Dawson City Museum

Dawson City Museum Review

The Dawson City Museum, housing the Yukon's largest collection, presents exhibits focusing on the gold rush, but also includes the geology and prehistory of the Klondike, as well as of the First Nations. Downstairs offers excellent displays of gold rush material; it might surprise you just how luxurious Dawson managed to be for the lucky few. Upstairs are more household goods, which most people skim through, but don't miss the piece of mammoth meat on the stairway landing. Not many places where you'll see that. Four restored locomotives and other railway cars and gear from the Klondike Mines Railway are housed in an adjacent building, which tends to open at odd hours. The museum also features a library and archives, helpful for visitor's hoping to find their gold rush ancestors. Daily programs include justice in the Klondike before the arrival of the NWMP, and "Camp Cheechacko," which gives you a chance to test your skills with a rocker box, finding out if you could have made it as a miner. During the summer season, the museum features costumed interpreters, and don't miss the "City of Gold," a fascinating documentary on the region, narrated by Pierre Berton, perhaps Canada's foremost historian of the gold rush and Yukon.