North Klondike Highway

Km 380 - Five Finger Rapids

Wood Cutters Range

The hills in front of you were named the Wood Cutters Range to honour the woodcutters who, between 1898 and 1955, worked tirelessly to stockpile wood for the fleet of sternwheelers on the Yukon River and its tributaries. The highest peak in the Wood Cutters Range is named Mount LePage.

In 1928, “Happy” and Pauline LePage started a wood camp at Rink Rapids, just downstream from this point, in 1928. Over the next 15 years they owned and operated a network of camps at several spots along the Yukon River including Yukon Crossing (1929), Lakeview (mid-1930s), Lower Yukon Crossing (1936), Carmacks and Myer’s Bluff (1944/45), and Stewart River (summer 1946). Pauline ran the business and purchased supplies while Happy managed the camps, bought the equipment and hired woodcutters most of whom were First Nation.

In the 1940s, Happy supervised the construction of Yukon airstrips at Snag, Braeburn and Whitehorse. When the Mayo Road (Klondike Highway North) was built in the early 1950s, Happy oversaw the construction of the Carmacks Bridge. The sternwheelers stopped running when the highway reached Dawson in 1955. The wood camps were no longer needed and the LePages abandoned the river life they had lived for so long.

The Klondike Stampede

In the days of the Klondike Gold Rush, thousands of prospectors in their homemade boats had to navigate the rapids as they made the 1200 kilometre river trip from Lake Bennett to Dawson City. Some of the stampeders eventually rigged a winch at the south end of the rapids to help pull their boats through the rough water. This cut down on accidents but the winch was only suitable for small boats and scows.

In 1900, a railway was built from the coast to Whitehorse and a winter road connected Whitehorse to Dawson. The old gold rush river route was reserved for summer travel on the paddlewheelers. The police post here closed in 1902 and was eventually dismantled. A new post was built 19 kilometres downstream at Yukon Crossing on the winter road.

By 1899 the North West Mounted Police had established a chain of posts along the Yukon River system, where they could keep an eye on the stampeders travelling to Dawson. A post was built at Five Fingers, on the west side of the river. The Mounties at Five Fingers were also responsible for checking any people coming into the territory over the Dalton Trail, which terminated nearby. In September of 1899, the telegraph line from Bennett to Dawson was completed and a telegraph office was built on the west side of the river, near the police post.

In 1900 a railway was built connecting with Whitehorse to the coast and a winter road connected Whitehorse to Dawson. Few people travelled on the old Gold Rush river route unless they were travelling in the summer on the paddlewheelers. The police post here closed in 1902 and was eventually dismantled. A new post 12 miles downstream, at Yukon Crossing, was on the winter road.

The Riverboat Era

The paddlewheelers used the most easterly channel at Five Fingers. This channel was only slightly wider than the vessels and there was no room for error. The boats were famous for their expert pilots who could handle the peculiarities of the river with ease. Still, Five Fingers claimed its share of dents and scrapes and more than one vessel came to grief in the rapids.

An early solution was to ‘line’ the boats up through the channel. Lining was similar in principle to winching, but the boat provided the motive power. A cable fastened to the shore guided the bow and the paddlewheeler propelled itself forward. By 1904 a permanent one-inch steel cable, approx. 2500 feet long, was installed along the right bank of Five Fingers for this purpose. As the boat approached the rapids, the cable was retrieved with a boat hook and wrapped around the capstan. The capstan wound up the cable and pulled the boat through and then the cable was tossed back for the next boat. In low water, many of the boats could steam through unaided. Travelling downstream, the boats would rush through at 18 miles per hour, if properly aligned.

Most of the steamers were owned by the British Yukon Navigation Co. (BYN), the river division of the White Pass & Yukon Route. Every year the BYN would improve the navigation channel by dredging, building wing dams, and removing boulders or the wrecks of their own boats. The Yukon government paid for much of the work, which was done in the winter or early spring when the water was low. Blasting at Five Fingers began in 1900 and continued for many years to eventually widen the channel by twenty feet.

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