{"id":7223,"date":"2021-01-04T21:50:50","date_gmt":"2021-01-05T02:50:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7223"},"modified":"2021-01-04T21:55:16","modified_gmt":"2021-01-05T02:55:16","slug":"episode-217-yukon-diary-6-july-3-1962-to-dawson-city-on-the-ledge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=7223","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 217 YUKON DIARY 6 JULY 3, 1962 TO DAWSON CITY (ON THE LEDGE)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE 217    YUKON DIARY  6   JULY 3 1962   DAWSON CITY<\/p>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Jan. 3, 2021<\/div>\n

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OVERVIEW<\/div>\n

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…DAWSON CITY.. Who pays the bill?<\/div>\n
\u2026SLEEP ON  A LEDGE\u2026IN  POURING RAIN<\/div>\n
\u2026FLOOR SHOW\u2026really on the floor<\/div>\n
\u2026FOXY\u2026a lot of money had been spent by the Canadian government<\/div>\n
\u2026HARDWARE  STORE\u2026with no hardware<\/div>\n
\u2026MYSTERY MAN ACHINSON<\/div>\n
\u2026ROBERT SERVICE\u2026Mc\u2019Cluskey\u2019s Nell<\/div>\n

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JULY 3, 1962<\/div>\n

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NOTE:  How often has someone said to you, \u201cTake a 3 day holiday<\/div>\n
in Dawson City.  You guys are working too hard?.\u201d Bet, not many.<\/div>\n
We forgot to respond<\/div>\n
correctly by asking \u201cAll expenses paid?\u201d  We were rather stupid.  This was<\/div>\n
a three day holiday at our expense.  Both of us did not have much spare<\/div>\n
cash.  \u201cThese 3 days could cost us $100″\u2026nearly 1\/3 of my monthly income.<\/div>\n
So we did  the trip as cheaply as we could nervously expecting Dr. Paterson<\/div>\n
(in Toronto) to cover the $18 bus fare.  He might take the costs our of our salaries.<\/div>\n
To be frank WE  SHOULD NOT HAVE  GONE TO DAWSON CITY.<\/div>\n
But that is an afterthought made today Jan. 3,2021.<\/div>\n

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DAWSON CITY HERE WE COME<\/div>\n

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“What a  day this has  been\u2026what a rare mood I\u2019m in\u2026.\u201d  <\/div>\n
\u201cYou guys should take a 3 day holiday in Dawson.”<\/div>\n
So  Bill Scott and  I drove from Peso to Mayo Landing where my U. of T. results<\/div>\n
had arrived.    Four firsts, two seconds.  Whoopee!  Not sure I deserved that.<\/div>\n
 Then Bill and I had  two beers<\/div>\n
before beginning the trip to Dawson City.  The bus had only  two other passengers<\/div>\n
from Whitehorse.  We saw two  moose on the way to Dawson City.<\/div>\n

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Dawson City is a ramshackle place with many old frame buildings slowly sinking into<\/div>\n
the permafrost… people with<\/div>\n
nothing much to do\u2026slipping into slobbering oblivion with  too much alcohol in <\/div>\n
their bloodstream.  Just a fast opinion\u2026could not be  true.<\/div>\n
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BOMBAY  PEGGY\u2019S HOUSE OF ILL REPUTE…<\/div>\n

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Fair ladies of my lusty youth,  I fear that you are dead and gone:  Where's Gertie of the Diamond Tooth,  And where the Mare of Oregon?  What's come of Violet de Vere,  Claw-fingered Kate and Gumboot Sue?  They've crossed the Great Divide, I fear;  Remembered now by just a few.  <\/pre>\n<\/div>\n
                                                                                                                                                ROBERT SERVICE<\/div>\n

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 Bill and I wandered all over town \u2026I got some good pictures.  Rather than eat<\/div>\n
our pork and beans we decided to go all out andhad a buffalo meat supper. <\/div>\n

