Cleaning up in the Klondike
Now that the snow is completely gone, it’s a little bit depressing to see how much garbage it was hiding. We had begun to notice […]
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Flash freeze-up: Speculation and rumours
There is excitement in the air, at least for those of us living on the west side of the Yukon River in Dawson City. Freeze-up
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The Mystery of the Four Coffins Explained
“You’re in one of the slides in this presentation,” they told me. This came as a surprise, since it is generally my lot in life
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Remembering Tent City
As we get closer to the time when Dawson sees an influx of summer workers, I thought I would take this week to reflect on
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A Dawson Virtual Tour
I discovered Google Earth a few years ago. Our son was spending the winter in Fort Nelson and we figured out that Google Earth would
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Dawson and the Ted Harrison Effect
While doing what I call my Berton House exit interview with Sara Tilley, the latest writer-in-residence, she remarked that one of the things that made
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Klondike’s Lost Recreation Gold
Think big. That’s what Dawson City residents were invited to do this fall as they participated in yet another round of consultations for a new
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Looking Back: The woodcutter’s tale
When James Domville Richards joined the Klondike Gold Rush, the Yukon became blessed with one of its most endearing characters. The quiet, reserved man –
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Memories of Life in Dawson
Publishing timelines sometimes just don’t mesh with reality. Ten days ago I could have written three of these advance-notice style columns about the crowded schedule
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Looking Back: The most interesting man in the world
Every now and then, a figure emerges out of the shadows of history with so much success and so many adventures that you swear they
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Tasting Dawson’s High Society
Sunday, October 16. I arrived at the Scotch Club late. The meeting started at 4 p.m. and I had missed the formal introductions. Two friends
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Remembering the Lost Patrol
One of the last big weekends of this Dawson City summer will be built around an RCMP Regimental Ball, to be held here on August
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A Close Look at the Klondike’s Frozen Gold
While we are on the cusp of a new gold rush in the Klondike, an era of exploration that is seeing a gradual shift from
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Visitors Countdown
Sawdust, grass and gravel are flying, there is painting to be done, tidying and dusting—the rural museums around the territory are gearing for the tourist
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A Look at Dawson’s Dike
It will have been obvious from my last column that I was truly expecting breakup to have occurred before I got around to writing the
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Feeding Bodies, Hearts and Minds
Just had a call from the folks at the Community Gospel Hall to tell us that there were 90 people at this week’s edition of
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Making Music in the Ballroom
The last of the monthly winter coffee house and open mic nights at the Odd Fellows Hall ballroom occurred on May 5. They are a
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Music Fills the Klondike this Fall
Get myself ready for the October edition of the monthly Coffee House/Open Mic evening in the Oddfellows Hall ballroom.
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Looking Back: Hercules of the North
Quick! Off the top of your head, how many world-famous geologists can you name? None? We can fix that. There is at least one you
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The Origins of Berton House: Part 1
“Like all famous sons, Pierre Berton sometimes gets a mixed reception in his home town, but you’d never have known it to hear the spontaneous
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Driving Depends on Icy Conditions
It’s hard to think of an icy road as being anything but dangerous, but that’s not always the case. In Dawson City it can go
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What is Thaw di Gras, Anyway?
