Yukon ~ The Magic
Explore the Yukon with the adventure, mystery and story it brings!
The Yukon, Canada’s northwest territory, is wild, mountainous and still a vast underpopulated wilderness. Canada’s highest peak, Mount Logan, glaciers, wild ice aqua rivers and trails are part of the mystique of this storied land.
Dawson City Sourdough
The Dawson City Historical Complex commemorates the history of the Klondike, including the Gold Rush and the years that followed. Sourdough was an integral part of the harsh life of a miner during the Gold Rush. Sourdough starter was always available, either by borrowing some from a fellow miner or by starting one’s own. Food was scarce in the Yukon and winters were long and lonely, so having some sourdough starter and a large bag of flour could greatly increase a miner’s quality of life.
Up in the Klondike today there are people who still share sourdough starter which originally came over the Chilkoot Trail. It’s a great living tradition to keep alive, so share and share alike – pioneer style!Ballad
Robert Service
Robert Service’s ballad about Sam McGee, the miner who could never get warm, was published with great popularity in 1907, and has been a classic every since. Explain to your kids that the story is an embellished and humorous look at the hardship of the Yukon gold rush.
The real Sam McGee was a successful miner from Ontario, who struck it rich and, in 1909, retired to fruit farming in Summerland, BC. He never met Robert Service, who used his name after McGee made a deposit at the bank in Whitehorse where Robert Service was a teller. On his 2nd return to the Yukon, Sam McGee found his fellow passengers on the steam-ship were buying “genuine ashes of Sam McGee”! It’s not everyday one can buy one’s own cremated ashes! McGee’s cabin is now part of the exhibit at the MacBride Museum in Whitehorse, YK.
Search Robert Service in posts for more.