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Then We climbed the hill behind the town, carrying  our sleeping bags.   prepared our camp on a <\/div>\n
narrow ledge <\/div>\n
where once long ago some other fellows had pitched a tent.   Then we got a warm fire<\/div>\n
going for it was drizzling and very cold.  We will try to sleep on some spruce<\/div>\n
boughs\u2026but sleep seems  doubtful .  We walked back to the main street of<\/div>\n
Dawson and had  two beers in a salloon\u2026really dingy place.  Many First Nations<\/div>\n
people.  We needed the beer to make us  less uneasy  about the night on the ledge.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
In the bar Two older people\u2026male and female\u2026were making love on the<\/div>\n
floor\u2026no one remarked or seemed surprised… no one took much notice. Bill and I<\/div>\n
tried to be nonchalant but gave each other a raised eyebrow message..  <\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
(NOTE: I Seem to remember The barman rolled and tried to roll them<\/div>\n
out the door.  That could not have been true.  I was reticent to mention<\/div>\n
this  performance which was both comic  and tragic\u2026but it happened)<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
We walked back to our sleeping bags \u2026 crawled  in \u2026and rain came<\/div>\n
down heavy.   Sleep?  Not a wink. .<\/div>\n
Dawson City was losing any charm it once had  in my mind.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Expenses (chargeable?)<\/div>\n
insect repellent   $3.19<\/div>\n
hunting knife        4.50<\/div>\n
Bus fare            12.00<\/div>\n
Food (3 days)   18.00<\/div>\n
Total         $27.69<\/div>\n
DARE WE SUBMIT THIS?<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
Personal expenses<\/div>\n
Necklace for Marjorie  $7.50<\/div>\n
Foxy                             6.00<\/div>\n
Rum                             9.00<\/div>\n
Food (3 day)               3.00<\/div>\n
Beer                           3.00<\/div>\n
Cards                        2.00<\/div>\n
Total                $30.50<\/div>\n

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July 6,1962<\/div>\n

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\u201cWhat\u2019s that?\u201d \u201cSomething crackling!\u201d  I was suddenly awakened at 6 a.m. to discover<\/div>\n
two Big dogs\u2026right in camp with us.  Silent.  Staring.  Were they hungry?   My sleeping bag  was soaking wet<\/div>\n
from the rain.   Cold pork and beans and a box of  cookies sitting<\/div>\n
in our rain soaked sleeping bags with a  Labrador Retriever on one side and what looked<\/div>\n
like a wolf on the other  side  while gazing down at Dawson City far below.    The <\/div>\n
dogs wandered away.<\/div>\n

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 We had a full day in Dawson City.  More time than we needed.   On the main street we stopped at a tent<\/div>\n
with sign ‘Bank of B.N.A.’ where  a hostess was pleasant. \u201cYou really must see Foxy\u2026at the theatre\u201d<\/div>\n

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We needed a place to dump our soaked sleeping bags\u2026not a play at the fancy theatre.<\/div>\n
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OCCIDENTAL  HOTEL\u2026EARLY PICTURE\u2026NOT SO  ROUGH WHEN WE STAYED THERE<\/div>\n

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OCCIDENTAL HOTEL IN 1977\u2026NOT DOING SO WELL\u2026<\/div>\n

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BANK  OF COMMERCE WHERE ROBERT SERVICE WORKED<\/div>\n

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 \u201cLet\u2019s register in the Occidental<\/div>\n
Hotel for tonight\u2026dump our bags..\u201d  Got a  nice old fashioned room with two beds for $9.  Wandered around<\/div>\n
noting some of the Dawson old timers who would just have been born back in the 1890\u2019s<\/div>\n
gold rush days.  Then back to the Occidental for a nap as we sure did not get much sleep<\/div>\n
last night.   <\/div>\n

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I bought Marjorie a necklace for $7.50.   Then we had a  big supper in the Occidental<\/div>\n
dining room.     The actor Bert Lahr sat at the next table.  The star of the special<\/div>\n
play Foxy for whom the brand new theatre had  been built.  Dawson City was  <\/div>\n
expecting a big tourist boom this  summer.  Lots of federal money had been spent\u2026most<\/div>\n
of it constructing the theatre and more to import the professional cast of actors<\/div>\n
and  dancers.   I remembered  flying north with some of the chorus girls who<\/div>\n
were very excited.  I wondered what they thought now\u2026a month later. <\/div>\n

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The Balance Grand theatre.<\/div>\n

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The girls of Dawson in the Gold Rush Days\u2026maybe.<\/div>\n

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I DID not see any of the chorus girls who were on my flight to Vancouver a month ago.  They were so excited to be part of the musical Foxy<\/div>\n
\u2026excited to be living in Dawson City for the summer.  No sign of them here below.<\/div>\n

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We bought tickets at the Palace Grand for tonight\u2019s performance of Foxy<\/div>\n
which turned out to be a good show. It tried to capture the essence<\/div>\n
of Dawson City and did so.<\/div>\n

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The plot:  Three old prospectors hobbled through a milling crowd\u2026spectres from<\/div>\n
the past that no-one cared about  \u2026gold rush days remembered. We enjoyed<\/div>\n
the play.  Not too many other tourists  in town.  <\/div>\n

