Congratulations to the winners of the Trivia Game!
The first five people to correctly identify the picture as the
SS Klondike were John Amrhein, Kamran Jafry, Chris Bookless,
Marcel A. Lecker and Aaron Mcleod.
The SS Klondike was the name of
two sternwheelers, the second now a national historic site located
in Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Both ran freight between Whitehorse
and Dawson City along the Yukon River in 1921-1936 and 1936-1950,
respectively.
The SS Klondike I was built in 1921 and had the distinction
of having 50 percent more capacity than a regular sternwheeler,
while still having the shallow draft and meeting the size requirements
in order to travel down the Yukon River. The SS Klondike I had
a cargo capacity of 270 metric tonnes without having to push
a barge.
The SS Klondike I ran aground in 1936. The British-Yukon Navigation
Company (a subsidiary of the White Pass and Yukon Route railway
company) salvaged much of the ship and cannibalized the wreckage
to build the SS Klondike II the following year.
The SS Klondike II carried freight until 1950. Due to the construction
of a highway connecting Dawson City and Whitehorse, many sternwheelers
were decommissioned. In an attempt to save the SS Klondike II,
it was converted into a cruise ship. The venture shut down in
1955 due to lack of interest, and the SS Klondike was beached
in the Whitehorse shipyards.
The ship was donated to Parks Canada and was gradually restored
until 1966, when city authorities agreed to move the ship to
its present location, then part of a squatter's residence. The
task required three bulldozers, eight tons of Palmolive soap,
a crew of 12 men, and three weeks to complete. Greased log rollers
eased the process.
On 1 July 1981, the Canadian government declared
the SS Klondike II a national historic site, and it is now open
during the summer as a tourist attraction. |