Thursday, May 11, 2023
We left Hi Country RV Park in Whitehorse, Yukon around 10 a.m. to a beautiful sunny day of 45 degrees, which would reach 58 degrees in the afternoon. Traveling on the Alaska Highway (Yukon Hwy 1 West), our destination today is the Pine Lake Provincial Campground outside of Haines Junction, which was 106 miles.
Again today, we ran into some road construction that slowed us down a little.
We continued on our journey and was surprised when we noticed the road sign for the Mendenhall River.
Our first stop was at the Canyon Creek Historic Bridge. In 1904, a year after the Kluane gold strike, roadhouse keepers Gilbert Skelly and Sam McGee built a log bridge across the Aishihik River or Canyon Creek as it was known. It became an important link on the wagon road connecting Whitehorse and Silver City. During construction of the Alaska Highway in 1942, the bridge was rebuilt by the 18th Engineers Regiment of the American Army, only to be abandoned when the road was rerouted the next year. The Yukon Government reconstructed this bridge in 1987.
In 1903, a gold strike in the Alsek River drainage brought a stampede of miners, some of whom stayed to mine in several creeks around Kluane Lake. A wagon road was built from Whitehorse in the next year and Sam McGee and Gilbert Skelly, constructed a substantial bridge over Canyon Creek. This bridge survived heavy traffic and high spring floods until the 1920s when the government contracted the Jacquot brothers from Burwash Landing to rebuild it. In 1942, during construction of the Alaska Highway, the old bridge was dismantled and a new one was hand-built in 18 days. It has been described as the most ambitious and important bridge to be built by the US Army 18th Engineers. When the Public Roads Administration built permanent bridges along the highway, the old pioneer bridge was left in place.
There was also information boards about the Yukon bison and the hunters that were very interesting. Over 7,000 years ago, a small group of bison hunters camped here on the high terraces overlooking the river valley. The broken spear head and a small collection of stone tools they left behind are part of the "Little Arm Phase" archaeological culture in southern Yukon. Many tools of this period used small stone blades as inserts to form cutting and piercing edges.
Over the last thousand years, the Southern Tutchone-speaking people of this region have continued to use Tthe Yanlin on the Asheeyi Chu (Aishihik River) as an important camping spot from which to hunt caribou and moose. The animal species had changed over the years and the tools were different but the hunting and gathering techniques remained the same.
Canyon Creek was such a convenient stopping place that a roadhouse and store were built here in 1904 to serve people traveling along the old wagon road to the Kluane goldfields.
It got cloudy, but the mountains were still spectacular.
We arrived at the Pine Lake Provincial Campground just outside of Haines Junction. It provides excellent views of the Kluane and St. Elias Mountains. What a beauty of a campground! It was very quiet and sparsely occupied, so we drove aound the circle loop looking for just the right campsite. And we found it -- looking out to the mountains and the lake on all sides. We stayed two nights on site #32 for $20 CA/night.
At around 2 p.m., after we got all set up at the campground, we drove into Haines Junction.
Haines Junction has a population of 824 and an elevation of
2,044 feet. Historically, the site on which the community now sits was
located on early trade routes and served as a stopover for hunters, gatherers
and traders.
Its name in the First Nations’ Southern Tutchane language,
Dakwakada, means “high cache place.” Haines Junction was established in 1942
during construction of the Alaska Highway, as an Army barracks for the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers. In 1943, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers completed a
branch road—today’s Haines Highway— connecting the Alaska Highway with the port
of Haines on Lynn Canal.
Haines Junction is on the eastern boundary of Kluane (pronounced
kloo-WA-nee) National Park and Reserve.
Our first stop in Haines Junction was at the Da Ku Cultural Centre & Visitor's Center.
The exhibits inside the visitor center were very interesting.
I particularly found the quilt below very interesting. It is a moosehide patchwork quilt made by members of the local communities -- Kluane First Nation and Champagne & Aishihik First Nation, and Parks Canada Staff. It celebrates their commitment to work together to care for the natural and cultural heritage of the Kluane National Park and Preserve.
