawson City.
Since it’s just a small town, what still draws visitors to Dawson City? It’s to see the many reminders of that glamorous gold-mining era, which makes visiting a lot of fun. Most of these buildings exist as a result of Park Canada’s efforts to conserve them, as the climate and permafrost are harsh on buildings this far north.
Here are some of the places you can enjoy:
Klondike Kate’s – formerly a dance hall, today a restaurant
Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall: Canada’s oldest legal casino (opened in 1971 but in the original 1901 building style). Same location where the real Gertie Lovejoy performed.
Palace Grand Theatre (1899): Restored by Parks Canada and a place to catch a live show during summer tourist season.
Red Feather Saloon (now part of the Downtown Hotel shown in the top photo): The bar’s counter is original 1898 wood. The Downtown Hotel also features the “Sourtoe Cocktail” – a shot with a real dehydrated human toe in it that dates back to the 1920s (yes, it’s a real toe, but I skipped this drink. And you can’t keep the toe)
Front Street boardwalks: Almost exactly as they were in 1898. Beats walking in the mud.
Robert Service Cabin – Robert Service was a poet who came to fame with his writings about the Yukon, and is one of my favorite writers. His day job was as a bank teller, but his legacy is the words he wrote. You can visit his 1898 home.
Midnight Dome viewpoint. Midnight Dome is the sizeable hill behind Dawson City, so named because it’s a popular gathering point during the summer solstice in which to see the sun briefly set, then shortly thereafter rise again (“Land of the Midnight sun”). From Midnight Dome you get a great view of the Yukon River and Klondike River junction. Note how the dark water of the Klondike (at about 8 o’clock) disappears into the creamy water of the Yukon. You also get nice views of Dawson City.
If you head up along the Klondike River, you will see remnants of the giant gold dredges which chewed up the valleys from 1910 to the 1960s. Dredge No. 4 (a National Historic Site) is the largest wooden-hulled dredge in the world—and you can climb inside it.
I’ve really enjoyed the days I spent in Dawson City It is one of the few Gold Rush towns on earth where almost nothing has been torn down or modernized. While there is still a gold mining industry in the area, today the town thrives on mining the pockets of tourists..
