Day 19 – A Family Connection


 One reason we have made the trip up to this northern country twice now has to do with a family connection to the area. In 1899 Pat’s grandfather come up to Dawson City for the Klondike Goldrush. It was there that he met and married Pat’s grandmother. Although he never had a gold claim that panned out, he did buy the White House Restaurant which he ran for a number of years. That building is still there now although it is called Klondike Kate’s. The business was another casualty of Covid, but the building is being repurposed into office space now, which many of the locals are disappointed about. 
 A fun fact: Pat’s grandparents knew Klondike Kate and Diamond Tooth Gertie.

The people who journeyed north in those early days were so hardy that it is hard for us nowadays to comprehend. One of Pat’s family stories is that when his grandmother was eight months pregnant, his grandfather decided that he wanted his child born as a US citizen. So, in December they headed, by dog sled, to Fairbanks. The route they would have taken would have gone through the Top of the World Highway country.


The story goes that they encountered at least one blizzard and that is beside the fact that the sun does not rise at that time of year and snow would have covered everything. As Pat and I drove over the hills, we wondered many things like – How did they keep warm? Were they able to stay dry? How did they build fires when everything was covered in snow? How long did the trip take? How much food did they bring with them and what was it?

We were grateful to make it to the other side with a good truck!


The sourdoughs were amazing people that we could all learn lessons about endurance and perseverance from! Once they got over the Top of the World mountains they would have had to travel to the Alaska Mountain range and north to reach Fairbanks. 

However, Pat's grandparents did make that trek and his aunt Pearl was born in Fairbanks!. 


On a more recent note, Happy Birthday Kevin!

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