Thaw di Gras (sometimes misspelled Thaw di Graw, especially in Manitoba) is the peculiar name Dawson City gives its spring carnival. The event will be
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Looking Back: Fickle Fortune
It was inevitable, considering the sheer volume and variety of people who joined the Klondike Gold Rush, that a few people with connections to the
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The Trek Celebrates Year 19
It’s the 19th year for Trek Over the Top, and the second year the Klondike Visitors Association (KVA) has the Yukon side of the operation
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Life in the Van Lane
It’s a band in transition – in more ways than one. When Gordie Tentrees sent an e-mail promoting a northern tour by some friends he
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Looking Back: When Johnny met Kate
On Christmas Eve, 1900, the Monte Carlo Saloon in Dawson City was the place to be. Men from all over the world crowded the dancehall,
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Jigging In
By taking her fiddle class online, one fiddle instructor is changing the music education community the in the north. Zavallennahh Huscroft (formorly known as Zav
A Vision Becomes a Reality at the Gathering Place
“We had a vision in the fall, last year, of building an outdoor classroom at Robert Service School,” Hän Language teacher Melissa Hawkins explained to
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Saving a Language and a Culture
Doris Roberts hates to fly, but when it came time to go to Tanacross, Alaska, to retrieve the songs and stories that Chief Isaac had
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Miners Have a Bone to Pick with Pre-History
There’s a lot more than gold in them thar hills and creeks in the Klondike. Aside from all kinds of other minerals that just don’t
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From Trapline to High Tech
Sitting in Starbucks with Mark Preston, it’s hard to shake the feeling of being in the artist’s own studio. Not only do the walls of
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Picking the Greatest Klondiker
It has, unfortunately, been a number of years since a really top-notch piece of stagecraft graced the boards at the Palace Grand Theatre on a
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Celebrating Print and Publishing at the Daily News
The Dawson Daily News building shut down as an operating business in 1954, a casualty of Dawson losing its Yukon capital status to Whitehorse. The
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How Scrooge Made his Fortune
Around this time of year I usually devote a few columns to some of the literary lions that have helped to make Dawson City famous
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An Art Invasion is Coming to Dawson
Welcome to another peek at my corner of the Klondike. Apparently this little column is getting a bit of notice, since my absence last issue
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Cool Tunes, Swell Suds
Dawson Music Festival (DCMF) is billed as a music event, but there happens to be a lot of beer action in the midst of it.
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Dawson Blooms in the Summer
I managed to mow our lawn before the rain began to sprinkle this morning and was pleased to find that several of the dog damaged
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The Bear Creek Key
For Yukoners who grew up in Dawson City in the 1950s and ’60s, Bear Creek is a symbol of a lost age. The abandoned mining
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The Berton House Boomerang Effect
I was enjoying an hour’s quiet reading on our front deck last week when a familiar French-Canadian voice hailed me from the street. I wasn’t
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Dawson Museum Celebrates 50 Years
At the turn of the 19th century the federal government was anxious to establish that the Yukon was a valued part of the nation. Even
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The “True” Tale of Diamond Lil
There are, as Robert Service noted, strange things done ‘neath the Midnight Sun. There have also been some strange things written, not the least of
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See the Dredge, While You Can
If you want to get a really good look at Dredge #4 on the Bonanza Road, this summer is the time to do it. This
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Taking it Outdoors
Like ants, elementary students of the Robert Service School (RSS) in Dawson City marched off of a school bus carrying large rocks from the dredge
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Out of the Forest
Humans are attracted to animals on an instinctual level, yet more than 50 percent of us now live in urban settings, worldwide (as of 2008).
Dawson Dresses Up
Breakup is usually followed by a week of damp chilliness as the cool air moving off the exposed river hits the town, but this year
A Gift from the Odd Fellows
Last night I attended the delightful Dawson City showing of the David Mamet play, Boston Marriage. Two days earlier the KIAC Christmas Art and Craft
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The Ice Bridge Begins
I finally managed to spot the place where they are crossing the Yukon River yesterday (November 19). I’ve been hearing stories of people making the
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Sunshine sketches of a northern town
Ask David Thompson what he’s read, and you’ll get a varied list: George Orwell, J.D. Salinger and the adventures of Antarctic explorers. Doesn’t sound like
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Boardwalks and Visitors
It figures. Leave town for a week and they change things. In this case, it’s the boardwalks they’re changing, and I can’t complain about that
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How Others See Us PDF
It’s always interesting to learn how other people see us. Three creative spirits passed our way a couple of weeks ago and left us with
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‘The Truth’ Can Be a Little Quirky
I’ve just asked Aaron Burnie to describe his band’s music, and at first his answer seems puzzling: “It’s like asking your grandfather to tell you
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Klondike King of the Road
DAWSON CITY Jack Fraser remembers when it used to take 10 hours to get from Dawson to Whitehorse. The rough gravel road was only half
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Klondike History Comes Alive
DAWSON CITY For many people, coming to the Yukon means coming to Dawson City. Located in the heart of the Klondike, Dawson is one of
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A MITY Good Long Weekend of Cinema
“MITY” stands for Made in the Yukon,” says Curtis, the founder and volunteer director of North America’s most northerly film festival.
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