June 18, 2025 - Driving to Alaska
MacBride Museum, Whitehorse, Yukon

We drove down by the river into downtown Whitehorse to check out the MacBride Museum of Yukon History which opened in 1952.

Notice the "Whitehorse Inn" sign to the right of the building.

Also notice how the museum building overhands a log cabin on the left, which is the original Whitehorse telegraph office.
   
The museum's first area was wild animals -- always a favorite of mine.
   
Big friendly Moose.
   
Albino moose!  This rare Albino Moose is the only one ever hunted in the Yukon.  Alex Ban Bibber took it in southern Yukon back in 1968.
   

This magnificent moose was taken in north-central Yukon in 1950.  At the time it was the second largest moose ever recorded.  (Its standing now is about 38th).  Before ending up here at the MacBride, the moose was displayed at Expo '67 and the American Museum of Natural History in New York City.

 
   
The MacBride had everything, including a whale jawbone.
   
Mountain goats.
   
Cougar.
   
Griz.  And Red Fox.
   
Black Bear.  Like the ones we saw on the Cassiar Highway.
   
Wolves.
   
Leopard.  I don't think there are too many Leopards in the Yukon though.  Still, if there's a big cat in the collection, I must show it.
   
Lynnette faces off with a tall bear while a Bald Eagle looks on.
   

Of course, the event that put the Yukon on the map was the Klondike gold rush in 1896, and the MacBride had an aera devoted to it.

Gold was discovered up around Dawson City on the Yukon River.  Prospectors had to go through Whitehorse to get to it.
   
Prospectors lived in accomodations like this.
   
All sorts of artifacts from the early Whitehorse days.
   
As you may have noticed, there is a lot of timber in the Yukon, and these are the tools they had to work it.
   
Here I am standing in front of John Sewell's old delivery truck.  Sewell, a local businessman, bought the 1926 Chevrolet four-cylinder truck secondhand in 1928 and had it shipped to Whitehorse.  It was one of the first trucks in the Yukon Territory.  Sewell used the truck to make deliveries for his store to the Whitehorse area.  The store closed down in the 1960s and the museum acquired the truck.
   
Upstairs was an exhibit featuring aviation photography which of course I enjoyed greatly.
   
The Yukon scenery is spectacular from the air.
   
The exhibit on the building of the Alaska Highway had lots of fascinating photos.  And as you know a picture is worth a thousand words.
   
The building of the Alaska Highway really changed Whitehorse from a little crossroad hub into a major town.  Until 1942, rail (from Skagway), river, and air were the only way to get to Whitehorse.  In 1941 only 754 people lived in Whitehorse.   Within a year, that number soared to 20,000, mostly military and contractors.  Of course, it went back down to 2,500 by 1951, but has gradually increased until now there is about 30,000.
   
Slogging through the mud while building the Alaska Highway in 1942.
   
Construction of the highway began on March 8, 1942.  More than 11,000 American troops and 16,000 civilians worked through harsh conditions to lay down eight miles of road each day.
   
The terrain was rugged and impassable at times, winding through thick forests, mountain ranges, permafrost, and muskeg (low-lying swampy ground).   Accidents were common.  Soon it was learned that the best technique to combat muskeg was to avoid it , which is one of the reasons that the road turned out crooked.
   

The 1,600-mile highway was completed in October 1942, just eight months after construction began.  The route followed a line of airfields from Dawson Creek to Fairbanks.  Of course, it was never really "completed".  Improving the road began immediately and never ended to this day.

The road was opened to the public in 1948.
   
The Yukon is rich in mineral resources.
   
A closer look at the Whitehouse Inn sign.
   
Sounds like the Whitehorse Inn was the place to be for a long time.
   
Yukon!
   
 
   
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