Onto the third territory

Today was the day I said 'goodbye' to the Northwest Territories.  Despite the rain and very grey skies I still tried for a few photos out the plane window.  They're certainly not the best, but knowing there's a good chance I may not see this scenery again I was still glued to looking out the window.

 The Mackenzie Delta and the East Channel

The Mackenzie River

My first stop on today's flight was in Old Crow in the Yukon Territory - but really the stop was just long enough for the plane's wheels to touch the ground, a few things (and people) unloaded, and then we were back on our way again.  The village of Old Crow is the most northern community in the Yukon and is located at the confluence of the Crow and Porcupine rivers.  The area has a record of human occupation that dates back at least 15, 000 years and the Vuntut Gwitchin continue to travel over the land trapping, hunting and fishing as part of their lifestyle.  Today Old Crow is a community of about 300 people.

My second stop on today's flight was in Dawson City ... but I'm coming back here again later on in the trip so I'll tell you more about Dawson City then.

The scenery was definitely different leaving Dawson City then what I've been seeing up in the high arctic!!

The Yukon River

Then my third stop was my final destination for today - Whitehorse.  Whitehorse, with a population of about 28, 000 people, is the capital and largest city of Yukon and the largest city in northern Canada.  Whitehorse is built on the Yukon River, which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in Alaska.  Whitehorse is framed by three nearby mountains: Grey Mountain to the east, Haeckel Hill to the northwest and Golden Horn Mountain to the south, so between the river and the mountains Whitehorse is definitely a very pretty place to be.

 Grey Mountain

The subdivision here is called Riverdale, and the B&B I'm staying at is here

 The Yukon River going through the city

Robert W. Service is known as "The Bard of the Yukon" for his famous poems The Shooting of Dan McGrew, the Cremation of Sam McGee and many other depicting the Gold Rush and the special atmosphere of the Klondike.  Robert Service was transferred to the Whitehorse branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Whitehorse in 1904.  Here Robert Service found the genuine inspiration that would inspired his famous poems.  Robert Service lived in Whitehorse until 1908 when he was transferred to Dawson City.  This memorial desk is in downtown Whitehorse.

From 1900 to 1978, the elected legislative body in Yukon was the Yukon Territorial Council, a ten-member body which did not act as the primary government, but was a non-partisan advisory body to the Commissioner of the Yukon.  Following the passage of the Yukon Elections Act in 1977, the Territorial Council was replaced by the current Legislative Assembly, which was elected for the first time in 1978.   The Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only legislature in Canada's territories which is organized along political party lines as opposed to the consensus government models found in both Nunavut and the Northwest Territories.  

And having been to the Legislative Assembly here in the Yukon, I can now say I've been to every Legislative Assembly building in Canada!

A restored, 1925 trolley runs along the riverfront in Whitehorse and riding it is a nice way to see from one end of the downtown area to the other.

Whitehorse has a number of sculptures spread around the city that have all been commissioned as a project entitled "Art in the City".  There doesn't seem to be a brochure or anything outlining exactly where they are all located, but I've seen these three as I've been wandering and I quite like them.

 The Thinker

Raven's House

 Raven Stealing the Sun

Our Past and Our Future

The settlement of Whitehorse developed as a transportation hub during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898.  Whitehorse was the head of navigable waters on the Yukon River and an important stop on the journey to the Klondike.  Once the White Pass and Yukon Railway linked Whitehorse with the Alaskan port of Skagway, Whitehorse became the centre of transportation into and out of the Territory.  During the Second World War, thousands of American Army personnel arrived to build the Alaska Highway.  The boom in economic activity ceased by the end of the war but Whitehorse had established itself as an important centre of communications and transportation.  In 1950 the city was incorporated and in 1953 the city was designated the capital of the Yukon Territory when the seat was moved from Dawson City after the construction of the Klondike Highway.

All around town there are buildings that are from the early settlement years of Whitehorse.

This was the government telegraph office built in 1900

Sam McGee's original cabin, built in 1899

The log church, which held its first service in 1900 and was in use full-time until 1960 although special services are still held in the church

The rectory was completed the following year, in 1901

The S.S. Klondike was the largest sternwheeler on the upper Yukon River and the flagship of the BYN (British Yukon Navigation Company) fleet.  Built in Whitehorse in 1929 as an ore hauler, she was holed and sank in 1936.  Rebuilt the following winter, using the original superstructure and machinery salvages from the wreck, she was re-launched in the spring of 1937 and continued carrying passengers and cargo until 1955 - the last Yukon River sternwheeler in active service.

In 1966 the Klondike was skidded to her current location and in 1967 she was designated a National Historic Site to commemorate the era of steam-powered riverboat transportation on the upper Yukon River.  Before the advent or roads, the BYN sternwheel fleet based in Whitehorse was the backbone of the transportation system that linked the Yukon with the outside world.

 Yukon sternwheelers were powered by wood-fired boilers.  The Klondike's held 15,000 litres of water.  This end is the firebox and the stokehold where the wood was put in.  It burned, on average, a cord of wood per hour.