Dawson City, Yukon and finally...Alaska

From the Dempster Hwy we made our way up the short distance to Dawson City. Nice little town, not too touristy and a lot of goldrush history.

This is a picture of the Yukon River and Dawson  from the "Dome," a mountain rising on the edge of Dawson City with a road all the way to the top.

The goldrush began with the discovery of gold on Bonanza Creek, This is the gold dredge Number 8 out on Bonanza Creek. It is unbelieveable how these behemoths dug their way up a creek floating on a pond that they kept moving forward by taking in the streambed at one end and depositing it out the other end. Minus the gold, of course.

We finally crossed over into Alaska on the "Top of the World Hwy" and I had to stop and get a picture of this cabin near a small roadside business. Our first place to visit would be Eagle at the end of the Taylor Hwy on the Yukon River.

Eagle is a long way from anywhere in Alaska, but it sits on the Yukon River just inside of the US. The Yukon was the main thoroughfare back in the goldrush days and the feds wanted to look after US interests so Ft Egbert (US Army) was established in 1899. In 1901 the Federal Courthouse pictured above was built to handle legal/criminal matters until the court was moved to Fairbanks two years later.

                                   
Eagle has a population of several hundred. Here is a map of the town with some info on the place. After we left Eagle headed for Fairbanks, we stopped in a little wide spot in the road called Chicken. The name was chosen after the inhabitants could not agree on how to spell Ptarmigan. What happens in Chicken, stays in Chicken.

Here is the Milepost 1422 marker which is the end of the Alcan Hwy. The Alcan ends at Delta Junction when it meets the Richardson Hwy running from Valdez to Fairbanks.

Unfortunately while we were in Delta Junction Al was cornered by a pair of the Alaskan state birds, fortunately he had used his Deet 10,000% earlier that day.

A few miles past Delta Junction we came to Rika's Roadhouse, one of many that were spaced along the Valdez to Fairbanks Trail, later called the Richardson Hwy. Rika's has been preserved by the state and is a great historical stop on the way to Fairbanks. 

Roadhouses were spaced every 15-20 miles and offered hot meals and a place to sleep for weary travelers. Another shot of Rika's, from the back.
Next stops would be Fairbanks, Circle on the Steese Hwy, Manley Hot Springs on the Elliot Hwy and a short run up the Dalton Hwy to the Yukon River.