Turn of the Century Cabin Gets a New Lease on Life

by Dan Davidson

One of Dawson’s older buildings is being brought back into service this year with the assistance of a $6,000 grant from the territorial government’s Historic Properties Assistance Program.

Whitehouse Cabins, located just a few blocks north of City Hall on Front Street, has been in operation since 1953 as a lodging for tourists, but the complex includes a log cabin which dates back to before 1900, and it is this building which is being renovated.

Doug Cotter and Ashley Doiron, who have owned the property for the last year, are planning to spend about $20,000 in total on the project, which should see the cabin rebuilt, with a new foundation and floor, and ready for use as guest lodgings by June 2005.

This turn of the century cabin is being rebuilt.

In recent years the log cabin, which was deteriorating and had only a dirt floor, has been used as a storage shed, but it will become the establishment’s seventh housekeeping room when the work is done.

“It's an exciting project,” said Doiron, “one that we have looked forward to accomplishing for a long time - and we look forward to presenting it to the public in 2005.”

Whitehouse Cabins was celebrated in the Dawson Daily News as Dawson’s first “tourist court” when it opened in 1953, though some of the buildings are older than that and can be seen in a 1901 photograph taken from the North End.

The buildings housed an accountant, barrister, merchant, clerk, hotel keeper, yardman, wood dealer, labourers and miners during their early years. Soloman Albert, the man who replaced his frostbitten feet with those of a slain bear, also lived there.

In 1962, the cabins housed some of the cast of the musical, “Foxy”, which heralded the revival of the Palace Grand Theatre. Among the cast was Bert Lahr, best known for his role as the Cowardly Lion in “The Wizard of Oz.”

According to Cotter and Doiron, their business is listed in Parks Canada's catalogue of historic structures, and is widely photographed by visitors.

Aside from seasonal customers they have a healthy clientele of repeat visitors who return annually to enjoy the relative isolation of the site, the view of the river, and the easy access to the attractions in the rest of the town.

Cotter has been managing the property since 1994, and was joined by Doiron in the 1997-98. The purchased the property last February, only to learn shortly after that one of the proposed routes for the new Yukon River Bridge would have seen Front Street closed past George Street, cutting off the regular access to their business.

The George Street route is that one that has been chosen for the bridge access, but the Dept. of Highways does not plan to close off the street. The couple remains concerned about the impact of a bridge in that location on their business.

The website for Whitehouse Cabins contains a number of photographs and details. It can be found at www.whitehousecabins.com.

DAWSON PATROL

1CRPG

2005 ANNUAL TRAINING EXERCISE

Despite temperatures that dipped below minus 50 degrees C, the Dawson Patrol of the 1st Canadian Ranger Patrol Group successfully conducted their Annual Training Exercise during the period 10 January to 20 January.

The training was done in 3 phases: 5 days of classroom teaching, 4 days of Field training (FTX) and a final 2 days of demobilization and administration.

The classroom activities included classes on navigation with map, compass and GPS, weapons familiarization with the C-7 rifle and Browning pistol, updates on the Ranger administration, some lectures on basic tactics and the ever-unpopular rifle drill. An inventory of issued kit was done and information was gathered for future replenishment.

The FTX portion of the Exercise is always the most interesting and challenging for the Rangers. Due to the low temperatures, the area of operations was moved from the original location at Fifteen Mile Creek on the Yukon River to the higher elevations back of the second Dome. As expected , the temperatures here were more moderated; the coldest night dropping to about minus 45C.

Winter camping is something that the Rangers excel at and a snug bivouac was established near an old burn which easily supplied us with firewood. Snow conditions were a bit heavier than the norms and most tent sites required the removal of over 3 feet of snow.

Despite the availability of “army rations” ( that the Canadian Forces continues to claim are really edible) the Rangers sustained themselves on the more palatable bush fare of moose, caribou, sheep and salmon during their time out on the land. In a show of respect for local customs, the attending Canadian Forces personnel also joined in.

Field activities included a mine clearing / First Aid tasking with the emphasis on teamwork and First Aid since, thankfully , mines don’t live around here.

With the temperature hovering in the mid forties (minus that is) two Search and Rescue (SAR) scenarios were also conducted . These involved responding to a request to locate a group of missing skidooers. The searchers had to organize a search plan, initiate a move from camp within 10 minutes, locate the lost persons, administer First Aid and prepare for a medevac by helicopter. In one instance the umpire declared that the helicopter wasn’t available and the casualty had to be transported safely several miles back to camp by sled. These taskings were carried out very efficiently and in a very professional manner.