After picking up some information on the area sights, watching the movie, and looking at the exhibits inside the visitor center, I stepped outside and took in all the beautiful views of the Kluane Mountain Ranges. The Kluane Mountain Range is the easternmost of the St. Elias Mountains in the Yukon, extending northwest from the Tatshenshini River to just beyond the Yukon-Alaska boundary. The Kluanes show a unique ruggedness typified by serrated narrow ridges, steep slopes and long talus screes.
At 3:45 p.m. we drove back to our campsite, and I decided to venture out on the boardwalk that was just behind our campsite looking out over the water and to the mountains. What a magnificent view!
Mel went for a 9-1/2 mile bike ride, while I worked on my blog. We had chicken thighs and fried potatoes with onions and green peppers for dinner.
Friday, May 12, 2023
It had rained overnight, and was partly cloudy this morning starting at a temperature of 44 degrees and reaching 52 degrees during the afternoon. After the sun came out around 11 a.m., we decided to drive into Haines Junction and do a walking tour of the town.
HAINES JUNCTION WALKING TOUR
The walking tour officially began at the Da Kų Cultural Centre, which we had visited yesterday, so we started at the CAFN Administration Building (see #2 below).
Following the discovery of gold in 1903, the Kluane Wagon
Road was developed to serve mining properties near Kluane Lake. For the next
four decades the well-used wagon road connected this area to the outside world.
George Chambers of Champagne, operator of the Whitehorse-Kluane Stage Line,
delivered mail via this route in the 1930s. When the American army began
building the Alaska Highway in 1942, it generally followed the route of the
Kluane Wagon Road. Construction camps were established as needed along the
route, including at Haines Junction.
After a
year’s operation, the section of the road going east from Dakwäkäda to Marshall
Creek was shifted north to the present routing by Pine Lake. Today the
abandoned section of the original highway is referred to as the “Marshall Creek
Road.”
2. CAFN Administration Building – Champagne
and Aishihik people as well as other newcomers established homes at the cross-roads
to take advantage of the new opportunities that came with these improved
connections to Whitehorse and Alaska. Haines Junction became the administrative center for the Champagne
and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN) in 1971, when its first office opened in the
village. This building was built to meet the space requirements of the Indigenous government. The
architectural design is based upon a traditional fish smokehouse.
3. Lucky Dragon Motel – This motel is constructed from pieces of the original maintenance camp for the Haines Junction Department of Public Works that was formerly beside the Dezadeash River. The relocated structures—a modular residence and “assorted orange crates”— first formed and housed a general store and post office. It remains a motel and restaurant.
4. Northwestel Exchange – The Northwestel relay building houses equipment for the telephone and internet exchange. In 1997, the company contracted artists Catherine and Paul O’Toole to design and create an exterior finish for the building. They used paints and metals intended to weather in order to make an artistic statement about the changing landscape.
5. Our Lady of the Way Catholic Church -- Father Eusebe Morisset traveled north in 1943 to serve as a missionary and
auxiliary chaplain with the American army. He and Father Jean Paul Tanguay
built Our Lady of the Way Church in 1954. They converted an American army
Quonset hut into this unique and beautiful church. During the Second World War,
Quonset huts were constructed for the U.S. navy at Quonset Point, Rhode Island
and became a common sight at military camps. The steel arch-rib frame is
covered with corrugated metal sheets. Father Morriset originally wanted to add
windows in the roof for light. Father Tanguay, concerned with snow load,
suggested a clerestory arrangement, with the windows placed vertically above
the roof line. Old bridge timbers were used for the beam that runs the length
of the building. The steeple features a statue of the Madonna, one of four statues
made for rural Yukon parishes. Bishop Jean Courdet, OMI had them cast in the
1950s in Belgium. Later, a rectory was built using a barracks building from a
pipeline camp.
We went inside briefly to look at this small church. Outside was the little memorial below.
