Red/Cyan 3D glasses are needed for most photos in this post.
Before the first roads were built in the Yukon, the main method of moving bulk supplies through the territory was along the rivers. The Yukon River is the longest river in the territory, and was the main route through the region. The river starts in the far northwest of British Columbia, travels through Whitehorse and Dawson City, and eventually into Alaska. It ends in the Bering Sea.
The SS Klondike(officially the Klondike II) was one of dozens of sternwheelers that ran the Yukon portion of the river, generally between Whitehorse and Dawson City. The Klondike II was built using salvaged materials from the damaged Klondike I; as such, it was built in 1937, but parts of it are decades older(the boiler dates from 1901). These ships were large, but had to be able to move through rapids, narrow river channels, and shallow water. Sternwheelers were overall less efficient than the alternative screw-propeller ships, but had a significant advantage in these conditions.
By the 1950s, road construction had rendered the dozens of Yukon sternwheelers obsolete. The Klondike was decommissioned in 1955. In the 1960s, it was restored as a National Historic Site in Whitehorse(the capital city of the Yukon), and is open for visitors in the summer.
Much of the ship is accessible to the public, and restored to resemble how it would have appeared originally. You can wander at your own pace from the cargo storage level (A 2D photo)…
and the machinery rooms …
To the first class lounge(2D again)…
and even the wheelhouse.
The Klondike is permanently dry docked. Still, it’s beside the Yukon River. Look out from the wheelhouse, or anywhere on the upper deck, and you can imagine you’re traveling up the river with the Klondike again(2D photo).
These photos were taken with my dual Samsung ES25 cameras.
Parallel Views 