The Boomer Bus: Post 8-24-2014 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Post 8-24-2014 Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

Yeah, we are finally in Whitehorse but that means our vacation is almost over. We have enjoyed our time here in Whitehorse, the Capitol of the Yukon Territories.

Local Artists (children) display

I’ll try to cover our time here. We are in the Wal-Mart Parking Lot and enjoying their Wifi. It’s a strong signal that carries all the way across their parking lot. It’s not as strong during their open hours as when they’re closed, so I have to wait until evenings to use it. It’s really nice of them to allow us to park here.

We toured the S.S. Klondike, a 1937 River Steamer that plied their services between here and Dawson City. It was used to haul all types of supplies and materials between the two cities, stopping for wood for the boilers and to haul supplies and furs for the two cities and residents along the river

S.S. Klondike Ships bell

Forward Dining and Lounge

Kitchen storage Kitchen locker

Crew dining room Kitchen

The city now has it landlocked on the banks of the Yukon river and it is now open as a tourist attraction.

Forward End of Ships boiler--same as used in trains Rear boiler

Part of engine room (Interloper in engine room)

The steamer is 210’ long, 41.9’ wide and draws only 40” of water. Cargo Capacity of 300 tons. It had a crew of 23 and carried 75 passengers. 1st class were offered a stateroom.

We visited the worlds longest fish ladder along the Yukon River at the edge of the city adjacent to a dam.

Dam falls at an angle to shuffle the fish over to this side where the ladder is.

Fish Ladder going over the dam

It was built to allow counting of fish going up river to spawn before they die. They are counted by male and female to help determine the ability of them to fertilize the eggs. The ladder also is to assist the fish over the dam and into the lake so they can continue their journey to their spawning grounds. Once they lay their eggs and the males fertilize them they all die. The fertilization process occurs when the males spew their milt and it basically covers the eggs until after they hatch. The new fish feed on the milt until they reach the fry stage and can feed themselves.

Male-notice curvature of mouth. Female doesn't have curved mouth. Also fatter
Bruises caused by rocks while swimming up stream

We watched as a hatchery specialist determined if the fish came from the hatchery upriver or if they were wild.hatched. When they are in the fry size and before being released in the river, they remove the small dorsal fin on the back. The absence of this fin tells them it was hatchery raised. The specialist also inspects each female fish to determine if she is ready to spawn and could before reaching the lake. If yes, he removes her, bops her on the head with a “cute” hammer to kill her (they die after spawning in any event), and then hangs her up by the tail., cuts her gills to make her bleed, and then later squeezes out the eggs into a pan. The eggs are placed in a Ziploc bag and taken to the hatchery for fertilizing. They take caution to keep blood and water from contaminating the eggs and keep the tail up to keep the eggs in until they “milk” them out.

Milking eggs from female, result is 4,000 5,000 eggs per fish, Collecting "milt" from males

The amazing thing we also learned was that these salmon (king variety) entered the river in the Bearing Sea and swan over 2000 miles to return to their spawning grounds in Atlin Lake and some small tributaries along the river. The river runs from Atlin Lake, on the East side of a mountain 15 miles from the Gulf of Alaska in the Pacific Ocean, Northwest to the Bearing Sea. .Absolutely amazing. A river that runs North and West.

They then try to find a couple males per female that are ready to expel their “milt” and remove it for use in fertilizing the eggs. Milt is the fertilizer for the eggs. The milt is placed in a Ziploc bag as well and also taken to the hatchery. The entire operation was just fascinating to watch.

Mary
We also had the opportunity to talk with an “First nations Elder “ named “Mary” (her choice of name) who talked about her grandmother as they lived here. Of course it was not a city or even a camp at the time. Her memories were of the early years and the hunting and fishing her people did. There was no river dam or anyone in the area except her people.

