Silver Trail to Keno City: Part II (again)

The road between Mayo and Keno City is quite good.

Keno City Hotel
From the walking tour brochure: The Keno City Hotel was built in 1920 and was first operated by Bob Palmer and then Robert Bruce Greaves. Greaves owned the Red Feather Saloon in Dawson City and served in WWI with George Black’s contingent before he moved to Keno City. Geordie Dobson bought the hotel in 1960 and worked long hours at the mine while rebuilding the hotel. He reopened the business in 1963, just a few years before the mine closed. Frank White’s ghost haunts the bar while the ghost of another hotel owner sits in Room #12. “Story has it” that this man shot himself after he returned home to find his business burned and his wife and sons dead.

While miners had been prospecting for gold in the area since the 1800s, it wasn't until 1919 that the "silver rush" started in the Keno City area. The name comes from the gambling game, which was played in the saloons. All through the 1930s and into the 1950s, silver and lead ore were mined from rich veins in the surrounding mountains.

Today, Keno City still relies on mining for its economic livelihood, but tourism is being encouraged. Thus, the world-class mining museum. Plus, it's also a labor of love for the historians of the town.

"Downtown" Keno City; the mining museum is on the left

Mining Museum

The mining museum is housed in the old Jackson Hall. It is packed full of exhibits and information.
I'm making this short, as I just want to get this down. Perhaps I'll come back and edit later.

A rocker box, used in placer mining

Karl, the young and drop-dead handsome caretaker of the museum took my $4 "senior" fee. When we got to chatting, he said he came to Keno City for the beautiful country and the quiet.

I can relate.

Placer mining: Placer mining for gold is still going on in the area, even though it takes a back seat to silver mining. In fact, one of the local placer miners donated a gold nugget to a promotional drawing. As Karl said, "One side of the miner's creek has gold, and the other doesn't."

To review: Placer gold can be found because it is concentrated into the rivers: it washes into gravels, and, because it is so dense, it falls out where when the river current slows and can't transport it anymore. There it can be extracted using panning, rocker boxes, sluices, long-johns or dredges. Hydraulic mining is another way of physically separating gold in streamside cliff gravels. This gold, while not perfectly pure, is usually a very high percentage of gold (80% or more). The impurities are removed with by smelting and chemical means.

Hard rock mining: Silver and lead, on the other hand, are normally obtained through hard-rock mining.

Geologically, hot mineral-rich fluids rose up through cracked overlying layers (mostly limestone), leaving veins of ore that are still in place where they formed, unlike placer gold, which has already been washed out of its country rock.

The caption read "WERNECKE BAKER: George Landers
baked for the camp in the 1930s. Caribou was a staple of the
early miner's diet, as were mountain sheep. The camp cooks
did give the miner civilized meals." This is one of my
favorite photos in the museum!

While silver and lead minerals might show on the surface, the miners followed the veins underground, as long as the veins held out. There is a lot of processing that needs to occur to mine ore of this type. From Keno City, canvas bags of heavy ore were transported by horse-drawn conveyances (sleighs and wagons) and later tractors to the Stewart River, where they were loaded onto low-draft paddlewheelers like the Keno, which is now drydocked in Dawson City as a heritage attraction. The photographs of ore bags are pretty jaw-dropping.

As one might expect, transporting all that heavy ore was expensive. Eventually, a concentrating plant was built in the area, so that they didn't have to ship the raw ore anymore.

The economics of any mining activity is dependent on the price of the metal being mined. If the price drops, mines close because it isn't cost-effective to run them. If the price goes up, old mines can be reopened, or tailings reworked.

The museum had exhibits related to hard rock mining: a miner's "cabin" complete with waffle-maker, cans of beans and tins of crackers, long johns hanging up to dry, fur mittens and hats for the cold weather, and a miner mannikin with holes in his socks. There was a blacksmith "shop" with iron tools, showing the importance of someone who could fix all manner of items; an exhibit on the tools of the trade of a geologist — Brunton and other compasses, lens, magnetometers, research papers and map books; and ore samples. I had known what galena (a lead sulfide mineral) looks like, but was unfamiliar with some of the other minerals.

Displays in the upstairs of the mining museum

Movies shown in the Hall.

Life in town: The lives of the miners were hard, but eventually wives and children followed, and the camp became a town.

