As Dana and I drove into Dawson City, we spent our first ten minutes shouting “Whaaaaaaat? Noooo! AMAZING!!!” inside the car. We’d never seen anything like it.

Dawson was the heart of the Klondike Gold Rush, and over a century later, it’s living history. The streets are still dirt, the wooden sidewalks are still raised, and just as it inspired great figures like Robert Service, Jack London, and Pierre Burton, it continues to inspire artists and musicians today.

We were lucky to arrive during the annual Dawson City Music Fest, a small but fiercely popular event that draws people from all over (I ran into SIX people I knew there! The world felt delightfully small).

This year saw performers such as The Beauties, Zeus, Hannah Epperson, Rachel Sermanni, The Jerry Cans, The Sojourners, Fanny Bloom, Susu Robin, and Cadence Weapon playing in various venues, including the town's old restored Grand Palace Theatre,

and the Mainstage tent, next to the oh so popular, Yukon Brewing-fuelled beer garden.

We arrived Friday evening, and managed to squeeze ourselves into one of the last tenting sites across the river in West Dawson; the area was originally settled by people looking to get away from the crowding and typhoid during the gold rush, and it’s now accessible by a free ferry running 24 hours a day.

Because it never really gets dark during a Yukon summer, we pitched our tent, headed into town, and explored late into the night.

For my entire life, I’ve been obsessed with old buildings. “Curious” does not do justice to this love of mine; as a child, I nearly fainted with delight the first time I saw an abandoned farmhouse in the prairies. My love for Dawson, a town with century-old buildings everywhere, was therefore instant.

The town’s history isn’t tucked away into its museum; it’s present in its modern life, and plays an active role in the lives of its citizens.

Some of Dawson’s old buildings are restored, some are half-so, and others lean over drunkenly, abandoned but still important. There are old ships, brothels, churches, hotels, stores, banks, post offices, and homes, and whether standing proud or hunched over, their character is genuine, not put on for tourists.

At its height in 1898, Dawson was known as the “Paris of the North,” and was home to 40,000 people. After the rush its population fell, and Whitehorse replaced it as the territorial capital in 1953. Since the 1970’s, however, its population has risen and become stable at around 1200 people, and mining continues to partially drive the economy. It’s a small but vibrant community, and we absolutely loved our time there.

Stories to come include eating birch syrup, spruce tip soda, and a sour toe cocktail; foraging for wild food in the woods behind Dawson; and visiting a farm so off the grid, we had to take not one, but TWO canoes to get there.

And let me tell you, the long drive up to Dawson City and the two canoes out to this farm were worth it. So very worth it.

-LA

Some Dawson City Music Fest tunes for you to listen to!

Gold rush towns and sourdough are historically linked. Sourdough was dominant during the California Gold Rush and then carried through Western Canada, the Territories, and Alaska during the Klondike Gold Rush. Between 1896 and 1899, the Klondike region saw an influx of approximately 100,000 people in search of gilded wealth. Miners, settlers, and those in search of gold carried their sourdough starters while they travelled north, careful to keep them from freezing. A sourdough starter consists of water and flour, is set to ferment, and constantly refreshed with water and flour. It sounds simple, but to maintain a quality starter is very difficult, and essential to the flavour of the final product. The starters were important because they ensured a steady food supply for the travellers; if their starters were lost or damaged, they could not simply buy yeast from a grocery store as we can today. In the evening, they would set up camp and use their starters to make bread, pancakes, buns, and the like. They would then feed their starter (with water and flour), and in the morning continue their journey to gold.

Sourdough is still a strong part of the culture in the Yukon and is one of the many indicators of the Klondike Gold Rush in the region today. Many bakeries and restaurants provide sourdough options, and to be called a ‘sourdough’ is to be recognized as someone who spends all four seasons in the Yukon.

Tracie Harris of Mom’s Sourdough Bakery is a devout contributor to the sourdough culture of the Yukon. For over 30 years, Tracie has operated an organic bakery about 2 km off the Klondike Highway, on Lake Laberge.

Her starter is about 95 years old; she has owned it for 55 years, and another family owned it for 40 years before her. She bakes her breads in a large wood-fired brick oven,

and also makes a great range of treats including cinnamon buns, butter tarts, and Yukon berry pies.

We picked up a loaf of sourdough and a butter tart. The butter tart, a Canadian icon itself, was one of the best we’ve come across, and the sourdough was immensely satisfying throughout our nights of camping in the Yukon.

-DV