There is gold in them there hills? Stores

I can tell you where the gold is! I was given a map, won’t say where I got it. This map was supposedly supposed to lead to a great vein deposit of gold in the Yukon Territory. Now I am suspicious of everything so this was no different. The source of the information that I received came from a reliably source, but stranger stories have been told of gold in the hills.

If you can decipher what I have written and have a sense of adventure these words will lead you to great riches. Follow along and you may be able to figure it out. But I’m not going to just give it away so pay attention.

Well I can say that Dawson brought me back to my years spent in Southeast Alaska. The town is designed around cruise ship passengers and drive through tourists. Board walk town with classic late 19th century facade architecture. The great tourist trap.

Now don’t get me wrong I love this kind of stuff, only because I don’t get trapped.

Now towns like this usually only have enough lodging for just the right amount of people. This assures all the facilities are fully booked almost all the time. Money ohhh the money to be made.

Well this was no different for our visit. All the RV parks were full or closed and who wants to stay in a hotel at $300 a night when you can get a campsite for $12. I can tell you who, cruise ship passengers that’s who. They get shuttled in everyday and take up most of the higher end hotel rooms in town.

I much preferred our view and room!

Now the stores in town are not geared towards locals or even people who live in even more remote villages up country in the Yukon. They are jewelry stores, supposed local and native art, key chains and bumper stickers. There is one small mercantile that probably supports the entire town, a Napa auto parts and a hardware store I couldn’t find; 2nd and King st.

I love it. Watching the tourists run around like ants trying to gather food for the Queen. Buying crap they will stuff away and never see again and books about the Klondike they will never read, they don’t tell you where the gold is so why read them. However I was starting to put it all together and the gold had to be where the story and map said it was, it was starting to fit.

Now this is not why we came to Dawson, to shop. Though the kids did there fair share of it I ended up with a tire pressure gauge from Napa, $11.72. The real history and of course the gold was what gave us the fever to go. Just like the prospectors of old, looking for what can’t be found.

The landscape and bareness of this place truly makes it part of the last frontier, this is not a phrase reserved just for Alaska. Though many a person came to the Yukon in search of riches, there are still places here that have never seen a human foot print and this was the story I was told, it has been eating at my mind for many years since I first heard the tale and now I was here, where the story started.

There is great history in this area and I will say we did have a great time.

I found exactly what I was looking for, right where I was told many years ago it was. It’s right in front of you. Just get out of the shops and open your eyes, it’s free. Time spent laughing, looking and relaxing are riches beyond what gold can bring.

“For days we were on Little Eldorado eating the handful of rough food…We had wild meat and, as we chewed on it, we had visions of other good things which gold would buy… There before us was plenary of the gold but we could not eat it. In itself it was absolutely useless.”

Matilda Wales

The map and the story lead me here and

sitting on the banks of the Yukon with my daughter is where the X marks the spot.

You cannot judge you wealth by the weight of your gold. Only by the lightheartedness of the people in your life will you ever be rich.

The information is all here and if you choose to believe the story and follow the map you can have what I have found. I have left a piece of it for you in this place that holds the dreams of all who have passed through.