Jackson Hall, where the museum is today, was a hall where meetings and dances took place, and it was also turned into a movie theater upon occasion. One room was dedicated to this, with movie memorabilia, posters, film projectors and even some theater seats. This reminded me of Larkspur, since they showed films upstairs in the Larkspur City Hall about this same time in history. It was an interesting connection.

Another exhibit was a kitchen in the 1950s, complete with calico curtains, porcelain sink, wood-burning range, electric iron and ironing board. I was surprised to see a hardcover edition of a book that I recognized from my parents' bedroom bookshelf: The Tontine by Thomas B. Costain. It was another interesting connection.

There was an exhibit of framed color photographs of the people of Keno City, taken by one of the talented members of the community. There were hockey jerseys and skating awards, posters and medical equipment from the hospital — all the flotsam and jetsam of a busy town, now gone but preserved to remember the life gone by.

Whimsical bits: In any museum like this, there are a few items that are just sort of off the wall. The "cafeteria trolley" was just such an object. The explanation said that the men were kept themselves busy, and one enterprising soul decorated this trolley (cart) with small statues, license plates, trumpets, a working telephone, a signal light, and cast-off machine plaques. It reminded me of those cars that are covered with plastic dinosaurs!

The decorated trolley (one of the statues can be seen at right).
I couldn't tell if there was a reason for the placement of anything!

Sayer's phoebe and nestlings

Arctic butterflies: Who knew that there were arctic butterflies? Incomprehensibly, some of these insects hatch in August and OVERWINTER in weather that would make a muskox shiver. We think butterflies are fragile creatures, but obviously not! There are very strict regulations about catching these rare insects.

After spending several hours here, I couldn't believe that there were TWO MORE BUILDINGS of the museum. Fortunately, they housed things that I was less interested in: rusty antique cars, steam drills, motorcycles, tractors, ore buckets, drayage wagons, and more photographs. It was a rich collection, but by this time I was getting saturated.

I was more interested in a bird that was flying in and out of one of these buildings. Turns out that it had a rather feathery nest, and was busy catching insects and feeding them to its babies. In the picture, you might be able to just make out the gray fuzzy things at the top of the nest — these are the babies. When the parent swooped in, they all perked up, but they did not make any noise at all. The parent really didn't like me in there... it didn't quite do the "wounded wing" thing, but it definitely flew in and out and tried to entice me out of the building. I left the poor bird in peace!

There was also a kiosk with information about trails in the area, such as the "Monument Trail" and the "Silver Trail." Some looked interesting; I wasn't sure if I'd get a chance to do any of these.

Walk Around Town

Having now been immersed in the history of the town and surrounding area, it was time to stretch my legs a bit and take the Keno City Walking Tour.  Rather than write a lot, I'll just post the pictures and captions from the tour brochure.

The Grant Cabin

Victor Grant built this cabin in 1922 while he was the Territorial Agent in Keno City. It has had various owners and tenants over the years including a liquor vendor, a schoolteacher, miners, hippies and even a bootlegger. The floor has been replaced, but the rest of the cabin remains as it was built.

"Alteration Annie's" cabin
This was possibly my favorite cabin of all. It looked so neat and tidy, yet fit so organically in its space.

A prostitute named Anne Janice, or “Alteration Annie”, ran a legitimate business as a seamstress out of this cabin. It was common in the early days of the Yukon for prostitutes to run small cigar shops or to take in laundry and sewing. Annie ran a business in Whitehorse before she arrived in Keno City in the 1940s.

The Beer Bottle House
This was waay bigger than I expected!

Geordie Dobson moved this house from Calumet, an abandoned mining town nearby, in the late 1960s. Dobson was a merchant marine seaman who heard about a northern silver mine and moved here in 1952. He purchased the Keno City Hotel before there was a refund for glass bottles. Thinking there must be some insulation value in the glass, after all the oldtimers used stacked bottles instead of window panes, Dobson started to layer bottles around his house. He started the project in 1966 and took four years and used 32,000 “stubby” beer bottles to complete the job. The house is very warm, probably helped by 60cm (2 feet) of mortar. 

