SUNDAY
& MONDAY, SEPT 8 & 9:
Spent
these 2 days in Whitehorse. Even though
virtually all of the normal tourist attractions had closed (we figured out that
many of the summer tourist activities/attractions, from glacier trek guiding to
Native cultural tours, are manned by college students; hence, the season
effectively ends when they return to school), we still enjoyed our time here in
this historical town.
Sunday
was still mostly overcast & drizzling, so we just stayed in til the afternoon. Then we ventured out to the Kwanlin Dun
Cultural Center. Canadians use the term “First
Nation” to refer to their indigenous people, not “Native Americans.” This was a beautiful large facility, only a
year old, designed as a convention center, gathering place, and cultural
repository. It’s in a gorgeous location,
right on the Yukon River.
Tour trolley makes a stop at the Culture Center:
Tour trolley makes a stop at the Culture Center:
The formal tours had ended, but the Marketing
Manager saw us looking around, and approached us. She was very, very friendly and open and
enthusiastic. When we told her that we
were sorry we’d missed the tours, she explained what the center did, how it was
funded, and some of the events they’ve held in their first year of operation. She
is a First Nation descendent, and described a little of how they are organized
here in Canada. In 2004, almost all
First Nation people groups signed a land claims settlement with the Canadian
government. This ceded them definite
areas of land, and granted them self-governing status within those lands. Similar to our Lower 48 reservation structure. If businesses were pre-existent on those
lands, they henceforth leased the land back from the First Nation tribe. So, they have a source of revenue, which, for
instance, funded this building. (Unlike
our Lower 48 reservations, whose only source of outside revenue is casinos.) It’s the largest convention center in
Whitehorse. In fact, while we were
there, there were some Yukon governmental people meeting in one of the
rooms.
She
showed us all around the facility. One of
the more successful events they hosted in their first year was a gathering of
First Nation Chiefs from all over Canada, and the culmination of the gathering
was a musical production put on by the Kwanlin Dun, the largest indigenous group in the
Yukon. She described a little of how the
musical program sounded, combining different genres of music. It sounded
fantastic - Bill would have loved to
have seen that! She said that it was a
very proud moment for her people – they were more or less showing off to all of
First Nation Canada what the Yukon First Nation people could do!
She was a
lovely, smart young woman who will go far.
We really appreciated the hour of her time she gave us, away from her
normal duties. And it looked to us as if
there were maybe some lessons that the Lower 48 Native people on the
reservations could learn from this place . . . it seems as if it could be a
model for cultural pride and economic success.
On Monday, it was clearing up and promised to be a
sunnier, warmer day. So we hiked, or
really, walked, a paved trail loop which begins in town and goes out to the
Whitehorse dam and loops back – about 4 miles total.
Were disappointed that no more tours of the
S.S. Klondike were being given – this big sternwheeler has been restored to her
1930’s charm & grandeur. She was the
biggest boat to ever ply the Yukon River,
freighting tons of cargo up (well, downriver) to
Dawson City and then on her return trip carrying thousands of tons of ore from
the DC mines. Once back in Whitehorse,
she would offload her ore & any other cargo onto The White Pass & Yukon
Route RR, which we rode on way back in Skagway.
The train would then transport it down to Skagway for cargo ships to
carry it to far away ports. And the same
RR would load her full of cargo for the trip back to Dawson. So Whitehorse was a major river
transportation center linking the coast with the interior for nearly a century,
and that propelled her growth. It was
only when the Alaskan Hwy was built in the 40’s that the riverboat traffic came
to a halt. But a decade later,
Whitehorse was made the capital of Yukon Territory (it used to be Dawson City),
and her economic stability was ensured.
Started
walking the Millennium Trail from there.
A lovely walk, paralleling the beautiful Yukon River most of the way. Even though we didn’t get to see this mighty
and historic river up in Dawson, we enjoyed seeing it here.
River boat Pilot Bill:
At least here.
I think it’s had a history of pollution further downstream, from gold
mining and other sources. I wonder if it’s
cleared up now, and how pure it is when it empties into the Bering Sea after
a journey of nearly 2,000 miles.
You can really tell who the locals are on a walk
like this. I was bundled up in 4 layers,
including my heavy jacket – plus a scarf and gloves – as we started off. The
breeze made it really cool. As the air
warmed up from the sun, I took off my jacket.
But even before then, we’d see people walking or jogging the trail in
short sleeves, capris, even one gal in a sleeveless stretch top! Their blood must really thicken living up
here! They must look at us and know in
an instant that we’re wimps from the south.
I hope they don’t laugh too disdainfully after they pass us!
We walked further up to the dam which was built
in the 1950’s. The dam tamed the raging
rapids which were just below the dam.
The rapids, and the steep canyon above, were the scourge of the ‘98
Klondike gold-seekers trying to float down to Dawson. Many lost their boats and supplies, if not
their lives, trying to shoot those rapids.
Enterprising entrepreneurs began building a tramway on either side of
the river to transport the men, their boats, and their goods, and the Mounties
started patrolling the river here, prohibiting anyone except certified river
pilots to go thru the rapids. In fact, Whitehorse
was so named because the flying foam
from the rapids resembled the manes of white horses.
Now, the dam provides hydroelectric power
for much of the Yukon.
They constructed a fish ladder for the salmon trying
to get upstream. The longest wooden fish ladder in the world. These salmon swim all
the way from the Bering Sea to their home spawning grounds – 2,000 miles! During the summer, they have tours of the fish
ladder area, and underground viewing of the salmon. Another thing we missed L
went into a very nice art gallery/shop. Lots of beautiful work, done by both First Nation and not.
Very tempted to get a couple of prints by a local
artist who does impressionistic water colors of the natural world around
here. We’d hang them in our bedroom on
the blank walls there. We’ll sleep on
it.
Came on back in time to grill chicken for
dinner. Turned cool quickly. Dark by 9:30 now.
Glad we took the time to visit this town.. It looks like a very clean, pleasant town,
from what we observed, with a healthy downtown and lots to offer visitors. And 2 or 3 good-sized RV parks; we think ours
was really nice!
On to Watson Lake tomorrow.
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