Dawson

This is a trip, Sabine and I did after paddling the Yukon River to Minto.

Click on the map of the Yukon-highway-system, which also gives some important information.The Alaska Highway is found here.

Our plan was to drive up north on the Klondike-Highway to Dawson, then continue on the Top-of the world-Highway, cross the border to Alaska at Boundary, and continue via Chicken to Tok on the Taylor Highway. There we would take the Alaska Highway southbound and cross the border back to Canada at Beaver Creek, on to Burwash Landing, Destruction Bay, Haynes Junktion and back to Whitehorse on the Alaska-Highway.

We started Aug.25 from Minto with our car northbound on the Klondike-Highway. The first spectacular sight were the remaining washings from the sledges south of Dawson City. We found the campsite on the other side of the Yucon, and a ferry did bring us there.

Aug 26: The most important technical thing was DREDGE #4, which we did have a close look at. It is a must see, and it has been rebuilt and one get's a good impression of what was going on in earlier times there.

We went to the EL-DORADO-CREEK. There I learned how to wash gold in claim #33. I got myself a small sample of sand containing some specs of gold, and then washed it out. This was pretty interesting, since I had now idea how gold would behave in a gold-washers pan. Well - is simply keeps it's position at the lowest point, and it is nearly impossible to loose, after it is in the pan.

After that we drove to the DISCOVERY CREEK, where the first gold had been found, and then to claim #6, where I did search for gold for 2 hours (without success, but cold fingers ;-)

Then we tried to drive a big loop with our small japanese rental car. It did not take very long, and a sharp stone had sliced a tire. I mounted the spare tire. During this procedure a service car stopped, and we decided to follow it back to Dawson. There we had the tire changed.

Aug 27: HUNKER CREEK: There we went to Gold Bottom Creek (Henderson) and took a tour there. It was impressive to watch, how those enthusiasts of today dig for gold. This is the process used there.

the overburden is removed.
shovel lots of gravel into a sluicebox. 30-40 shovels are 1 cubicmeter. This results in about 2 oz/hour.
after approx. 3500 cubicmeters the sluicebox needs to be cleaned.
The mixture of black sand which is taken from the riffles and expanded iron is further refined by the use of a "long tom", which removes heavy gravel.
The remains are dried.
With a magnet the magnetit is removed.
After that the rest is put on a spiral wheel.
The result is raw gold.

The operating costs are about 800$/h. From the price received for the gold, another 100$ go to the government, freight, refinery etc...

The tour was very interesting, and the Hendersons nice people, who took the time to answer my many questions.

Aug 28: We took a tour to Bear Creek. This was the logistic center of the operations there. All the dredges and their gold was handled there. The tour gives a good overview of the many problems that needed to be solved in such huge operations. Today it is a museum.

We also wanted to have a look at the steam-wheeler Keno, but unfortunately we were one day late, the ship was closed for the rest of the year. Bad luck.

Aug 29: TOP OF THE WORLD HWY

This highway is one of the most beautiful highways up there, and it is paved almost the whold distance to the border to Alaska. The view is magnificient, since it more or less always is on top of the mountains.

Customs at the border were a breeze, and I did find out, why the Americans have those dumb questions on the green form. I asked the officer, and he answered, that of course nobody would answer one of the questions with "YES". BUT he said, this would mean, that, whatever action was taken against the law, the immigrant or tourist proves beyond doubt that he is a lyer, and therefore has to leave the country immediately. That's clever, and I think, it would be a great improvement for us Germans also. Of course it remains possible, to go to court - from the distance :)

From the border the road is a gravel road, but easy to drive. The HWY leaves the top of the hills, and descends into some valleys of the 40-mile-river-system. The valley has been recultivated, and the scars from the gold-seekers have been removed or made green again. All the creeks have clear, but dark brown water.

It pays to take time to travel those highways, the views are great!

We found a campsite at a small lake near Beaver Creek. There we had a meeting with a bear, which was harmless. However, it was good teaching, because it made no noise, was suddenly 6m from our table, just were I was looking for some berries a few minutes ago. What a surprise!
Sabine was cooking between tent and table, and saw it first, clapped with some pots, while I had to move toward the bear to grab the shotgun from the table which stood between us and the bear 6m behind the table. It turned out, that the bear was not aggressive, otherwise I might not been able to get my gun. Which means, that it is good practice to have the gun always at hand.
The bear retreated, but did show up shortly after some ten meters away.
However, it kept it's distance and did not bother anybody on the campsite this night. It was a comforting thought to have a gun - just in case.
The other occupants of the campground, some Germans and some Americans with motorhomes were not bothered by the bear - and did not have anything to defend themselves, should need be. Interesting.

Claus Gregor's private Homepage

Claus Gregor's private Homepage

Dawson