The Stockade
This house was not on the "tour" but it was so unusual that I had to include it. As I was passing by, sort of walking back and forth and trying to ascertain what the "man" in the lookout tower was actually doing, a woman passed by walking her dog. "Would you like to see inside?" she asked. "The owner's away on a fishing trip, but he won't mind if we go in." So she took me through the door and showed me the stone house that he'd built. It was cozy and tightly built, with a wide porch with a BBQ and hammock. And there was a volleyball court, too! The community had come together and built it. "We have such good times, here!" she exclaimed. "He got the wood really cheap, and then had to decide what to do with it, so he built this big fence, " she said. "Now everyone wants one." The wood was not quite as impressive as it seemed — I think these were log ends cut from a mill, because none of them were thicker than about three inches. But they sure made a good front!

The stockade.

The woman told her her story: her family had mined in the area, but they don't anymore. Now they live in Whitehorse, and just come here for summers and vacation. She had one biological daughter and two children from her second marriage. "At least they are Caucasian," she said, a comment that I'm still puzzling over. Her daughter muddled through school, then finally settled down and got several degrees, culminating in a doctorate in Marine Biology. She now lives and works in France, studying diatoms. "Pretty good for a girl from Whitehorse," said her proud mom.

All Saints Anglican Church

When we walked back to her house where the pink flamingos were taking a shower in the lawn sprinkler, she commented, shaking her head, "I do hope the lawn comes back. It's been so dry this summer that it's all gone brown." I told her I was sure it would, having had a good deal of experience with dry lawns! Not that I wish anyone a dry lawn, but personally I have been appreciating the dry weather!

All Saints Anglican Church
From the brochure: The Anglican congregation started in Keno City in 1954 and began to convert a hut obtained from the United Keno Hill Mines into a church. Charlie Mills who was the Minister’s Warden, George Pavlovich and Rolph Johanson helped Rev. R. Alcock. The All Saints Church was consecrated in 1956. Ann Zawalsky, the local school teacher, and George Esterer, who worked in the mine’s Assay Lab., were the first couple to be married in the church. The building has been used as a library for a number of years.

The library seems to be open all the time, for anyone. The sign on the door just says: "No Overnighters."

Gas Station
This wasn't on the walking tour either, but these old gas pumps sure contributed to the "ghost town" effect. The building in the back of the photo must have been an old service station, as the big double doors on the front were big enough so that cars could come in and worked on. I love the fact that there's a newer pump and an older one: the logic in these town is: if it works, there's no need to replace it! There were actually probably two service stations in the town during it's heyday, as I saw another set of pumps across the street (but they weren't nearly as evocative of a time gone by).

Old gas pumps

A new cabin

New cabin
Keno City seems to be undergoing a bit of a mini-building boom. While there are lots of old structures, and some of them are quite derelict, some are being renovated. The Keno City Hotel (first picture in this blog) was jacked up and renovated in about 2013; some of the cabins are getting the same treatment. There is also some new building.

This tidy new cabin fits in the trendy "tiny house" category, and could be featured in a Canadian Sunset magazine. I love the false front — it's a real nod to the history of the town.

It was on the same property as an older cabin and outhouse, so things aren't being torn down; they are being added to and rebuilt.

Signpost to the Signpost

The Signpost

The nice lady at the Binet House center in Mayo told me that I had to go to the Signpost. When I told Karl about this, he just nodded and smiled, and said, "Good advice."

I didn't quite know what I was in for, but the trails kiosk indicated it was a dirt road up to the top of Keno Hill.

I was game.

The dirt road was steep but fairly good, although rutted and potholed. It was a fine road, one just needed to go more slowly than on the Dempster or the road into Keno City.

As the road wound up the hill, the surrounding mountains started to come into view, finally getting above treeline.

Fields of mountain avens dotted the hillsides, and N0MAD and I finally made it to the top.

What! A! VIEW!

The Signpost and view

The Signpost is nothing more than directions and distances to world cities, but the view is incredible. Fortunately, the clouds were high enough that one could see forever.

There is also a monument to Alfred Schellinger, the geologist and mining engineer who made the first claim near this spot in 1919, thereby starting the "silver rush" that brought Keno City to life.

I wandered about and had a picnic dinner. Several other people came up: a motorcyclist from Vancouver ("I've always heard about this spot, and now I can see why," he said) and a group of ATVers. Both came, looked, and left.

I stayed. They view was tremendous, and I couldn't think of a better place to spend the night. The sky started to spit rain, but I was warm and comfortable in N0MAD, at the top of the world!

View in the other direction