Saturday, December 10, 2016

Unusual weather keeps Dawson City waiting for river to freeze


A late freeze-up in Dawson City has people living across the Yukon River in West Dawson counting their supplies and seeing how long they can wait it out.

Some years, the river is frozen solid enough to walk across by early November. But this year, it's still flowing at month's end.
Will Fellers, a placer miner who was born and raised in Dawson City, says he's never seen a season like this one. 
"I've never seen the river freeze where it has this year. It stopped so far upstream that it's open in front of town," he said.

The river separates the main town centre from West Dawson, where more than 100 people live off-grid. In summer, West Dawsonites can cross the river by ferry, and after freeze-up the territory maintains an ice bridge crossing. In between, there's no easy way across.

No comments:

Post a Comment