Hello Hivers
Dawson City
Yukon, Canada
Dawson City was home to the Klondike Goldrush.
In 1896 a prospector discovered gold, and the rush was on.
A small mostly Native camp, with a few prospectors grew into a city of 40,000 people in just 2 years.
The boom collapsed and today only.....
Wooden Sidewalks work best here
1400 people call Dawson home. A town that relies on tourism and there are still quite a few large scale placer miners working the area.
They have maintained the look of the town and you feel like you are back in time.
Wooden sidewalks, false store fronts, and even one of the old paddlewheelers is sitting by the waterfront.
For a small town there are numerous activities to keep one occupied and entertained.
A gold claim, #6 where you can pan.......
Main Street of Dawson
for free, and keep any gold you find.
Numerous museums, golf, mountain biking, air tours, and interesting architecture.
A number of authors called Dawson City home, part of the reason the city and the gold rush are so well known. Pierre Berton, wrote many classics of Canadian history. Robert Service a well known poet, describing the life of a gold miner, and Jack London who also.....
lived the gold rush first hand.
Today placer mining is still going strong. In 2017 an estimated $94 million dollars was extracted from the soil.
The environmental cost is quite substantial, placer does alter the landscape and uses enormous amounts of water, changing stream channel morphology and stability. Making the water not drinkable and .....
Paddle wheeler that once kept Dawson stocked with supplies
the silt and sediment unlivable for fish and other wildlife.
In 1896 when word got to the outside world of gold in the Klondike, over 100,000 people set out for the Yukon, there was a worldwide recession and this seemed like a golden opportunity, only 40,000 made it and only a few hundred made a fortune.
Regardless it was a dream shared by many, and the adventure of a lifetime.
Thank you for joining us on our adventure.