TALES FROM THE PIT: Life and Times of a Yukon Barmaid!
Author: Linda Dawn Hammond
Photo: Linda in Skagway, Alaska, 1981
In the Spring of 1981 I headed up to the Yukon Territories, with $70., my cameras (including a cumbersome 4 by 5 studio camera...) and a one way bus ticket to Whitehorse. From there I hitchhiked to Dawson City. The little I knew of Dawson was derived from archival images dating back to the Goldrush of '98, stories of the Klondike (such as those of Jack London), the poetry of Robert Service, and a documentary based on a book by Pierre Berton. The film contained images of dusty streets and primitive boardwalks, and was enough to convince me, a photographer with aspirations of becoming another Walker Evans, to go.
At the age of six I had
returned with my family to Canada. Before leaving England, I had
regaled my little friends with incredible stories of what awaited. Clouds of
voracious mosquitos would greet our arrival at the docks, (we were sailing on
the Cunard lines to Montreal) and we would be forced to run for our lives.
From there, we would proceed to the
family homestead- a primitive cabin in the woods, where my father would spend
his days fighting off bears at the back door...
In actuality, we moved
into a suburban apartment building complex in Toronto, while my father worked downtown
as a copywriter in an ad agency. I was supremely disappointed. It wasn't
until a day in May of 1981, watching the sun rise over Dawson City
the morning after the ice had cracked on the river, that I finally realized my childhood dream of
Canada. And I got to fight off wild dogs (they're scary too!)
at my cabin's "front door"!
Included
along with the images are several stories. To protect the guilty as
well as the innocent, but mostly to protect myself, I will claim some
of them to be fictitious...
I would be interested in exhibiting these photographs among others not shown here, especially in the Yukon! Persons in Dawson City welcome to contribute or correct information. My apologies to Pierre for using a tag I know he hated... and a special hello to Tom Byrne! Love to everyone in Dawson from the barmaid at the Pit (now "banned for life"!), who camped in the wall-tent frame above the Service cabin in 1981!
NOTE: If you don't see an index column of text and photos to the LEFT of this page (separate window), please go to:
DAWSON CITY CONTENTS
