Today there are no planned events and it is considered a
free day in Dawson City and we began our day with a drive to the Dredge No. 4
National Historic Site. This dredge was
the largest wooden-hulled bucket dredge in North America, about two-thirds the size of a football field in
length and eight stories high. It was
built in 1912 for the Canadian Klondike Mining Company and was powered by
electricity.
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| Inside the hull of Dredge #4 |
We went on a guided tour, with other caravan participants,
for about one hour and learned how this mammoth machine worked. The dredge operated for 24 hours a day, with
a crew of 4 working 8 hour shifts, for a
season of approximately 200 days. On its
best day it unearthed over 800 ounces of gold and in its 46 years of operation
it unearthed nine tons of gold.
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| Dredge #4 |
Dredge No. 4 ceased operations in November of 1959 after
sinking. All dredging activity in the
Yukon Territory ceased in 1966.
We hurried back to Dawson City to attend the "Palace
Grand Theatre" presentation of the "Greatest Klondiker Contest",
three colorful characters from Dawson's past duke it out on stage for the title
of Greatest Klondiker. Many of the
caravan's participants attended. Individuals
in the audience were selected to help.
George McMillan was chosen to be the time keeper for the actors, Jim Neher and David Young volunteered to be
judges. Each actor presented their case
and the audience voted on the winner. It
was great fun!
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"Palace Grand Theatre" Characters
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Here we are watching the performance
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| Some of the group with the performing Characters |
The weather was partly cloudy but pleasant. Now back to camp to prepare for our travel
day to Chicken, AK tomorrow.
Submitted by: Rig # 3
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| Tammy & Rich in front of Dredge #4 |
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