What does it take to preserve Gold Rush History at Dawson City

I'm standing in the magnificent Palace Grand Theatre in Dawson City. This was originally built in 1899 and then reconstructed in the 60s. It's part of the Dawson Historical Complex, a range of buildings and structures protected as National Historic Sites and overseen by Parks Canada. Earlier, we met up with two people from Parks Canada to learn more about what goes into preserving a building like this. So it's dark in here, just be aware, and we can go in as far as we want to go. beware. Janice, Bruce, thank you so much for joining me here today and taking me on a little tour of Dawson City. No problem. We are standing in front of the Kissing Buildings. This is a National Historic Site. Part of a National Historic Site. Part of a National Historic Site because of course there are many in Dawson City. With that, how do you decide, and either of you can answer this, how do you decide what becomes a National Historic Site? I think I could cover that. that it's not a decision that was up to us. This was, you know, on behalf of all Canadians. There's a Historic Sites and Monuments Board and a lot of criteria that goes into what constitutes a National Historic Site. And in Parks Canada here in Dawson, we have four distinct National Historic Sites. So we are in the Dawson Historic Complex, which consists of over 20 buildings in the downtown core of Dawson. And the buildings have to be at least 40 years old be considered a heritage building. Most of ours date back to 1899 to 1901 roughly and you can kind of tell from the lean of the one behind us which is known as the Third Avenue Complex, affectionately locally known as the Kissing Buildings. Yeah, one of the questions I wanted to ask was how you pick which buildings to preserve and which to fall into an intentional disrepair i think was the term that you used like the kissing buildings if someone could speak to that maybe Bruce, sure well for us we're trying to tell the story of Parks Canada as in the Gold Rush health and safety is a big priority for us but also the visitor experience what the visitors see when they come here how they are used by Parks Canada and interpreted and so when Parks took all these buildings on in the 70s they were in various states of disrepair including this one and some have been upgraded to allow tours inside some are office spaces some are residences and some just tell the story of the local environment really which is what these buildings do they have not been restored other than internally braced inside so their shape is maintained as is to tell the story of the northern climate and the conditions here that construction has to go up against and permafrost climate change lead to these factors and that's part of the story of our region and what we're trying to say and in terms of the story of these buildings specifically too you mentioned structures inside they're very striking because they really do look quite ram shackle they do they're safe not to go inside but they are safe we allow people to walk by on the boardwalk we allow people to you know lean on them they are fully braced inside so that they do not fall over and we do monitor that and take care of the roof so that water is mitigated we try and keep water away from the structures as well they are safe despite their appearance kind of like the fabric of the streetscape so it's part of the backdrop to our storytelling when it comes to preserving buildings and i know there are again many sites that Parks Canada is in charge of here in Dawson City what kind of work you've explained a bit but what kind of work goes into preserving historic buildings, especially that are from, you know, the late 1800s in a pretty challenging climate? 100%. There's a lot of factors. Yes, the climate, short building seasons. So when we're trying to work on these structures, it's usually in the summer, which can be short. It depends on what we're going for. Like I said, with some buildings like the Commissioner's Residence or the Red Feather Saloon, we are maintaining the historical integrity of the building. So replacing all materials like for like, trying to reimagine that space as it would have looked when it was being used 100 years ago. Other buildings, if we're trying to modernize them, then we run into issues. Old buildings were built one way 100 years ago. We're looking at different standards today. That can be a challenge, whether we're upgrading structural systems, plumbing, electrical, heating, whatever it is. So it's kind of a case-by-case basis depending on how we want use the building for interpretation for office space for residents or just as is whereas so we kind of depending on what we want to do with the structure that's how we approach the intervention and can you think of something really unique or interesting or even weird that goes on in preservation that people might think oh i didn't know that they could do that, that's a good question I think some of the materials we use are pretty unique that you wouldn't find in modern buildings at all and most of the guys the team that work on those historic restorations, really enjoy working with the materials we have, we have old tools that you know you can cut on an angle as the material is moving through it like a ship's head saw is really fun, old tools for old buildings which are pretty fun and unique and go into the work we do here, Janice, you had mentioned kind of a little bit about the story that Parks Canada would like to tell with some of the work that they do here, what is the story do you think? Well, the story is that something happened here in 1896, we we look at this as one event in a timeline that spans you know thousands of years in the region that between 1896 and 1899 we had thousands of settlers newcomers to the region in search of gold As a result, they brought with them southern customs, notions of civility, comforts from home and the architectural stylings of the time and a town sort of sprung up on the banks of the Yukon River here as a service and supply centre for the goldfields but you know this event was sort of one moment in time and it doesn't really address what it's like being in a northern isolated environment and climate, many of the building techniques were from southern sensibilities and no one realized if you disturb the permafrost here you're going to have an unstable foundation and the very nature of a gold rush is temporary and so it was supposed to boom and bust, but Dawson did not bust and the buildings were put up in a rush with imported or available material built right on the ground and so what we're dealing with now 125 years later is you know how do we keep these structures standing to preserve and commemorate this largest movement of mass largest movement mass movement of people in Canada trying to get to this region in search of you know hopes and dreams satisfied by finding gold. I think today we recognize that this was like quite an imposition on the indigenous population it was quite an impact on the region and so now we're quite sensitive to and working in harmony with Trondekwetjen on you know telling all of the stories and I think the impact is quite important there's a lasting visual impact as well as of course the impact that you see across the country with colonization. So it's telling that wholesome story of kind of the brief relatively brief moment in time that had a huge visual impact but also making sure that we're telling the real history of the land the Trondekwetjen question Exactly and I think everyone in the community is invested in the preservation of heritage and stories here and we're just wanting to make sure that all voices are included in that so you know our buildings stand as a testament of a brief moment in time but we've used them in different ways over the years and they've become a part of the community and so now it's Bruce's job and Bruce's team to ensure that you know We're keeping up with those values and we're preserving these buildings for generations to come. Very, very challenging to do in a northern context. Janice, Bruce, thank you so much for telling us a little bit, and I do mean a little bit, about the work that goes into preserving these buildings. And thank you for your work because it means we can all come and learn a little bit more. No problem, thank you. Thanks. The Red Feather Saloon very recently passed into the care of the Yukon government. It was, though, under Parks Canada Care for some time.