Atlin

Bright and early Monday morning we loaded cameras, lawn chairs and picnic lunch into the Jeep and began our adventure tour of Atlin Lake. The Atlin Road offers great views of Little Atlin Lake and Atlin Lake reaching the village of Atlin about 60 miles south of the Tagish Road. About 2/3 of the road is gravel but is very well maintained and easy to drive.

We stopped at a Mountain Goat viewing area and were surprised when the English lady we first met in Dawson City pulled in to the overlook. This was the third time we have talked to her on our adventure. We also saw them just south of Denali when we pulled into an overlook there. We have become old friends.

Atlin Lake

Atlin was created when gold was discovered in 1898 just east of town. The town of Discovery (now long gone) and Atlin had a population of over 10,000 gold seekers for a short time. Gold mining activity brought people and equipment to the area for many years and continues even today. The road to Atlin was not built until 1949 after the Alcan Highway gave them a reason to build it. Prior to that time all equipment and supplies were brought in from Carcross on Tagish and Atlin lakes by steamer in the summer and sled in the winter. The WP&YR built a rail portage between Tagish Lake and Atlin Lake to ferry goods and people across. The difficulty of getting equipment to Atlin meant that it all stayed there when the miners left providing a treasure of goods for the museum in Atlin.

Steam Shovel at Atlin Museum

Atlin is situated on the east shore of Atlin Lake and overlooks some of the finest scenery in North America.

View West from Atlin

A major historical feature of Atlin is the touist boat Tarahne which now stands proudly on the shore of Atlin Lake. The Tarahne carried tourist on the lake from 1917 through 1936 when the depression had its impact on tourism. In 1938 the Tarahne carried 6,209 passengers and in 1937 only 57 visitors came to Atlin.

The Tarahne

No visit to a mining town in the Northwest is complete without a visit to the local cemetery. You really get a sense of the times by reading the grave markers both by the young ages that people died but also from the comments on the markers.

Atlin Pioneer Cemetery

Alex Olson, Found Dead on Trail

We continued east from the cemetery to look at Pine Falls and then to check out the town site of Discovery. There was not much to look at in Discovery as this was predominantly a tent city and not much is left. However, Pine Falls was worth the stop.

Pine Falls

We then returned to Atlin and drove south on the Warm Bay Road for a look at LLewellyn Glacier.

Llewellyn Glacier

By now you know that no adventure of the Kantola's is complete without a good look at the wild flowers of the area. This adventure is no exception as we found some new flowers to add to our collection of photos.

Siberian Aster

Thoroughwax

Taraxacum Lacerum

Dwarf Fireweed

Tuesday morning we packed up and headed east on the Alaska Highway to Watson Lake to regroup, resupply and take care of chores before heading south on the Cassiar Highway.