 Pristine Mush Lake is a mecca for keen fishermen and ardent photographers. (Right) The highlight of any Yukon holiday is a flight over the Kaskawulsh Glacier. (Far Right) The settlement of Klukshu has a small museum displaying indigenous culture. |
by Thomas E King
  Gold! Gold! Gold! On August 16, 1896 George Washington Carmack’s announcement echoed through the vast expanses of Canada’s Yukon. The Klondike Gold Rush had begun.
The 40,000 fortune seekers faced a number of obstacles on their journey to the gold fields including a spring navigation of treacherous snow-fed White Horse Rapids in hand-hewn boats and rudimentary rafts they had built during the winter.
I could only marvel at their daring feats as I retraced a small portion of their journey 110 years later during a far safer encounter with Miles Canyon and the Yukon River.
While a hydro-electric dam has created a large turquoise lake and taken much of the fury out of the rapids there’s still a strong current surging through the canyon, the captain of the MV Schwatka said as he powered the comfortable cruise boat through the constricted lava rock gorge.
An illustrated feature on Whitehorse and the Yukon can be written on assignment from 1000 to 2000 words, depending upon editorial requirements. A sidebar on golfing in Whitehorse can also be provided.
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