Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Heyday and Pay Dirt
That next year, from summer 1898 to summer 1899, was a unique moment in Canadian
history. As people and supplies started deluging Dawson, all the hundreds of thousands in
gold, worthless previously for lack of anything to buy, were spent with a feverish aban-
don. The richest stampeders established the saloons, dance halls, gambling houses, trading
companies, even steamship lines and banks—much easier ways to get the gold than mining
it. The casinos and hotels were as opulent as any in Paris. The dance-hall girls charged $5
in gold per minute for dancing, the bartenders put stickum on their fingers to poke a little
dust during transactions, and the janitors who panned the sawdust on the barroom floors
were known to wash out $50 nightly. Dawson burned with an intensity born of pure lust,
the highlight of the lives of every single person who braved the trails and experienced it.
In 1899, most of Dawson burned to the ground, and at the same time, word filtered in
that gold had been discovered on the beaches of Nome (Alaska). Just as the Klondike strike
had emptied surrounding boomtowns, Nome emptied Dawson. By the summer of 1899, as
the last bedraggled and tattered stampeders limped into Dawson two years after setting out,
the 12-month golden age of Dawson was done. The city's heyday was as brief as its repu-
tation was beefy, and Dawson quickly declined into another small town on the banks of the
Yukon.
SIGHTS
Dawson's plentiful free or inexpensive attractions can keep you happily busy for several
days. The compact downtown area mixes dirt streets and crumbling wooden storefronts
with faux Gold Rush-era buildings and bustling tourist businesses.
MM Dawson Historical Complex National Historic Site
The most historically important buildings dotted around Dawson City are protected as a na-
tional historic site. Combine these with the most picturesque ruins that have purposely been
left to permafrost, gravity, and neglect, and you can plan on spending the best part of a day
wandering around town. The following buildings are open mid-May-mid-September, with
a variety interpretive programs offered at each.
On King Street, up a block from the visitors center, is the Palace Grand Theatre, built
in 1899 from wood salvaged off stern-wheelers by “Arizona Charlie” Meadows, the most
famous bartender/gunslinger on the Trail of '98. At the time, the Grand was one of the most
luxuriously appointed theaters in the west, hosting everything from Wild West shows to op-
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