Friday, October 31, 2014

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Dredge No. 4 near Dawson City, August 11th.


The No. 4 Dredge.
Before we leave Dawson City we take a tour of Drudge No. 4 National Historic Site, the largest wooden-hulled drudge in North America. It was a floating gold-panning factory and an amazing piece of machinery that mined and separated placer gold in a continuous process. The dredge is immense and it was a feat just getting the parts to this remote location to be assembled.

The basic concept of the dredge.
Information panels explain the operations.
You can only go into the dredge on a guided tour which is interesting and amazing. I can't explain like our guide did precisely what all of these various parts and giant gears do so just enjoy the photos from the interior of the dredge. Big gears and machines are works of ingenuity and, after their fashion, works of art.
Some of the gears that operated the dredge.
 
Our guide explains how the dredging works.

 

Our guide explains the control room operation where the foreman commanded the operation.
The foreman looked out this window as the dredge was operating and watched the bucket chain scoop the gold bearing gravel into the dredge.
The buckets in the bucket chain that scooped the gravel sit along the path and have become planters for wild flowers.
A single bucket from the bucket chain.
The trammel that separates the gravel from the placer gold. 
The shakers that act as gold pans and separates the gold from the fine gravel at the end of the process.
The conveyer that sends the processed gravel out the back of the dredge and created the gravel piles that fill in the stream bed as the dredge moves forward up the river.
The dredge created sweeping gravel piles that accumulated behind the dredge. These have re-vegetated and are once again home to wildlife.
The back end of the dredge and the conveyer that dumps gravel back into the river bed.
Gold mining operations ended here in the 1950’s.

Next we had south again to Whitehorse in the Yukon.
See you down the road.

Jackie

Monday, October 27, 2014

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, George Black Ferry and Dawson City, August 10th to 11th.



The George Black Ferry comes across the Yukon from Dawson City.
Today we took the ferry early so we can spend the day taking in the sights of Dawson City.
Vehicles disembark and we get ready to load onto the ferry.
Riding the ferry across the Yukon to Dawson City.
We stay two nights at the Gold Rush Campground in Dawson City so we can conveniently  walk around town.

Dawson City is colorful and authentic. The street are dirt with boardwalks along the store fronts.
Dawson is colorful and authentic. They have a preservation society that keeps it looking much like the famed frontier town of the gold rush days.
Strolling through the streets of Dawson City.
Our Parks Canada guide gives us a tour of a restored saloon and tells us about the social proprieties of the frontier days.
I get to serve this rugged gentleman.
The story of Dawson and the Klondike Gold Rush is best told by costumed Parks Canadian staff at the Visitor Center who led walking tours of the town throughout the day. We took four of these tours led us through several of the historic buildings. The staff members were fun and engaging.
Our guide give us a tour through the original post office.
The post office windows.
The Dawson Daily News office.
The Dawson Daily News building is filled with old type setters, presses and paper folders. A treasure of printing equipment.
Next we tour through the grand theater. A gold rush town needs the best entertainment.
Inside the theater.
Looking down on the stage from the private box seats.
Frontier comfort and plush living quarters for the top-billing theater stars.
We also visited the Robert Service cabin and the Jack London cabin which inspired us to want to read more of both writers. They were the real deal, living the life and times of the Gold Rush.
Robert Service.
The Robert Service Cabin in Dawson City.
The Jack London Cabin in Dawson City was moved to town from it's original location.
Inside the Jack London Cabin. He inscribed his name on one of the logs. Can you imagine the inspiration he found here?
The Jack London Museum has a photo graphic history of his life and film clips from movies made from his novels. A must see for everyone who loves his work.
 
One of the beautiful restored homes in Dawson.
Dawson's homes are as colorful as the buildings in the business district.
Next time we visit the No. 4 Gold Dredge.
 
Until then,
Jackie



Sunday, October 19, 2014

Alaska – Canada Travels 2014, Chicken and the Top of the World Highway, August 9th.

Going to Chicken, AK on the Taylor Highway.
Chicken, AK is worth going to just for the name and to drive the scenic Alaskan back roads. If you travel the Taylor Highway to the Top of the World you'll go through Chicken.

A big welcome to Chicken, AK.
The pavement becomes gravel before we get to Chicken but it's not as rough as we expected. Some sections are newly paved.
Chicken, Alaska.
More of Chicken, Alaska.
Chicken's giant Chicken made from old school lockers.
More Chickens.
And more Chickens to welcome you.
Chicken is a small community in the hilly north country of Alaska. You'll find, friendly people, nice lodging, camping, gift shops and chicken sculptures everywhere.
Everyone can get laid in Chicken.
You just have to love Chicken.

Distant views of the country along the Taylor Highway.
Here we are on Top of the World.
When the Taylor Highway crosses into the Yukon at what must be the loneliest border crossing between our counties, it becomes known as the Top of the World Highway.
People make cairns at the highest point on the Top of the World. There are hundreds of them.
Indeed Top of the World is deserving of the name. It follows a long, rounded ridge with 360 degree view of mountains layered into the blue horizon. The gentle slope of the ridge shoulders its way into the valleys below.
The Top of the World Highway. Not a road to be traveled during wet conditions.
It’s an outstanding scenic drive and again the road is good packed dirt and not as bad as expected but wouldn’t be very good in wet conditions.
The Yukon River from the Top of the World.
Our camp site at the Yukon Provincial park along the river.
We watch a paddle boat from Dawson City go by from our camp.
The Top of the World Highway ends at the Yukon River at Dawson City and we decide to camp at the Yukon River Provincial Park before riding the ferry across the river.
There isn't a bridge across the Yukon so a ferry runs continuously through the day taking vehicles back and forth.
We're riding the ferry across the Yukon.
Disembarking the ferry at Dawson City.
More about Dawson City next time.

Until then.
Jackie