Day 17
Friday, June 24
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory

Today was a beautiful day in Whitehorse. We started our day with a travel briefing. We usually have our briefings the day before we travel; however, Ken wanted to have it early since we would have an unusually busy day and night on Saturday.

Following the briefing, Robert, Bet, Jenna and I took the truck and went to the S.S. Klondike. Actually, we got in line with about a dozen other cars from Adventure Caravan people and convoyed to the S.S. Klondike. I'm sure the people in Whitehorse were annoyed by the long line of cars blocking their way to their destination. The S.S. Klondike was built in 1932, replacing the original S.S. Klondike that sank in the Yukon River. The S.S. Klondike is 242' long and is 50' wide. It was used to take cargo, passengers, liquor and sourdoughs to Dawson City - a distance of 338 miles by road that didn't exist at the time. The trip took 36 hours going to Dawson City. Its return trip took 4 days, and it carried passengers, cargo, gold bars, and silver iron ore which was sent to Utah for processing. There were over 200 riverboats on the Yukon River during the late 1800 and early 1900. The Klondike and most others were designed using plans for Mississippi Riverboats with one major modification. They had a flat bottom and were designed to draugh less than 42" when fully loaded. The Yukon river is not very deep in many places. The Klondike was used until 1955 when the Alaska highway finally made it obsolete. Most riverboats were burned for firewood but the city fathers of Whitehorse wanted to save the Klondike. They purchased the boat and had land donated for a park. The only problem was that a bridge crossed the river at a point between its location and the park where they wanted to put it. The solution to the problems was to hoist the Klondike out of the river and onto the main street in town. Butterboards were placed in the street and they were covered with tons of Ivory soap. The Klondike was then pulled (or slid) down mainstreet to the park. It took 3 weeks to move the Klondike one kilometer - a little over a 1/2 mile. The Klondike is now a National Park treasure belonging to Canada.



 
 
 
 
 

After our tour we went to the Visitor Center and watched a movie about the Yukon Territory. The Yukon is about the size of Texas in area and has 36,000 residents. 27,000 of those live in Whitehorse which is the capital of the Yukon Territory. (Imagine the population of Texas being only 36,000) After lunch at a deli and took Robert and Bet back to the RV Park.

Jenna and I went to the Yukon Brewery for a tour. As far as tours go, this one was a bust. They were cleaning up and preparing for the weekend, so we saw no actual beermaking. We did however get to sample about 10 of their different brews. They make 15 different brands for sale in Yukon, British Columbia, ALberta and Northwest Territories. They had cases of Coors, Budweiser and many other brands sitting around. I asked if they just changed the label and sold the other beer. Of course not! They, and all other beer brewers, use the same brown bottles. Consequently, they recycle bottles, take off the label, wash them and fill them with their brand of beer. I didn't know they did that! The samples were OK = some better than others.

We returned to the RV park and I did laundry, washed the truck and helped Jenna give Lucy a bath. She was actually pretty good about the bath. Usually she fights us when we give her a bath in the sink. I put a small talbe beside the trailer and we used the outside shower to wash her down.

Our Onstar phone isn't workining. The Chevy (GM MAN) said it was probably the phone service here and not our Onstar equipment. He said lots of people up here have trouble with Onstar and especially with the phone company up here. Consequently, we won't be making many phone calls until we get to Alaska or more civilization. Also, the internet service in Whitehorse is horrible. Consequently, Posts will be late.

Tomorrow we go on a river cruise and see the Frantic Follies. I'll report on those things tomorrow. Till then, Happy Trails.