6. St. Christopher's Anglican Church – Eva Hasell and Iris Sayles operated an Anglican
Sunday School Caravan along the Alaska Highway. Beginning in 1949, Hasell
traveled from England every summer to participate in the program. In 1956,
Reverend Watson and Peter Tizya, a lay minister from Old Crow, built the first
Haines Junction Anglican Church on land donated by Hasell. By 1987, it was
beyond repair and a local carpenter, Henry Henkel, persuaded the congregation
it was time to start construction of a new church. Using local logs and
following a plan of his own design, Henkel and a group of volunteers built St.
Christopher’s Anglican Church. Henkel’s team received assistance from inmates of
a local minimum-security prison who supplied labor for hauling logs and cement.
As well, mission societies and foundations in southern Canada supplied money
for plywood and milled lumber for the floor and roof.
7. Dakwäkäda
Building – This humble building has a long and varied history as a liquor
store, the office of the territorial agent, a daycare, a craft shop, the office
for the Southern Tutchone Tribal Council, and more recently, the Alsek
Renewable Resources Council office. The land and property belong to the
Champagne and Aishihik First Nations. Dakwäkäda is the Southern Tutchone name
for Haines Junction.
8. Kluane Park Inn – In 1946, John and Sally Backe, local business owners and agents for
the O’Hara Bus Lines, started the Kuskanaw Store. A year later, the business
was moved across the street where the Backes started a lodge called the Haines
Junction Tavern. After the lodge was sold in 1973, the building was torn down
and the remaining collection of pre-fabricated cabins became the Haines
Junction Inn. In 1975, Neil and Sally Olson began construction of the building
you see today and they named it the Kluane Park Inn in honor of the newly
established national park. The basement contains a bowling alley that has never
been opened.
9. Brewster House – Jack and Wilma Brewster owned this two-story frame building in the
early 1960s. The Brewsters came to Yukon in 1956 from Banff, Alberta, where
Jack’s family owned a large outfitting business. They operated a garage and gas
station here and Brewster House offered lodging to highway travelers. The
building came from a government maintenance camp on the Haines Road and, for
many years, it was the largest and best-constructed building in town. The
family home was situated behind Brewster House. The Quonset hut on the property
operated as Ed and Betty Karman’s Wayside Garage after the original garage
burned down.
10. Village Square – The Village Square is home to one of Haines Junction’s most
photographed structures, the village monument. The sculpture, affectionately known
as “The Muffin,” has representations of the area’s large mammals set into the
mountain background of Kluane National Park and Reserve. A time capsule
was buried in the Village Square in 1992 for the 50th Anniversary of the Alaska
Highway. It will be recovered and opened in 2042. The St. Elias Community
School shop class and KNPR employees collaborated on constructing the gazebo
shelter. A historic milepost sign and an interpretive panel tell the story of
building the Haines Road.
11. Antler Street Sign – in 1986, Val and Dan Drummond hung antlers on the street signpost
in front of their log home and business. A strong wind blew down the sign but
the Village of Haines Junction set up a larger post onto which the Drummonds
mounted horns and antlers of the animals of the region including wild sheep,
caribou, elk, bison and moose.
12. Truck Planter Sculpture – Yukon artist Paul Baker designed and created this planter
box sculpture to resemble the back of an old pick-up truck; it has three metal
sculpted ravens attached. The Village of Haines Junction commissioned the
sculpture in memory of Walter MacElheron, an avid volunteer at the High Cache
Nursery. The nursery provides a supported work environment to employees who
grow and sell bedding plants. The village erected the sculpture in 2012.
13. RCMP Residence – This two-story frame residence was constructed in 1956 for Royal
Canadian Mounted Police officers and their families; at the time, two
RCMP officers were stationed here. The building was designed with a gambrel
roof to match the RCMP detachment building constructed around the same time.
14. Nurses' Residence – This bungalow, adjacent to the modern-looking Nurses’ Station
building, was the community’s original nursing station. When it opened in the
early 1950s, the community’s one nurse had responsibility for a large area from
the Alaska borders of the Alaska Highway and the Haines Road, stretching all
the way to the outskirts of Whitehorse. The nurse worked alone, handling
everything from medical emergencies to administrative work.