A rifle range was also set up and the all the Rangers competed in an annual qualification. The weather, of course, continued to be chilly. The Top Shot for this year was Ranger Brian McDonald with a score of 48 (matching the temperature?) out of a possible 50. Fortunately, for the rest of us mortals, he had left his glasses at home.

The trip back to Dawson via Clear Creek was pretty challenging given the deep snow, steep terrain and minimal visibility due to ice fog from the open water on the river. Almost everyone got stuck at least once. A good bush tip would be not to go here by yourself.

The Exercise officially concluded with a Graduation Parade at the CII Community Hall . Our thanks to the Tr’ondek Hwech’in for donating its use during our training. Canadian Decorations, for 12 years of service, were presented to M/CP Bruce Taylor, CPL Peter Nagano and RGR Brian McDonald.

Later, at the unofficial post Exercise celebration held at the Dawson Ranger Headquarters, the Rangers presented RGR Instructor Derick Webb of CFNA Yellowknife with a special wolf fur hat sewn by Debbie Nagano.

The next Ranger Operation will be the opening of the Quest Trail in early February. In addition we once again be hosting a contingent of the British Army who will arrive in the middle of the month on a survival training course. Later we will be working with the Percy DeWolfe Committee on the World Championship Sled Dog races.

It’s going to be a very busy Ranger winter.

VIGILANS!

Sgt Mitch

Chabot Clinic Brings in the Gold

Submitted

For three intense days Dawson City and Pelly Crossing hockey players and coaches received exceptional skill development. Despite missing flight connections; Air Canada losing his luggage, hockey gear, skates, and clinic material John Chabot arrived the afternoon of Friday Jan 21. Within 20 minutes of stepping through the arena doors he was on the ice (using sticks and skates from Dawson) with the first level of skaters.

The clinic was to have started with Mr. Chabot at 9:00 a.m. However, with his arrival being delayed, Dawson City volunteers stepped in and took on the task of running the players through drills to determine was group level they would be assigned. Jason Barber, Jason Flegel, Jeff Webber & Louise Blanchard are to be commended for the way they organized the drills and had the morning flowing smoothly. By 12:00 noon we had 3 working levels ready and eager to start.

There were 32 youth from Dawson and 4 youth from Pelly who participated in the weekend event. Unfortunately due to last minute travel problems Old Crow and Faro youth were not able to attend.

It seemed all were primed for a weekend like this to happen. The funding support along with donations and volunteer hours was an amazing part of the event.

Many adults thought the players would not get into the dryland training component of the weekend. They proved otherwise, demonstrating commitment and energy to all aspects of the program.

On Friday and Saturday night all three levels joined together for a scrub game of hockey. By Saturday night ­ the spectators had increased ­ the energy in the building could certainly be felt. Youth were standing at the bench eagerly awaiting their shift on ice.

For parents and coaches it was marvelous to see the progress made by the skaters during the course of the weekend. Arrangements were made with Peabody’s for pictures on Saturday a.m. Each level received a picture with Mr. Chabot. These pictures along with a certificate signed by John Chabot was presented during a Saturday Banquet. Participant packages and door prizes were given.

This was John Chabot’s first visit to this part of the Yukon. He was impressed with the hospitality and organization of the event. On Sunday John took the last 10 minutes with each level, showed them a video of his hockey career, and spoke with them about overall career goals and dreams. He was impressed with all the players and the dedication and hard work they maintained throughout the weekend.

An unexpected donation of 3 gold nuggets was received from Mike Woods. Each nugget was mounted on pucks. Thanks to Shane Van Bibber, Mr. Chabot’s luggage arrived Saturday afternoon. In with his luggage he had some his Chabot Hockey School Jerseys. To finish off the weekend Mr. Chabot decided to give two awards from each group level. He stressed the awards did not take away from anyone’s hard work, but in each group he found there were players who went the extra distance. The Hardest Worker would receive his hockey school jersey and the best player would receive the gold nugget puck (all autographed by him).

Level One Hardest Worker Lynsey Keaton

Best Player Justin Dragoman

Level Two Hardest Worker Marley Kolpin

Best Player Jasmine Kaytor

Level Three Hardest Worker Bradley Keaton

Best Player Selena Kaytor

Thank you John Chabot, Rec Centre Staff, Sponsors, Donators, Volunteers, and Youth who made this weekend such as success. The weekend ended with many asking ­ When will we have the next one?

