The gold rush is at its peak. Just a year ago, Dawson was a moose pasture with a few cabins. Now it has dance halls, Parisian fashions, electricity, running water and a restaurant where you could eat pâté de foie gras while listening to a string orchestra. And it has stories, tons of stories. Some true, some not so much. We'll share some of them which, factual or not, will give you a feel for Dawson's brilliant but brief spell as the Paris of the North.
Photo: "The Monte Carlo, Dawson, Yukon Territory", photograph taken at midnight, (CU1157389) Courtesy of Libraries and Cultural Resources Digital Collections, University of Calgary
Sources, maps & reading
Gold Diggers of the Klondike by Bay Ryley
Text of Dangerous Dan McGrew, by Robert Service
Arizona Charlie, Yukon News article by Michael Gates
Palace Grand Theatre, Parks Canada webpage
Klondike: The Last Great Gold Rush 1896-99 by Pierre Berton