HISTORY
LIFE IN DAWSON CITY
At the peak of the goldrush, during the summer of 1898, there were nearly 40,000 people living in Dawson. It had gone from a small Indigenous fishing camp to a bustling city. In fact, that year Dawson City became the largest city in Canada west of Winnipeg, Manitoba.
The city ran on gold. It was everywhere, and anything could be bought with it. Many of the miners spent their gold as soon as they got it, often gambling it all away. People would bet on anything, even who could spit the farthest! There was so much gold being spent in the city that it was said you could make money just by sweeping the floor of a building and collecting the gold dust.
This photo shows a man pouring out gold dust from a bag to pay for his groceries. There is a scale on the counter to weigh the dust.
Source: Larss & Duclos. Paying with Gold Dust, Fall 1899. 1899. Historical Collections. Alaska Digital Archives.
The main street in Dawson City was Front Street, which was where most of the action took place. It was lined with businesses: theatres, hotels, gambling halls, and restaurants. Log cabins and tents took up the rest of the town. In the spring the streets turned into a mud pit, and in the summer flies and mosquitoes were everywhere.
Since pretty much all of the buildings were made of wood, and all of the houses were heated by stoves, fires were a serious threat to the town. Between 1897 and 1899, three big fires destroyed a ton of buildings. The last fire was the worst, and more than one million dollars’ worth of property was burned up.
The riverfront in Dawson City, with Front Street in the background, which is filled with people for some kind of celebration. Note the number of businesses along the wharf and along Front Street.
Source: Riverfront and Front Street in Dawson City. Circa 1898. Anchorage Museum of History and Art Collection. Yukon Archives.
There were shortages of food, clothing, and most other items. Since Dawson City was so far north, it was hard to get supplies up there. And as the population continued to grow, the food shortage became a serious problem. Salt was worth as much as gold, eggs cost more than $80 in today’s dollars, and apples were almost $30 each (in today’s dollars)!
Dance Halls
Front Street was always crowded with people, and the saloons, hotels, and dance halls were packed. The dance halls, in particular, are one iconic feature of the “gold rush.” These halls were saloons, gambling halls, and theatres all in one! The saloon and gambling tables would be at the front of the building, and the theatre was in the back.
A crowded scene on Front Street in Dawson City. Note the banner for the Tivoli Theatre. The Tivoli, along with three other theatres, were all located within the same block on Front Street.
Source: Front Street Dawson. Circa 1898-1901. Ken Mawhinney Klondike Gold Rush Collection. Yukon Archives.
It was mostly miners who visited these dance halls to watch the performances. Not all of the actors and singers were very good, but there were a few talented performers who knew how to appeal to the crowd. One of them was nine-year-old Margie Newman, known as the “Princess of the Klondike,” who could make men cry when she sang on stage. When she eventually left Yukon, she had made a fortune in tips. Another dancer and actress, Kathleen Rockwell, was very popular with the miners. She became known as “Klondike Kate,” and after leaving Yukon in 1902, she trained actresses in Hollywood and even appeared briefly on a TV show later in life.
Klondike Kate. A caption attached to this photo reads: "We wore tights in those days. If we hadn't the Mounted Police would have run us out of the country."
Source: Klondike Kate wearing a leotard. Circa 1896-1902. Alaska and Polar Region Collection. Alaska Digital Archives.
There was a lot of gold going around Dawson, and with little else to spend it on, gambling and drinking at the saloons and dance halls were popular activities among the miners. Not to mention, life as a miner was lonely. Most of their days were spent in silence, digging in the ground searching for gold, and often they saw no reward for their efforts. The dance halls offered a change of pace from the quiet, and gave the miners a good distraction.
Often, men went just to spend time with the actresses and dancers. When they weren’t on stage, these women were busy encouraging miners to buy more drinks and spend more of their gold at the dance hall. Sometimes if a man had found a good amount of gold and wanted to show off, he would buy drinks for the entire theatre!
Police
Unlike the rough and rowdy American towns of Dyea and Skagway, which many gold seekers had to pass on their way to the Klondike, Dawson City wasn’t nearly as violent. People weren’t allowed to carry handguns, and the saloons were ordered to close for 24 hours every Saturday at midnight.
The town was run by the North-West Mounted Police, who kept things strictly in order so that crooks like Soapy Smith in Skagway couldn’t take over. For a while the police were the only government representatives in Yukon at all, so they were responsible for all kinds of things, not just enforcing the law. They ran the post offices, the jails, and the courthouse, they collected taxes, collected customs at the American border, and more.
Sam Steele, the commander of the police, was known to work for almost 20 hours a day during the height of the gold rush. There wasn’t anything that went on in Dawson that his police force didn’t know about.
Major General Sir Samuel Benefield Steele, Canadian soldier and head of the Yukon detachment of the North-West Mounted Police during the Klondike Gold Rush.
Source: Steele and Company. Col. S.B. Steele commanding Strathcona's Horse. No. 733. 1900. Library and Archives Canada.
Often the police had to invent new laws to deal with some unusual circumstances that occurred during the gold rush. One example of this is when they started inspecting and regulating the hand-made boats that gold seekers were taking through the dangerous Miles Canyon rapids. Another example is the police’s refusal to let miners through the Chilkoot Pass into Canada if they didn’t have enough supplies. This was actually illegal for them to do, but their actions were fully supported by the Canadian government at the time.
The police were also quick to dole out harsh punishments to people who committed acts of violence. One of the worst punishments was forcing people to work 10-hour days at “the woodpile,” splitting wood for the government offices. This was very physically demanding work, and just the threat of being sent there was enough to keep plenty of people in line.
North-West Mounted Police officer stands with a horse, possibly outside Dawson City.
Source: Cantwell, G.C. NWMP officer with a horse. Circa 1901. Adams and Larkin Collection. Yukon Archives.
Although Dawson wasn’t a violent town, it wasn’t entirely free from crime either. With so much gold lying around, there were plenty of thefts. But most people weren’t actually convicted for stealing. The police found it more effective to tell criminals that their charges would be dropped if they simply left Yukon. This was another practice that was actually illegal (it was basically a form of deportation) but most people did choose to leave, since the alternative punishment was much worse: many weeks spent at the woodpile.
The police did allow gambling and prostituion, as long as things didn’t get out of hand. Prostitution was illegal in every part of Canada at the time, but the police tolerated it in Dawson City because it was too popular and they worried that the men of the town would riot if it was suddenly outlawed.
“A saloon is a type of bar that was common in the American Old West, and in several frontier towns in Canada as well. They were first built to serve fur trappers back in the early 1800s.”