{"id":14820,"date":"2016-07-20T08:27:38","date_gmt":"2016-07-20T15:27:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mixhart.ca\/blog\/?p=14820"},"modified":"2020-05-08T11:37:07","modified_gmt":"2020-05-08T18:37:07","slug":"40-mile-arctic-ghost-town","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.mixhart.ca\/index.php\/40-mile-arctic-ghost-town\/","title":{"rendered":"40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town"},"content":{"rendered":"

40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town<\/h3>\n

Ch’\u00ebd\u00e4 D\u00ebk<\/em><\/strong><\/h3>\n
\"40
40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

40 Mile is not the easiest ghost town to access. We were told by several people that one could only get to it by boat\u201488\u00a0kilometres downstream from Dawson City. However,\u00a0I’d read some fascinating historical stories abut the Yukon’s “first” town and wanted to explore it!<\/p>\n

I’m especially fascinated with one story about an early\u00a0gold miner who camped alone near 40 Mile; a pack of nearly 100 Arctic wolves were the closest thing to\u00a0companionship that he could find through his first Arctic winter.<\/p>\n

I am a big lover of wolves and you can read about my own amazing Arctic wolf story<\/a>\u00a0in an earlier Boho Wild<\/em>\u00a0post.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_3954\"
40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u00a0We were thrilled to discover that a recent logging road makes it accessible from the Top Of The World<\/em> Highway.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"TopTop Of The World Highway, Yukon, Mix Hart\/16<\/p>\n

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40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We were caught in a few torrential downpours along the gravel highway. The highway turned muddy and slippery; with all the highway’s twists and turns, potholes, and no shoulder, I feared we might slide off “The Top Of The World” at any moment!<\/strong><\/p>\n

After many kilometers, we turned onto a logging road much like the highway: gravel and crossing on the very top of mountains, with steep drop-offs on both sides. Although the logging road was narrower, muddier and seemed to take forever before we finally started our\u00a0descent to the river, the vistas were gorgeous! Our 4WD made it to the Yukon River and from there it was a 2km mosquito-filled hike to the townsite.<\/p>\n

Below is the logging road as we finally descended towards the Yukon River:<\/p>\n

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40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

40 Mile exists on the land between the merging of the 40 Mile and Yukon Rivers. First Nation peoples have used this area for thousands of years to fish, hunt, and trade.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"40
40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the late 18th Century, First Nation, H\u00e4n speaking peoples came to the area where the 40 Mile and Yukon River’s merge to trade; these peoples were known by missionaries as Fortymile people–hence the name of the town. Forty Mile is Yukon’s “first” town: in 1886 miners began to arrive and build cabins in this area. In 1893, 40 Mile peaked with a library, billiard room, 6 saloons, a theatre and restaurants, 2 doctors, 2 blacksmiths, a watchmaker, dressmaker, and several rum and whiskey distilleries. 1*<\/strong><\/p>\n

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40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

40 Mile is now a ghost town; the townsite is preserved and excavated by Tr’ond\u00ebk Hw\u00ebch’in Heritage, Yukon Government.<\/p>\n

Above: the first RCMP barracks in the Yukon.<\/p>\n

Below: Telegraph Station.<\/p>\n

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40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Me, beachcombing near 40 Mile below–so many fascinating things get washed down rivers and are deposited on the banks.<\/p>\n

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40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The old machine shop in 40 Mile below:<\/p>\n

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40 Mile, Arctic ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Below: Peter inside the back of the machine shop. The staff area still had ancient wallpaper on the walls. The wallpaper was attached to muslin style fabric and the fabric hung on the walls. I admit I am fascinated by the beauty I find in old, decaying things–if it is left untouched by everything but time, time manages to make beautiful art!<\/p>\n

\"40
40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Below: the riverbanks are covered in fireweed, lupine, and delphinium flowers.<\/p>\n

\"40
40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Peter took this picture of me, trying to capture the beautiful Arctic flowers at Forty Mile, Yukon.<\/p>\n

\"40
40 Mile, Arctic ghost Town, Mix Hart\/16<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

1 Adapted from:\u00a0<\/strong>Forty Mile Ch’\u00ebd\u00e4 D\u00ebk, 2011, Yukon Government<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

40 Mile, Arctic Ghost Town Ch’\u00ebd\u00e4 D\u00ebk 40 Mile is not the easiest ghost town to access. We were told by several people that one could only get to it by boat\u201488\u00a0kilometres downstream from Dawson City. However,\u00a0I’d read some fascinating … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":14869,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"kt_blocks_editor_width":"","_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2204,1805],"tags":[3261,3263,3267,3269,3165,3273,3272,3270,3271,3222,3274,3268],"class_list":["post-14820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-canada","category-travelandadventure","tag-arcticroadtrip","tag-savethearctic","tag-40-mile","tag-abandoned-town","tag-arctic-adventure","tag-canadian-history","tag-forty-mile","tag-ghost-town","tag-top-of-the-world-highway","tag-yukon","tag-yukon-history","tag-yukon-river"],"aioseo_notices":[],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":2204,"label":"Canada"},{"value":1805,"label":"Travel"}],"post_tag":[{"value":3261,"label":"#ArcticRoadtrip"},{"value":3263,"label":"#saveTheArctic"},{"value":3267,"label":"40 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