On Wednesday, August 7, 2019, we had a whole day to explore Dawson City. We started with a tour of downtown in the morning, had lunch at Klondike Kate's and took in the Parks Canada presentation at the Robert Service Cabin. More on that presentation in the previous blog. After the presentation, it was time to seek our fortune.
We followed the old sourdough trail up to Bonanza Creek, the site where gold was first discovered in the Dawson area. Soon after the first cry of "Eureka" echoed through the hills, gold dredges were brought in to scoop the gold from creek bottoms. At one time, 24 different dredges worked the streams and creeks around Dawson City. Parks Canada has restored Gold Dredge No. 4 as a National Historic Site.
Just upstream from where Gold Dredge No. 4 has come to rest is the actual site where George Carmack, Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim found gold on Bonanza Creek (f/k/a Rabbit Creek) on August 17, 1896. (That's almost exactly 123 years ago!) The Discovery Claim is also part of the Parks Canada National Historic Site.
While there was no gold in the pan, Kathy struck it rich by finding more Red Chairs!
Kathy couldn't resist checking the creek to see if any gold was left behind.
Just above the Discover Claim was the location of a small town known as Grand Forks. During the gold rush, the dredges worked their way around the town. The town no longer exists, but the gold bearing soil on which it sat is still there. The Klondike Visitors Association has staked a claim to that area and allows visitors to pan for gold for FREE!
We parked at the trailhead for the gold panning area and set out to find our fortune.
Kathy has more patience for panning than Dave does. It's Dave's job to find likely areas for "pay dirt" and return buckets full to Kathy for processing. David is also in charge of searching the area for other pretty rocks for Kathy's collection.
In the photo below, Dusty stands guard on the banks of Bonanza Creek. We were joined by several other tourists and a family from Edmonton. Their two young daughters were fascinated with the idea of goldpanning. We tried to teach them everything we knew, but alas our knowledge didn't help anyone find gold. Instead of striking it rich, we struck out. Oh well, tomorrow is another day.
On Thursday, August 8, 2019, we left Dawson City and made our way back across the Top of the World Highway to the Taylor Highway on our way back to Tok, Alaska. Along the way, we passed a public gold panning area on Jack Wade Creek.
We stopped and found a nice spot to set up shop.
Dave went off to find the pay dirt (and maybe some pretty rocks), while Kathy panned the findings.
Like most of the gold miners that came before us, we came up empty. We later learned that the folks who have the most success use a gold metal detector. Not sure our hobby of gold panning is serious enough to warrant a gold metal detector. Maybe we'll just stick with RVing, hiking, biking, fishing and paddling (and maybe some casual goldpanning)!
We'll be crossing the border in a few days. Looking forward to the Yukon and BC adventures ahead of us. Until then, stay thirsty my friends.
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