Whitehorse

In the last blog, I mentioned the Continental Divide, and that the Liard River flows into the Mackenzie River and to the Beaufort Sea.  The Yukon River and it's tributaries flow through the Yukon, into Alaska and into the the Bering Sea.  The Yukon river is 3,200 km long and chinook salmon make the long journeyfrom the ocean to Whitehorse to spawn (as per the information at the fish hatchery and fish ladder) which takes them two months.

The fish ladder runs beside the Yukon Hydro dam at Whitehorse, the fish enter the ladder on the left hand side of the weir. The other interesting thing that Yukon Hydro have set up nearby is a nesting site for a bald eagle and family, with a camera recording the comings and goings. Apparently there are three eaglets and the cam pictures can be seen at www.yeceagles.com

Whitehorse has been the capital of the Yukon since 1953, taking over from Dawson City that dwindled in population size from 30,000 during the Goldrush Stampede to about 1,900 today. We visited a couple of museums to learn more about the history of the area, including the building of the Alaska Highway.

After the USA joined in World War II in 1942, they were afraid that Japan would try and invade their country via Alaska, and wanted to move equipment up there to defend their land.  It took eight months for the US and Canadian armies and engineers to build the Alaska Highway which is 1,500 miles long. It's still one lane either way, and the road surface suffers from the effect of winter in the form of frost heaves (ridges and potholes) and needs constant maintenance.

During the Klondike Goldrush, the Stampeders (potential gold prospectors) travelled from Skagway on the Pacific Coast, up the White Pass or Chilkoot trail (very mountainous and rugged) to Bennett Lake, where they made boats, rafts or something that floated and set off for Whitehorse and Dawson City on the Yukon River.  As you can imagine, the dropout/survival rate for that trek was poor.  We have seen some of the rapids, and swift currents that they would have to negotiate.  In the late 1890's sternwheelers plied the Yukon River between Whitehorse and Dawson City.  Parks Canada have set up a National Historic site, around a sternwheeler S.S. Klondike, with an interesting film showing how the sternwheelers operated on the river after spring break up. 

S.S. Klondike

Paddle wheel

It took a lot of wood and manpower to operate these vessels which carried cargo and passengers.  It took about 36 hours to go from Whitehorse to Dawson City, and longer on the return trip upstream because of the currents and shifting sandbars in the the river.  In one spot at Five Finger Rapids, they had to use a cable and winch to get through safely and avoid smashing into the rocks.

Five Finger Rapids

At the McBride Museum, there was an excellent display of Yukon mammals, a display on the Yukon Quest, an 1100 Km dogsled race between Whitehorse and Fairbanks.  They also had the cabin that Sam McGee lived in whose name Robert Service used in his poem - although the real Sam McGee was alive and kicking and hailed from Peterborough Ontario.  Robert Service had a regular job as a bank teller for the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and was later moved to Dawson City, where his cabin is a historical site.

Robert Service Poem about the Cremation of Sam McGee

Exterior view

Inside Sam McGee's Cabin

Now that we are above the 60th paralell, the almost 24 hour daylight takes a bit of getting used to.  We have blackout drapes on the trailer windows which helps.  We are currently in Dawson City and plan on traveling up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik on the Mackenzie delta in time for the summer solstice (June 21), which is also an Aboriginal festival dat there - more about Dawson City and Inuvik in the next posts.