Travel Reference
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Interesting Info ;
Robert W. Service
Esteemed as the folk poet of the Klondike, Robert Service is probably the primary instigator
of the Klondike mystique, the romance of the north. His most frequently quoted line is
likely:
There are strange things done in the midnight sun
By the men who moil for gold;
From 1909 through 1912, he lived in a log cabin on 8 th Avenue in Dawson City, Yukon.
The cabin is still there although now in such fragile condition that visitors are restricted to
peering through the windows and doors. Local entertainers in period costume put on shows,
reciting his poetry, promoting the legends of the north.
The Songs of a Sourdough (published in the US as The Spell of the Yukon and Other Verses
includes some of his best known ballads, including:
The Cremation of Sam McGee
The Shooting of Dan McGrew
The Spell of the Yukon
The March of the Dead
The Call of the Wild
Far from being the gnarly miner his poetry so perfectly depicts, his employment during the
Dawson City years was that of mild-mannered bank clerk for the Canadian Bank of Com-
merce.
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