Uffish Thoughts: A Lesson from the Sands of Iraq

by Dan Davidson

I was astounded and almost impressed a couple of weeks back to hear that the Bush administration has given up the hunt for Weapons of Mass Destruction in Iraq. The statements from officials indicated that they didn’t think they were going to be able to find anything and it was time to stop wasting energy when there were probably more important things to be done in that region.

Good thinking, from a place where I did not expect to hear it.

Meanwhile, in Dawson City, the forensic audit continues.

Like several other projects in my town, this is one which has exceeded its timeline and, I imagine, its original budget. This was the government’s alternative to the public inquiry that the outgoing council recommended when it was yanked from office last April. It was intended to answer the question of where all the money went.

In my own opinion it was set up to avoid having to address the question of why the money went where it went. I think an investigation into that issue would be much more informative than simply piecing together the debit and credit columns in the accounts and matching them up with the invoices and cheques.

After all, three governments, three councils, an array of government bureaucrats and a couple of financial supervisors were looking on while the money was being spent over a period of five years, and no one saw the magnitude of the problem until just over a year ago.

There’s no denying that mistakes were made, but I have trouble believing that they were made on purpose, and I’ll be surprised if the auditor says otherwise when he’s finished.

Among other reasons to read lightly is the fact that the town’s long time auditor, BDO Dunwoody, is not going to take it kindly if anyone suggests that they weren’t using due diligence in their Dawson work. They hit the rood when André Carrel said as much a year ago. If it were to happen again the sound of Vancouver lawyers sharpening their pencils would be audible in Whitehorse.

This investigation has now cost more than $100,000.00, according to discussions in the legislature last December. Since we are a month past that revelation, the amount will now be more than that.

Like the recreation centre project it is investigating, the audit is now very late. It was supposed to have been completed by last August É then October É then the third week in November, and finally, right after Christmas.

In one sense it doesn’t matter to the town of Dawson how long it takes. The territorial government is paying for it, and if YTG wants to continue digging in the metaphorical sands to find the smoking gun that’s fine.

What’s not fine is that this obsession with laying blame is holding up the revival of democracy in Dawson.

I mean, even the Iraqis get to have an election in January, but we don’t.

We would have, if Trustee Ray Hayes had been able to keep to his original timetable. He wanted to be turning things over to a new elected body here by now.

He can’t do that because YTG won’t commit to dealing with Dawson’s long term debt problem. He’s getting the message that the government won’t be acting on the recommendations in the very expensive report by André Carrel until the audit is finished.

As Dawson’s second supervisor, Carrel’s chief recommendation, after the removal of the council, was debt relief. He apparently felt that removing the rascals who had, in his opinion, caused the problem was the major civic punishment and that the town should not continue to suffer once they were gone from office.

He wrote, "The municipality's total long term debt, including the cable t.v. loan and the recreation complex loan should be reduced to $1.5 million."

Elsewhere Carrel had written that there is no municipality in the Yukon which could have overcome the debt load (in proportional terms) that Dawson had fallen under.

On page 12 of his second report he wrote that it would be foolish to attempt to restore democracy to Dawson "without giving Council not just a fighting chance, but a realistic chance to succeed."

Ray Hayes’ latest timeline for calling elections here would be to drop the writ in just over a month from now and have the voting take place in April. Apparently there’s a little confusion about how to have a by-election for an entire council, but it’s been done here before, so there is a precedent on the books somewhere.

The bigger problem would be where you are going to find any candidates willing to toss their hats in the ring if they know that the first thing they will have to do is enter an adversarial battle with the territorial government over problems they did not create.

Outstanding issues include the lawsuit with the architect over the deficiencies in the recreation center and the question of who is responsible for the improperly constructed roofing system. These are problems over which no council could have had any control, but which a new council will need financial resources in order to pursue. Without debt relief, there won’t enough slack in the budget to work on these things during the remaining half of the original municipal mandate.

And one might wonder about debt relief when Dawson’s provisional budget predicts that the base financial grant from the territory to the town will be reduced yet again this year. It has been frozen of cut annually for most of the last decade.

Minister Hart, you can still diagnose the problems that used to exist in Dawson City after you fix them. You are on the clock here. The needed remedies were spelled out by your own consultant. Employ them.