Paris of the Yukon

We arrived in Dawson City on Monday.  We took a tour of the city with a local docent who explained the history and the development of the town.  The gold rush began in 1888 and overnight the population of Dawson City exploded.  The town began to grow and civilization came to this mining city.  It was nicknamed the “Paris of the Yukon”, because it had electricity and water transportation.  The bank also grew rapidly with the exchange of gold for paper money.

We visited the Red Feather which was a local watering hole where the men came to socialize and drink.

This picture demonstrates the effects of the permafrost.  Because the land heaves and the temperatures change, the foundations are affected.  You can see the results with the leaning of the structures found in the town.

The Masonic building was first build as a Carnegie Library.  It was an interesting structure because the builders wanted it to appear as a substantial and elegant building.  There was no rock that was appropriate for building so the library was made of wood and then covered with tin.

In the evening we visited Diamond Toothed Gerties which was a dance hall that had risqué dancers.
The dancing and singing was an important part of the miner’s life since there were very few women in the area during the gold rush.  We were treated to an energetic, frolicking stage performance.  Great Fun!

Tuesday we traveled to #4 Dredge which was used to mine 81 metric tons of gold.  When the dredge was in operation it produced 12 bars of gold a week.  As it crawled along the riverbed it would travel half a mile during the 8 months a year of operation.