Robert Service Redux

The city of Dawson, Yukon, probably has the greatest claim to Robert Service, the writer and poet.  While he lived in Whiehorse, Yukon and wrote about his time there, he is perhaps more famous for his poems and stories about the gold rush in Dawson.  The first stanza of one of his most famous poems, "The Spell of the Yukon," is painted on the side of a building in Dawson:

Somehow, though the verse stands on its own, it has more meaning when seen along with the historic building in Dawson on which it is painted:

On Wednesday, August 7, 2019, before heading out to try our goldpanning skills on Bonanza Creek, the site of the original gold strike in Dawson in August 1896, we stopped by the original cabin in which Robert Service lived when he was in Dawson from 1908-1912.  It is now owned and administered by Parcs Canada and is part of the Klondike National Historic Site.

Parcs Canada offers a ranger talk and chance to walk through the cabin.  Before the talk, Kathy took a look inside Service's cabin:

Owned by Edna Clarke, the cabin was his personal refuge from the world.  After he left Dawson, Ms. Clarke decided that the cabin must preserved.  She closed it and eventually it was turned over to Parks Canada.

It is a simple cabin.  Comprised of two rooms -- a living/dining/kitchen and a bedroom, it supplied all of Service's basic needs.  The cabin currently boasts furnishings that available research indicate are comparable to those that Service had when he lived there, but the furnishings are not original:

After getting a look at the cabin,we walked over to a small amphitheater where a park ranger would give us a presentation on Robert Service.  From our seats, we could see the cabin and appreciate its setting on the hillside on Eighth Avenue with a view of downtown Dawson:

During his stay in Dawson, Robert Service worked at the Commerce Bank of Canada.  Here is an old photograph of the bank at the time that Service worked in it --

-- and this is a photo of the bank as it appears today.  While the building had been stabilized, it has not been refurbished.  Parks Canada is working on the project.  The bank sits near the banks of the Yukon River, across from the Klondike National Historic Site visitor center.

At the cabin, we were treated to a presentation by Sacha, one of the park rangers, who told us the history of Robert Service and his years in Dawson.  Sacha spiced his presentation with readings from some of Service's most famous poems, including "The Spell of the Yukon," quoted above --

-- and "The Cremation of Sam McGee," the poem which had brought Service fame and which he had written while living in Whitehorse.  While the real Sam McGee was not the one cremated in the poem, he was an actual friend of Robert Service and lived in Whitehorse.  Service sought his permission to use his name in the poem -- to Mr. McGee's everlasting regret because he was continually accosted on the streets of Whitehorse by fans of Service's poetry.

The City of Whitehorse has preserved the original cabin of the real Sam McGee.  We visited it in 2016 when we stayed in Whitehorse:

It was on that 2016 visit that we resolved to visit Robert Service's own cabin in Dawson, and it was satisfying to finally be able to close that circle on this trip.