A Klondike Korner

After three decades in classrooms in Beaver Creek, Faro and Dawson, Dan Davidson retired to continue writing, as he had been all those years. Please send comments about his stories to dawson@whatsupyukon.com.

SPRING REFLECTIONS IN DAWSON

PHOTOS: DAN DAVIDSON

This street, near the new DCMF Building, was typical of many in this part of town Thursdays, 3-7 pm Shipyards Park

WHITEHORSE, YUKON

fireweedmarket

Shop for locally grown/raisedfood, baked goods, meals, arts & crafts.

Stock up on ganic woodfi re roasted coff , our famous whisky barrel aged coff , swag, and coff gifts. See you at the market!

Atlinmountaincoffee.ca | (867) 689-0453

POWER UP

for your next weekend adventure!

Klondikekettlecorn.com | (867)-332-0174 | E: hello@klondikekettlecorn.com

FUN CROCHET GIFTS

Beboinstitches@gmail.com | 867-332-1812

In a previous edition of the KK, I commented on the amount of snow we received here this winter, how it narrowed and

raised the street levels. This column is about the fl ip side of the equation, when the white stuff becomes wet stuff.

Except for Front Street, which is part of the Klondike Highway, Dawson’s streets are dirt. This is because we have to dig into them so often for sewer and water line repairs—not, as some people like to say, because we want to look historic. When there is a lot more water than usual, that leaves us with lots of puddles. We always have some, but this year’s snow load is exceptional—and so is the result. The March, April and May reports (dealing with February, March and April), from the Yukon’s hydrologist, show that the Dawson area received 168%, 463% and 260% more snow than is normal here for those months, according to records that begin in the 1980s.

That gave us 185%, 199% and 232% more snow water equivalent over the same three months.

Meltwater streams down from the hills, east of town, creating new temporary creeks, widening the existing ditches and leaving large puddles in its wake as

Lanes also filled with water

cont’d on page 13 ...

HANDMADE SUMMER HATS

Special Orders Welcome

W: bigsknits.square.site | E: chelseapardy1@outlook.com

Call For Reader Submissions

Yukoners Living with Wildlife

Come explore, inspect, experience and imagine at the Yukon Transportation Museum Send us your pictures!

Send your high resolution photos with a description of what’s happening in the photo, and the camera equipment you used to: editor@whatsupyukon.com

WH TSUP YUKON

The Robert Service School, seen across the puddles at the intersection of Fifth and Queen

it rushes along the residential streets of Eighth through Sixth avenues.

There’s less snow clearance on the upper avenues, so there’s a lot of water to make its way down to the more-level Fifth Avenue, where it sometimes makes a two-block lake, north and south, between Princess and King streets and west along Queen Street.

This can make getting to the Robert Service School (which looks great in its new Ted Harrison–inspired colours) an interesting journey, and it forced the two school buses, which load on Queen, to park elsewhere for a week.

Just down that block there were some other large pools on either side of Third Avenue, making it impossible to step off any of the boardwalks, at the four sides of its intersection with Queen, without getting soaked. One could admire the large refl ections of the recently reopened Midnight Sun Hotel or the Yukon School of Visual Arts.

Most of the other intersections in a four-block radius shared that problem, which left both vehicles and pedestrians dodging large pools that might be hiding either major potholes or uncovered storm drains struggling to do their

work. Lanes between the streets were equally subject to massive pooling. Dawson’s south end of town was once the channel of the Klondike River, and it is lower than the rest of town, so the blocklong puddle that formed between Craig Street and the area where it rises to meet Front Street (which was the town’s original attempt at a dike) made a lot of sense geologically, though the city crew which kept trying to pump the water away told me they had not seen it be that persistent in other years. Though the This puddle filled the block between Craig and Front streets situation does make navigation, by wheel or by shank’s mare, a bit of a puzzle, you have to admit that it does make for some interesting pictures. n

Yukon Animal Rescue Network

Got Puppies…?

Did you know that if you surrender all the pups to YARN, we’ll raise the pups, pay for all their care and veterinary costs, fi nd them homes using a responsible adoption process – and spay your mama dog for free and give her back. We are trying to reduce the future over’PUP’ulation in the North, by adopting to family’s that will spay & neuter. Each female dog that is not spayed could produce up to 67,000 descendants in her lifetime. Unwanted dogs - suffer.

YUKON THEATRE June 10 - 23

FRIDAY - THURSDAY, 5:30 & 8 P.M.

Dir. Joseph Kosinski, 137 minutes After more than 30 years of service as one of the Navy's top aviators, Pete Mitchell continues to push the envelope as a test pilot, dodging the advancement in rank that would ground him.

Playing June 20 to 30

FRIDAY, MONDAY - THURSDAY, 6 P.M. SATURDAY & SUNDAY, 5 & 8 P.M.

Dir. Colin Trevorrow, 146 minutes Four years after the destruction of Isla Nublar, dinosaurs now live--and hunt--alongside humans all over the world, which will reshape the future.

Monday Classic: Gremlins! (June 20) Crimes of the Future, David Cronenberg, 107 minutes Slash/Back, Nyla Innukshuk, 86 minutes Official Competition, Mariano Cohn, Gastón Duprat, 114 minutes Arctic Arts Summit: Films from the Circumpolar North (June 27-29) Atanarjuat, Zacharias Kunuk, 165 minutes (June 30)

May all you wonderful Dads enjoy a very HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

667-2229 • Mon-Fri: 10am-5:30pm, Sat: 10am-5pm HORWOODS MALL duenorthmaternityandbaby.com

Hurlburt Enterprises Inc.

WE KNOW Because nobody likes SEPTIC TANKS & getting caught with their pants SEPTIC FIELDS down! SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

WE’RE THE AUTHORIZED DEALER FOR • CSA Certifi ed • 100% Guaranteed • Warranty backed by Canadian company established in 1974

WE CARRY ALL TANKS • SIPHON • PUMP-UP • HOLDING • WATER AND MANY DIFFERENT STYLES • FIBERGLASS TANKS • GUARDIAN TANKS • EXTRA DEEP BURIAL TANKS

We’ve got the skills, the accessories, the attention to detail required TO DO THE JOB RIGHT

• All fi eld materials in-stock • Free system design using

Environmental Health Regulations Environmental Health Regulations • Overfl ow fl oats and alarms • Complete pump-up pumping systems • Tank and pipe installations

YUKON’S ONLY DEALER