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Dawson City -
4th Checkpoint - 460 miles
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 Dawson
City as see from the hill across the river, on the Top of the
World Highway. When the race starts in Whitehorse, teams will
arrive from the Klondike River valley, to the right above, parallel
to the highway.
The teams all camp in the main Dawson campground, across the
river from the historic, gold-rush town. A century ago, Dawson
City was a gold rush boomtown. Today the community is still
a gold mining centre; however, the main economic activity is
tourism, based on the community's colourful past and historical
importance. Dawson is located about 536 kilometres northwest
of Whitehorse, at the end of the Klondike Highway.
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 Aerial
view of Dawson City in the summer. You can see the Yukon River
winding away towards Whitehorse, in the upper part of the picture.
You can also see the Klondike River flowing in from the left.
The town lies of Dawson City lies within the traditional lands
of the Han people, the Tr'ondek Hwech'in First Nation. The Han
used the site where the town now stands, at the confluence of
the Yukon and Klondike rivers, as a seasonal fishing camp.
The discovery of gold in the Klondike valley in 1896 led
to the establishment of a tiny community where the Klondike
flows into the Yukon. By the summer of 1898 Dawson City was
the largest city in Canada west of Winnipeg, with a population
of 40,000 in the immediate area. Within months, Dawson boasted
telephones, running water, steam heat, steamboat services,
and a wide range of elaborate hotels, theatres, and dance
halls. A year later the Gold Rush was over and 8,000 people
left town in a single summer. By 1902 Dawson City's population
had dropped to 5,000, declining further in the early part
of this century.
In the early 1960s Dawson City was declared a National Historic
Site. Preservation of buildings and historic areas, an assortment
of activities related to the Klondike Gold Rush, and other
tourism initiatives, draw some 60,000 visitors each year |
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 Notably,
Dawson is host to the Percy de Wolfe Dog Sled Race, a mid-distance
race that runs in mid March each year. This race goes from Dawson
to Eagle and back, a distance of just over 200 miles, retracing
historic mail and delivery routes from the Klondike era.
Yukon Quest handlers try to arrive in Dawson City well ahead
of the mushers so they can pick out a good campsite. Then they
prepare a "tent hotel" for their canine athletes.
Some camps are quite elaborate, while others are very basic.
And in the middle of the campground, the vets set up a sort
of mash unit, to provide care and support to all the teams.
The handlers don't get much chance to appreciate the natural
beauty of the area, nor the historic feature, but they cannot
help but notice the turn-of-the-century architecture and wooden
boardwalks. |
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 This
is the basic design of our doggie hotel. The straw is spread
out on the snow, and then we pack down a trench for the length
of the tent. That enables us to move up and down the tent to
work on the dogs. The tent is surprisingly warm with all the
dogs, and all the straw. We may also put out foam mats and dog
coats, if temperatures are really cold.
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 Once
the dogs are settled in, we spend some time with Frank to get
as much information as possible from him about each of the dogs.
Once he goes to sleep, he is usually out for about 10 hours,
so we need to catch him before he "crashes."
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