June 14, 2012 – Bonanza Gold Campground, Dawson City, Yukon Ter. Canada

We took a drive down Bonanza Creek Road that starts just beside our campground to the Dredge #4 which is about 8 miles from here. Dredge #4 is the largest wooden hulled bucket line gold dredge in North America. It was built here in 1912 and was used continuously till 1960. It was moved to this creek from the Yukon River in 1942 and took 18 years to make its way to where it was abandoned and currently sits. The Canada Parks pulled it from the muck and began restoration on it 1992. The Parks guide who took us through was extremely informative and passionate about its history. It took only 4 men to run the dredge. The two lowest paid employees earned $4 per day, one worker earned $6 per day and the fourth one earned $8 per day. Those were the wages when it began in 1912 and those were the same wages in 1960. They went on strike at one point over the wages and did obtain a raise, but then they had to start paying their own insurance, so it worked out that they had the same pay. There was no other employment here, so they always had someone willing to do the job regardless of the pay.

Dredge #4

Gears were huge

Someone here in the campground told us we should drive up Dome Hill while we were here, so after coming back to the camper for a little lunch, we took a drive up Dome Hill. It’s a tradition for people to go up there at midnight on June 21st, the summer solstice, to watch the sun dip behind the Ogilvie Mountains. It was shortly after noon when we went up there, but the view was spectacular. I was up past midnight last night and it was still very light. I have also been awake around 3:00 am and it has been light, so I guess there is only about 2 ½ to 3 hours of darkness, but I’m not sure just how dark it gets during that time.

Yukon River Valley from Dome Hill

Dawson City from Dome Hill

On the way up Dome Hill, we saw a sign for a “Fabric Artist Gallery”. So on the way back down, I talked Larry into stopping. It was Raven Studio and the woman’s name is Shirley Pennell. Wish I could have taken some photos, but photos were not allowed. She had some beautiful things. She does a lot of her own dyeing of fabric. She gave me a quick lesson on pounding flowers for color, but discouraged putting much time or effort into that as the colors fade over time.
We came back into town and parked so we could walk around and look in some of the shops. It is a quaint little old fashioned town with gravel (muddy) streets. We took several photos of some of the buildings. It turned out to be a beautiful sunny day with the temperature in the low 70’s. We walked around the river front and shared an order of fish and chips in one of the restaurants. We had some ice cream then came back to the camper and the dogs.

One of the brighty painted buildings

Notice Log sides with flat front

Interesting building along the river

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