15. James Smith Administration Building – Constructed in 1975, this building was named to
honor Commissioner James Smith, the chief executive officer of Yukon from 1966
to 1976. The building houses the liquor store, the territorial agent, the
public library, the Employment Services office, Yukon College, and offices for
Community Justice and for Yukon Housing. A sculpture, entitled Homeward Bound,
is located outside the main entrance. It features a dogsled and musher, and was
created by local resident Bob Braun.
16. Weigh Scale – The Weigh Scale building was constructed when the highway maintenance
camp complex was rebuilt in 1958. During the 1950s and 1960s, an office at one
end of the building was a checkpoint for people travelling the Haines Road in
winter. There was a series of four Canadian checkpoints along the road and
visitors were required to sign in at each one. The road maintenance crews used
snow blowers to clear the road, creating high vertical banks of snow. Strong
winds could fill the ditches and bury a stalled car. The weigh scale staff kept
in contact with the other checkpoints to monitor travelers’ progress. With
improved maintenance and communication along the Haines Road, the Weigh Scale
building was repurposed. It housed the Visitor Information Center for a time,
and later became home to the St. Elias Seniors’ Society.
17. Swallow Haven – Close to the weigh station at the day-use area are swallow boxes that
were built as a clever solution to a pesky problem. Before the creation of
Swallow Haven, it was a yearly spring chore to “bird-proof” Haines Junction
buildings in order to prevent cliff swallows from building mud-nests under the
eaves. At the same time, the community struggled to control mosquito numbers.
Each cliff swallow eats thousands of insects a day, providing a natural
mosquito-control solution in a community that borders a large wetland.
18. Dezadeash
River Trail – The 5.5 km Dezadeash River Trail begins at the day-use area north
of the Dezadeash River Bridge. This easy, well-marked trail traverses wetlands,
meadows and forests along the river. It is a good place for bird watching and
spotting signs of other wildlife. The trail is maintained by Parks Canada and
was developed through a partnership with Ducks Unlimited.
19. Al MacLean’s Place – This building was constructed and located at Sheep Mountain
in the early 1970s. Sally and Neil Olsen cut and peeled the logs by hand and
the floor was made from decking salvaged from the old Dezadeash Bridge. The
redwood door was crafted in Dawson City with wood salvaged from a
mining-related water flume. When the Kluane Game Preserve became part of the
national park, all of the private buildings were relocated and this house was
moved to its current location. Local artist Al MacLean lived in this house and
created the collection of carved driftwood animals around the fence. Al passed
away in 2013 and new residents occupy the home.
20. Old Fire Hall – Two fires destroyed buildings in the budding downtown core of
Haines Junction. In 1949, the O’Hara Bus Line building burned down. It had
housed a store and the offices of an early transportation service between
Whitehorse and Fairbanks, Alaska. In 1954, the first gas station and garage
caught fire. The Shakwak Valley Community Club raised money to build a fire
hall in 1967 and Al Tomlin, an experienced Whitehorse firefighter, instructed
the first crew of volunteer firefighters. After the fire hall moved to the new
James Smith Administrative Building, the village used this old fire hall as a
public works shop and later sold it to Smokey Guttman, who has developed it
into a Museum of Nostalgia.
21. St. Elias Convention Center – was completed in 1998, located in the same block as the ice arena, swimming pool and community
hall, and hosts year-round activities and community events. The center has a
variety of meeting rooms available for rent and also houses the municipal
offices. The lower floor is home to the Cultural Landscape of Kluane, a local
history exhibit depicting significant events in the region since 1890. A
growing art collection highlights local artistic talent.
After our walking tour, we went back to the camper. It sprinkled a little bit in the afternoon. Mel built a campfire with the nice wood they provide at the provincial campground. We had fish and salad for dinner. (Of course Mel had some brussel sprouts too.)
Peaceful and relaxed in Pine Lake Campground,
Shirley & Mel
No comments:
Post a Comment