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Then we went down to the Bonanza  bar and drank in some of the atmosphere<\/div>\n
of Dawson.   Felt pleasantly good.  The barmaid was a  very pretty First Natons<\/div>\n
girl.   Went back to the Occidental where Bill went to bed and I wrote Marjorie<\/div>\n
a letter from the vintage hotel foyer.<\/div>\n

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We were not having a  great time really.  Might have been better to save <\/div>\n
our money and stay back in camp.<\/div>\n

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Thursday July 5m  1962<\/div>\n

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Up at 6 a.m. and out in the sunshine thankfully.   With my camera..trying<\/div>\n
to capture the gold rush flavour of Old Dawson City which is easy to do.<\/div>\n
\u2026the old  hotels, the restored stern wheeler S.S.Keno hauled up on<\/div>\n
the Yukon River shore, the slanted ruins of the hardware store, the<\/div>\n
Presbyterian Church where the basement has  been returned  to the<\/div>\n
permafrost (chairs and tables and hymn books covered nice), etc.<\/div>\n

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Then I went back to wake Bill up at our Occidental room where we<\/div>\n
had breakfast with a drunk and a welfare case from Mayo Landing<\/div>\n
(native lady with 6 kids)\u2026.All of us boarded the bus for the  return<\/div>\n
trip to Mayo.  <\/div>\n

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WAITING FOR THE BUS \u2026.GOING HOME TO MAYO LANDING<\/div>\n

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Nice drive down the Alaska highway to Stewart <\/div>\n
crossing where Mr. Hutton met us and we  hooked left to Mayo in<\/div>\n
his truck.   Nice to be heading home.<\/div>\n

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At Mayo we got into a conversation with Jack Atchinson, a placer miner\u2026on<\/div>\n
Haggert Creek.  Pleasant fellow.  He bought me  a beer and I pulled up  a<\/div>\n
chair at a liege table where he was<\/div>\n
entertaining two  women from Elsa\u2026an Australian girl  married to a<\/div>\n
man from United Keno and her friend.  quite  normal people\u2026families<\/div>\n
from Elsa where the population was 600 in 1962 .  Boom times. Lots<\/div>\n
of silver ore.  Sober people. Families with kids.<\/div>\n

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(NOTE:  This  meeting with Jack Atshinson turned out not<\/div>\n
to be accidental.  I would meet him later.  He was a big time<\/div>\n
placer miner who was interested in us\u2026wanted to hire to help him.)<\/div>\n

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Then we  had to face the terrible walk back to our camp at Peso Silver from Haggart<\/div>\n
Creek.  We had no way to tell the camp we were coming back so<\/div>\n
we had to walk .. to climb really \u2026for five mlles from the bottom<\/div>\n
of the Great Valley to the Peso Camp.  We  were welcomed<\/div>\n
when we got back.   Everyone was surprised..    Dirk drove down<\/div>\n
and got our wet sleeping  bags.<\/div>\n

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Glad to be back home.<\/div>\n

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Was the three day holiday worth it?   Not  really\u2026it it was<\/div>\n
somewhat interesting\u2026got some good  pictures.  The best<\/div>\n
thing about the Dawson Episode was that it gave me<\/div>\n
a great idea as to how I would  leave the <\/div>\n
Yukon when the job was  over.<\/div>\n

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How would I leave the Yukon ?<\/div>\n
\u2026cold  cans of  port and  beans\u2026.White Pass bus to Whitehorse<\/div>\n
 \u2026White Pass Railway to Skagway<\/div>\n
 \u2026Ferry boat to Juneau  Alaska<\/div>\n
 \u2026\u201dBig 707 set to go\u201d flight to Seattle<\/div>\n
\u2026Then flight home to Toronto<\/div>\n
\u2026all  I Would  need was a spoon and a can opener.<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n
alan skeoch<\/div>\n
Jan. 3  2021<\/div>\n

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HERE\u2019S A ROBERT SERVICE POEM THAT YOU MIGHT LIKE<\/div>\n

<\/font><\/div>\n
MC’CLUSKEY\u2019S NELL<\/font><\/div>\n

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BY ROBERT SERVICE<\/font><\/div>\n

