Find My Country

Dawson City is probably the most famous location in Canada with less than 2000 people living there. Once the holy grail of thousands of People who would take the dangerous path to stake a claim to Klondike gold, its landscape was dotted with houses of prospectors.

If there is a two faced city in Canada, it is Dawson City. After driving 7 hours from Whitehorse, I couldn’t help but feel dissapointed. “Is that it??” I thought while I drove past the airport. Rounding a mountain cliff, the city itself came into sight. In the winter, it is tiny with very little activity. Some houses look on the verge of collapse, and stores are closed on Sundays – so arriving on Saturday afternoon didn’t do me much good. However, Dawson is filled with stories, filled with history, and filled with some of the most interesting scenery in the Yukon. It is also deceptively wealthy. It is the home of a lot of “old money”; the descendents of prospectors from the gold rush still call it home. As well, the gold fields still produce Gold to this day – anyone can still go and stake a claim.

Gold is something which weathers inflation without problems, historically. As a result, investors turn to Gold when they are unsure about future prospects. (Now that America, as a whole, has pretty much embraced the view that the “War in Iraq” was a mistake, might I be permitted to say the same? ) Regardless, the uncertainty created by foolish adventurism has pushed gold prices into the stratosphere, and is a great benefit to us Canadians. At 600$ an ounce, mining Klondike gold is an extremely profitable venture. Dawson City is on the cusp of enjoying the success that this monetary influx will bring. Unfortunately it is bringing stupidity back to this area – a stupid moron from Quebec was killed by a bear protecting her cubs while staking a claim.

Dawson City has ebbed and flowed its entire life. At one point the hills that surround it were dotted by houses of the 40 thousand, or so, miners in the area. Now the area has been reclaimed and trees grow where naked ambition once lived. At one point, Dawson barely had 800 residents left – it grew to 2400 residents, but now barely has 1600 people. This will change again; Dawson always expands when the value of gold increases. A young geologist I met on my drive back to Whitehorse confided that she was making more than $250 a day as a junior geologist in a silver mine. Gold always commands more.

Dawson City has a mix of Hotels, B&Bs and even a rustic hostel. A major tourist town, the population increases dramatically in summer as tourists and thrill-seekers come to the area. I stayed at the Dawson Bed and Breakfast and recommend it to anyone – it is clean, beautiful, and has amazing decor. The owners are both very knowledgeable about the area, and managed to tell me a lot of the lore of the area.

The food is also unbelievably good.

Small time gambling down in Dawson City takes place in the casino. Card games and slot machines are where the tourists come to play – but there is a seedy underside that most people don’t know about. Hidden card games, which are invite-only, take on epic proportions with high rollers swapping expensive properties. Windows are boarded up and closed, so that the players lose all sense of time and place – only statistics and probability matters in these dens of sin.

The settlement of West Dawson exists over the Yukon River. Under normal conditions, you can drive straight across on the ice, or take a ferry. For the “melt” period, it is very difficult to get from one side to the other. At this time, West Dawson is very isolated from the rest of Canada. People there stock up on supplies well in advance, and ride out the 6 weeks that it takes for the river to freeze or melt. In medical emergencies, air lifts exist – and one of the local miners on the West Dawson side apparently owns a plane.

The only modern Canadian writer worth talking about lived here. Pierre Berton never stopped talking about Dawson, and his book on the Gold Rush is one of the best written accounts of the event.

Fantastic natural beauty is a major part of the allure to the Yukon. Mountains and rivers are everywhere. The pest population is controlled through organic pestacides, making Dawson City itself far more livable than the insect-infested surroundings.

I am happy I had a chance to come to Dawson. God knows when I will be able to come back – but if I may intercede with matters of my own fate, I hope I’m back in the summer. I heard every night is a party in the Summer. It is hard for it not to be – the sun is out nearly 24 hours a day in the land of the midnight sun.