Part 7 ~ Anchorage to Dawson
Dawson, Yukon from boat on the Yukon River.
Amusement park of the Yukon.
Many of the people in Dawson during the summer tourist season go around the town wearing turn-of-the-century garb. Boardwalks is the key. There are boardwalks all-around the buildings just as there were originally to keep your feet out of the mud or dirt. Actually is more like sand. Tig town first, or rather small town for entertainment with lots of drinking. The theater had a great historical play that was fun. And you could always go to Diamond Tooth Gertie's or one of a couple of other places to see a dance hall show.
It appears that all over town buildings were being raised two to three feet off the ground. This is because of the permafrost underneath. When you build a building right on top of ground that has permafrost under it, the heat of the building goes into the ground, melts the permafrost irregularly, and causes the building to lean this way, that way, fold up, whatever. It gets pretty ugly so for preservation of the town they were picking them back off the ground and putting them on pier and beams. This is how they build houses there now that they know the problems.