We had dinner at the Klondike Rib & Salmon Restaurant. It has been there since 1900 and started as a building and tent structure as a home, later as a bakery, a coffin building shop and a Klondike Airways mail distribution for the Yukon and finally into a restaurant. The buildings look as though they have been there forever. Their specialty is actually a variety of elk, bison, reindeer, salmon, halibut and Arctic Char to fresh bannock and their signature sourdough bread pudding topped with their Yukon Jack Liquid Gold. The place is the combination of the two oldest buildings in Whitehorse. We had the elk stroganoff and, MAN!, was it ever delicious. The appetizer was elk (I think) meat balls in a zesty BBQ Sauce. AND of course, we just had to have the sourdough bread pudding. It just melted in your mouth. UUUMMM!

Later we took in a Vaudeville style play called “ Frantic Follies”, a slapstick musical comedy about life during the gold rush era. Very entertaining evening. Some of the antics were a bit corny but then again we are older now and have heard them before. Nonetheless we really enjoyed it.

Follies dancer Follies cast

Deciding we needed a bit more entertaining, we went to a club called “ Jarvis Saloon” and watched and danced to a local band called “Yukon Jack” They played a bit of country and some classics by various artists and were really good. While there, a local lady who thought we were a pleasant looking couple and bought us a beer. They were a retired family that lived there in the Summer and in Arizona in the Winter. Of course I had to have a Becks Non Alcohol Beer. Only kind I can drink anymore.

C-47 (DC-3) wind vane. It swivels into wind continuously The little train that "did"

Wanna old Ford?
We visited the Alaska Yukon Transportation Museum where there was on display a lot of the various trucks, carriages ,airplanes, snow mobiles and rail cars that were in use during the building of the Alaska highway . Nothing spectacular other than some of the paintings and pictures of activities during that time. Outside there was a C-47 (Douglas DC-3) mounted on a turnstile that constantly rotated the plane into the wind as it changed. It must have been on a sensitive turnstile or maybe it was controlled by some hidden electronic controller. It was actually used as a wind vane for the airport that was located nearby. The history of the plane was interesting. It had been built and served during WWII and later by an Alaska Airlines for passenger scheduled flights, cargo hauler and bush flying with supplies . A good storied history.

Early Ski Mobile

The Yukon Beringia Interpretive Center was a very interesting place. Our tour guide was well educated and she readily told us about all the prehistoric life in the area during the Ice Age. The history of the Beringia area was fascinating. The Beringia area is that tract of land that existed between Asia and Alaska that disappeared as the ice age diminished with the melting glaciers and the sea level raised. She explained the differences between Wooly Mammals, Mastodons’ and their Elephant relatives and talked about their existence in the area. There was evidence of other animals in the area that were much larger than their later relatives. Including: a beaver the size of a bear, bears twice as large as those today, horses twice as large; Musk Oxen, and many others. Camels migrated from North America to Asia.

Actual size of Giant beaver Our guide Kathleen

Giant Bison Giant Lion

Saber tooth Tiger Woolly mammoth fossel

A lot of the research now underway is discovering more and more each day. A project called “The Yukon Ice Patch Project is rapidly discovering all the type animals as well as the people who lived and survived the changes that evolved.

Tlinglet Art
A trip out to a game preserve proved very interesting as well. We had a tour guide, Gary, who was raised in a community called “Old Crow” near the Arctic Ocean... The area is not reachable by vehicle. You have to either fly in or go by boat. He was very familiar with all the animals we observed because he had lived around them all his life, had hunted many of them and loved working with them..

Gary, our animal preserve guide. Muskox

Mule deer Mountain sheep

Most of the animals at the preserve we have seen in Alaska, but not in the quantities as at the preserve. They had some Elk, bison, musk ox, caribou, a bull moose, Dahl goats (they are actually of the antelope family--in Colorado they are Rams), Lynxes’ and a couple of eagles.

We took a ride out to Miles Canyon where the river widens and becomes part of the lake. A most beautiful sight you would ever want to see. The canyon walls narrow to about 100 feet wide. The water becomes rapid and picks up speed. A couple in a canoe with their children passed through rather quickly and were having fun maintaining control of the canoe.