We crossed the border into Alaska today, the first of July. The view included this peak, part of the icecap that still exists today in the mountain range.
WHITEHORSE
We went to the centre which studies the area called Beringia. It lies underwater, a real Atlantis. 20,000 years ago during the Ice Age the sea was about 400 feet lower than today and Asia was joined to Alaska by the land bridge. This land is called Beringia by those who study it and was a fertile area of grass land with glaciers close by. It was in a rain/snow shadow area so the land while cold in winter did not get covered in deep snow. The land was not suitable for agriculture so the people were hunter gatherers.
As hunters one weapon they used was atlatl and dart. We had both read Jean Auel’s book where the heroine uses this weapon which extends the arm and allows the spear or dart to be thrown much further. We had a chance to try it out and were surprised at the distance we could throw the dart on our first attempts. However accuracy would take much practice, I think.
The miners are finding lots of mammoth and other bones but the archaeologists are starting to listen to the elders of the first nation and following their suggestions on where to dig with some considerable success.
Another village elder,
a lady with a beautifully clear story telling voice recounted the legend of the flood as seen from the crows eye view. The crow is an important figure in their mythology and has a stylised image. This piece of oral history is probably based on fact and comes from the time of the end of the last ice age and the rising sea levels. YUKON TRANSPORT
The aviation section of his museum seemed at first to be just a record of crashes but it did included details of the successful ferrying of thousands of lend lease fighters and transport planes to Russia during WW2.
An unusual exhibit was the windvane. It is a retired Douglas DC-3 on top of a swiveling support and only needs a 5 km/hour wind to rotate. It is the preferred indicator for pilots landing at Whitehorse International airport.The building and continued operation of the steam railway from Skagway to Whitehorse was covered in the loving detail generated by the steam age buffs of Whitehorse. The use of dogs as sled dogs we new about from our visit to the musher’s kennels but there was much evidence of the use of dogs as pack carrying animals. A healthy malamute weighing 140lbs would carry 60 to 70 lbs all day, keeping up with his trapper or gold mining owner across almost any terrain.
The SS Klondike,
the largest stern wheeler to work the rivers has been restored and put on display. We were taken around by a very knowledgeable young lady who told the story as if the boat was still plying her trade and she was a part of the company who owned her. She could make the down stream voyage to Dawson City in 36 hours but needed 4 to 7 days on the return trip. These boats had no keel and an extreme shape to give them their shallow draft. The above deck bracing to keep them from hogging or bowing down at the bow and stern can be seen.
I thought the big poles at the front were some kind of crane but they were used like grasshoppers legs to lift the boat off sandbanks during the inevitable accidental groundings. GOLD
There is gold in them thar museums. I was struck by the amount of gold on display, at first I suspected that it was fake but was assured that it was real gold. There are pounds of it on display in nuggets, placer gold and sand gold. One display showing the different types of gold found in the different river systems and their tributaries must have had at least 2 lbs of the yellow stuff alone.
As the price is at an all time high just now the gold rush is on again and people are panning in streams, with little ecological damage, but the hydraulic strip mining for gold bearing gravel is being extended as grounds abandoned as being uneconomical are now worth raping and plundering with this devastating technique.
CHARRO
The old boy had an operation to remove a large lump from his tongue while we were in Prince George. We got the results of the biopsy today and the opinion is that it was benign.
No comments:
Post a Comment