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In Mike Maloney’s Nugget bar the hooch was flowin’ free,  An’ One-eyed Mike was shakin’ dice wi’ Montreal Maree,  An roarin’ rageful warning when the boys got overwild,  When peekin’ through the double door he spied a tiny child.  Then Mike Maloney muttered: “Hell! Now ain’t that jest too bad;  It’s Dud McClusky’s orphen Nell a-lookin’ for her dad.  An’ him in back, a-lushin’ wine wi’ Violet de Vere-  Three times I’ve told the lousy swine to keep away from here.”  “Pore leetle sing! He leaves her lone, so he go on ze spree:  I feex her yet, zat Violet,” said Montreal Maree.   Now I’m accommodatin’ when it comes to scented sin  But when I saw that innocent step in our drunken din,  I felt that I would like to crawl an’ hide my head in shame.  An’ judgin’ by their features all them sourdoughs felt the same.  For there they stood like chunks o’ wood, forgettin’ how to swear,  An’ every glass o’ likker was suspended in the air.  For with her hair of sunny silk, and big, blue pansy eyes  She looked jest like an angel child stepped outa paradise.  So then Big Mike, paternal like, took her upon his knee.  “Ze pauv’ petite! She ees so sweet,” said Montreal Maree.     The kid was mighty scared, we saw, an’ peaked an’ pale an’ sad;  She nestled up to One-eyed Mike jest like he was her dad.  Then he got strokin’ of her hair an’ she began to sob,  An’ there was anger in the air of all that plastered mob,  When in a hush so stark an’ strained it seemed to stab the ear,  We heard the lush, plunk-parlour laugh o’ Violet de Vere.  Then Montreal Maree arose an’ vanished from our sight,  An’ soon we heard the sound o’ blows suggestin’ female fight.  An’ when she joined the gang again dishevelly was she:  “Jeezecrize! I fix zat Violet,” said Montreal Maree.     Then Barman Bill cam forward with what seemed a glass o’ milk:  “It’s jest an egg-nog Missy, but it’s slick an’ smooth as silk.”  An’ as the kiddy slowly sipped wi’ gaze o’ glad surprise,  Them fifty sozzled sourdoughs uttered fifty happy sighs.  Then Ragtime Joe swung on his stool an’ soft began to play  A liltin’ tune that made ye think o’ daffydills in May;  An’ Gumboot Jones in solemn tones said: “You should hear her sing;  They’ve got the cabin next to mine, an like a bird in Spring,  She fills that tumble-down old shack wi’ simple melodee.”  “Maybe she sing a song for us,” said Montreal Maree.     Now I don’t hold wi’ mushy stuff, tear-jerkin’ ain’t my line,  Yet somehow that kid’s singin’ sent the shivers down my spine;  An’ all them salted sourdoughs sighed, an’ every eye was dim  For what she sang upon the bar was just a simple hymn;  Somethin’ about “Abide with me, fast falls the eventide,”  My Mother used to sing it – say, I listened bleary-eyed.  That childish treble was so sweet, so clear, so tender true,  It seemed to grip you by the heart an’ did queer things to you.  It made me think o’ childhood days from sin an’ sorrow free:  “Zat child, she make me want to cry,” said Montreal Maree.     Then up spoke One-eyed Mike: “What can’t with us let her abide;  For her dear Mother’s sake we gotta send that kid outside.  Ye know this camp’s a den o’ sin, ye know that Dud’s no dice –  Let’s stake her to a convent school, an’ have her brought up nice.”  An’ so them bearded sourdoughs crowded round an’ on an’ all,  Dug down an’ flung upon the bar their nuggets great and small.  “I guess we got a thousand bucks,” exulted One-eyed Mike;  “You bastards are a credit to the camp of Lucky Strike.”  “You see zis leetle silver cross my mozzaire give to me –  Look, boys, I hang it on zee gosse,” said Montreal Maree.     Time marches on; that little Nell is now a famous star,  An’ yet she got her singin’ start on Mike Maloney’s bar.  Aye it was back in ninety-eight she made her first dayboo,  An’ of that audience to-day are left but only two.  For all them bibulous sourdoughs have bravely passed away.  An’ Lucky Strike is jest another ghost town to-day.  But Nell now sings in opera, we saw her in Boheem;  ‘Twas at a high-toned matinay, an’ say! she was a dream.  So also thought the white-haired dame a-sittin’ down by me –  My lovin’ spouse that once was known as Montreal Maree.<\/font><\/span><\/div>\n

<\/div>\n

<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
EPISODE 217    YUKON DIARY  6   JULY 3 1962   DAWSON CITY alan skeoch Jan. 3, 2021 OVERVIEW …DAWSON CITY.. Who pays the bill? \u2026SLEEP ON  A LEDGE\u2026IN  POURING RAIN \u2026FLOOR SHOW\u2026really on the floor \u2026FOXY\u2026a lot of money had been spent by the Canadian government \u2026HARDWARE  STORE\u2026with no hardware \u2026MYSTERY MAN ACHINSON \u2026ROBERT […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7223","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7223"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7223\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7223"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7223"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7223"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}