The Dawson City (South) Historic Buildings Walking Tour takes you on a journey through time to the turn of the century and the Klondike Gold Rush. “Gold was discovered in Bonanza Creek on August 17, 1896 and Joseph Ladue was one of the first to hear the news. Joseph Ladue knew the riverboats would need a landing spot so that supplies could be delivered to the miners. There was only one likely spot and Ladue staked out a townsite in a swampy moose pasture at the mouth of the Klondike River. By October 1896, the mining camp had a population of 500 people and Ladue and his partner, Arthur Harper owned the first saloon, sawmill, store, and warehouse in town… During the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush, people arrived from all over the world, to make boom-town Dawson the largest Canadian city west of Winnipeg. In 1899, the community was a thriving town with telegraph, electricity and telephone service. Dawson City was incorporated in 1902 and was the territorial capitol from 1898 to 1953 when the administration moved to Whitehorse.” – from the brochure by Yukon Government & Parks Canada.
There is a free brochure that is available at the Visitor’s Center. The walking tour highlights buildings built between 1898-early 1900’s.
St. Andrews built in 1901
St. Paul’s Anglican Church
Interior of St. Paul’s includes a large wood stove
There are 14 stops which include: the Old Territorial Administration Building, the Yukon Hotel, the North-West Mounted Police Commanding Officer’s Residence, the Black Residence, Robert Service (poet) cabin, Jack London’s cabin, Court House, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, St, Andrew’s Presbyterian Church and Manse, and the old Telegraph Office.
Yukon Hotel in Dawson City
One of the oldest buildings is the Yukon Hotel built in 1898. Several buildings were designed by renowned federal architect Thomas Fuller including the Telegraph office, St. Paul’s Anglican Church, the Commissioner’s Residence, the Court House and the Old Territorial Administrative Building. There were fires in the winter of 1898-1899 that burned many of the original downtown buildings.
Side view of the Yukon Hotel built in 1898
The Jack London cabin was not originally built in Dawson City, but on Henderson Creek in the Klondike Goldfields. Disillusioned with gold mining, Jack London returned to California and wrote White Fang and Call of the Wild. The cabin was found years later with one half being brought to Dawson and the other half to Pioneer Square in his hometown of Oakland California. It has been recreated along with a food cache.
Jack London’s cabin
Jack London food cache
Robert Service, a famous poet who wrote about the Gold Rush, lived in a log cabin but with local spruce logs and a sod roof. His cabin is typical of small residences built in Dawson City in the early 1900’s. He is heralded as the “Bard of the Klondike” and wrote poems such as: “The Spell of the Yukon” and “The Cremation of Sam McGee”. He lived in Dawson City from 1909-1912 and worked as a bank teller. While he was never a miner, he wrote based on the tales he heard during his time here.
Robert Service cabin
The walking tour is a great introduction into the history of the town. We completed it during a rainy day and quickly discovered why there are so many boardwalks around town! The dirt streets become quite muddy. We still enjoyed the tour and recommend it to anyone interested in learning about the history of Dawson City.
Dawson City Street
Boardwalks make walking a little easier on some streets
