THE ALASKAN ADVENTURE Day 6 May 22, 2009 Dawson City, YK

We woke to a beautiful day in Dawson City and spent the morning walking around the town and stopping in at the Information Center and watched 3 films about the area. Dawson City was named in 1887 and was the capital of Yukon until 1952 at which time Whitehorse was named the new capital.

The film I enjoyed the most was about the River Boats that serviced the area in the early 1900's and the hardships they faced. They were wood burning paddle boats that could only run about 14 trips a year from Skagway to Dawson each year. They were restricted by the short summers.

Dawson City was home to well known people such as Robert Service, Jack London and Pierre Burton.


The town still mines gold but most of the mines are small and family owned as there are no large mining companies working here. You can see where the dredge from the mines of earlier times was just left anywhere there was space and actually has become a blight on the countryside.


The population of Dawson City is under 2000 people in the winter and doubles in the summer as people come back to either work the mines or the tourist trade. They get about 100,000 visitors a year.


In the evening we took in the show at Diamond Gerties Gambling Hall which featured Gertie and her Klondike Girls. It was a typical Can Can show but the talent was very good and the show was enjoyed.


Early tommorrow we head west on the Top of World Highway towards Chicken, Alaska.

Below are pictures of Dawson City as it is today.