Fantasy Caravan Day 21 - Dawson City

On Friday morning, Fantasy had arranged for us to have a walking tour with a local interpreter. I decided the course of wisdom was for me to work on getting over the cold, so I stayed back at the campground.

Beginning of tour

You may not be able to hear what she is saying, but you'll get an idea of her animation!

A remembrance garden for those children who were removed from their families to remove them from their culture.

A sea plan was preparing to depart on the Yukon River -- and just behind the plane you can see the ferry which we will be taking to cross the Yukon on Saturday.

A sternwheeler that plied the waters of the Yukon (like the SS Klondike that we saw in Whitehorse)

Our tour group

The current radio station in a recreated store front.

Our guide was to take us inside three buildings in town -- one was the bank.

Inside the bank

The banker would take the gold dust and provide the miner with paper money.

Outside -- newer version of banking!

Downtown Hotel (current hotel in Dawson City)

The Bunk House (current hotel in Dawson City)

Inside the Red Feather Saloon

This is a recreated building, done to match the photograph that is indicated with a red arrow.

Some of the liquor bottles behind the bar

One of the issues in Dawson City is that, if the buildings are built directly on the ground, because of the permafrost, they will eventually sink...

... as these buildings have done. That is what happened to the original Red Feather Saloon.

Buildings are now placed on piers, and, when they sink in the permafrost, extra boards can be placed atop the piers to keep the building in line.

Current storefronts with the Red Feather Saloon

Friday evening, our group is to go to Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall

The old post office -- when the gold rush was closing down, the town was afraid it would become a ghost town or be taken over by Alaska, so they hired an architect to build a few grand buildings -- like this post office.

Inside the post office -- the boxes.

It is not currently in use as the cost to heat this grand building is not worth it to use.

Palace Grand Theatre

The school -- K-12 -- the lower grades in school got to pick the colors to paint the outside.

The Masonic Lodge -- it looks like stone, but was made of hammered tin.

Back at the campground. You may notice that the Jeerage is even dirtier than it usually is... and it will probably be getting worse!

There are more pictures from the evening entertainment at Diamond Tooth Gerties, but they will be in another post!