On the Trail of the Goldrush
Monday, July 17th, 2006July 5th we once again were headed to Whitehorse for supplies to trek north up the Alaska highway. On our way to Whitehorse it was actually sunny and quite warm so we stopped at Kookatsoon Lake for a cool refreshing swim (Jim did….it was too darn cold for Kristin). We met a woman who moved to the Yukon from Ontario and spent seven years in the woods without water or hydro – interesting people up here!
Once in Whitehorse we did some groceries – mostly fresh produce which we couldn’t bring from the U.S. Jim was dying for some pizza, as our tablefare gets a little redundant after a while, so we stopped for some nachos and pizza before departing northbound. We camped at Fox Lake near the spot where we – that is, Kristin – caught our first Yukon fish. A small pike, but it’s a start!
Stopped to fuel up in Carmacks – the namesake of the famous George Carmack who staked the first claim on Bonanza Creek and set off the Klondike Gold Rush. Gas was expensive, and so was everything else – the ice was so dear that we passed on it! Water was ridiculous too, but ironically we were out and even with all the streams, lakes and springs around good water is tough to find! There is a lot of metal (including arsenic) in the rock up in these parts and much of the water is kind of distasteful. Anyway, it was an expense we never even thought we’d accrue….so back to Carmacks – shabby little town with no major interest that we could find.
Heading north from Carmacks, one comes into the infamous Five Finger Rapids where many prospectors met their fate sporting their homemade rafts, carrying all their precious cargo in these ill fated, dangerous waters. Even if they upset their rafts and lived to tell about it, it must have been heart breaking to have come this far and now find themselves stranded in the middle of nowhere without the necessary tools and food to survive! Disappointment was typical in the rush of 1897 though, as only a handful of men out of tens of thousands would actually prosper and find that elusive yellow metal.
At the junction of the Alaska highway and the Robert Campbell highway, there was a cute little tourist info building with a not so cute nor little, bitter lady working inside. Tactfully Jim enquired about her misery and learned mining is still the source of feast or famine to this day in the Yukon. When mines open, towns spring up out of seemingly nowhere. People in these towns prosper as does the mine until either the precious ore runs out or the prices drop too much making it unprofitable to run the mine. The mines close and often the town literally closes down with it. There are hundreds of ghost towns in the Yukon, especially towns which are off the beaten path. It’s eerie to walk around town sites where nary a soul exists – it seems as though there was an alien abduction or chernobylistic event that occurred and cleansed the town of human life.
People living in these remote areas are in a different situation than are people living along major or secondary roads and perhaps a little more fortunate I suppose. Generally people who live in remote towns are living in a mining owned camp with power supplied by the mine, food brought in by the mine, houses supplied by the mine, etc. Once the mine closes down, the power ceases, the food stops being imported and sometimes the houses are taken away, drastically reversing the whole process. These people have no option other than to move away and find a new home. Not pleasant, but straight forward and since a lot of these people had little vested interest in the town they would be out of pocket unsubstantially.
People who work in mines which crop up in more urban areas or exist for an extended amount of time and have good roads built to them end up buying houses and use permanent power. When mines shut down in these areas, people are not forced to leave as the houses, power and food are all still available. A lot of people that did purchace their own property and have mortgages find that they are unable to walk away from them. Such is the misery of the bitter tourist lady, as she was subjected to just that. Like a lot of small post-mining towns, the inhabitants have no way to earn a living and have mortgages for houses that have depreciated tremendously.
What we learned from all this is the following: if you work in a mining town, rent your house! Secondly, if you want cheap property, look in one-horse driven towns where the horse recently died. We have many in Ontario if you’re interested.
Enough about mining for now, but we’ll be back often I’m sure.
There is a ~50km dirt road which runs between the Alaska highway and the Robert Campbell highway sporting three small campgrounds and several lakes. Trying to get off the beaten path a little, we decided to check them out and see if we could see some wildlife – we didn’t – or catch some fish – which we also didn’t. Unfortunately the rough road was well used by locals and a lot of their garbage remained at makeshift campsites at most lake accesses.
We camped on Frenchman Lake, and met some interesting people. A nice couple from Alaska had a jet boat and were trying their luck for some fish – namely lake trout. Heck, you could see fish from the dock, how hard could it be in the virgin waters – NOT. Jim struck up a conversation with a semi-retired Yukon trucker/fisher while the nice Alaskan couple were trolling out front of us in the bay. Jim was fishing, so naturally the conversation began there. He told Jim that the fish we could see in the water off the dock were whitefish and could be caught fairly easily using a small spoon or piece of corn bounced on the bottom. When asked about the lake trout – which the Alaskans were fishing for – he told Jim there used to be and still are some 8 miles down the lake at the other end…..typical of any lake which gets a boat ramp built onto it. We felt bad for the Alaskans, but such is fishing I guess, you just don’t know, so Jim didn’t say anything, but did stop fishing.
Thier conversation got to roads and he had a plethora of information as he has pretty much drove every road in the Yukon – which actually isn’t saying much. When we inquired about the Dempster highway, he told us it was O.K., which was good news. He also said the grayling fishing along the road was great, which was even better news! Nothing would stop our Dempster highway trip now….so we thought. More about that later. (nothing like a bit of foreshadowing!)
We left the camp promptly in the morning and on our drive along the Robert Campbell back to the Alaska highway we were fortunate enough to find another grizzly lazing around, munching on roadside greens. It’s hard to beliieve these bears have such a nasty reputation, but never underestimate their complacency! If left alone and respected, there is apparently little to worry about – usually not very many people get eaten by them.
We decided to head north and take a side trip down the Silver trail to see what it’s all about. With place names like Mayo and Keno City, we found it too hard to resist!
Kristin