Dawson City - The 8th Avenue & 3rd Avenue Cemeteries

Day 10 - July 23rd, 2024

Weather - Sunny, 27 degrees C

I woke up today super excited and ready to go. On my agenda was surveying the two cemeteries in town: the 8th Avenue Yukon Order of Pioneers Cemetery and the 3rd Avenue Typhoid Cemetery. Earl dropped me off at the Y.O.O.P. cemetery and headed to the library to work on his own projects and do more charging, leaving me to my own devices.

I decided to tackle the Y.O.O.P. Cemetery first, thinking it would be quicker of the two given that only approximately 1/10 of the people buried there were from my time frame. I should have known myself better. Arriving at the cemetery for the second time, seeing how small it was and the number of markers (only around 100), I decided I had enough time to photograph and sketch map the entire cemetery as I had with the RCMP and Jewish cemeteries. I prefer to do this with all of the cemeteries I am surveying. Whether or not all of the burials are from my range of interest, a good map can tell you a lot; however, given the size and condition of some of the cemeteries in my study, it isn't feasible to hand map everything. So, I have to hope maps already exist somewhere!

Example of a replacement marker in the Y.O.O.P. 8th Avenue Cemetery. Here you can see the original marker just behind.

That said, I spent a lot more time at the Y.O.O.P. cemetery than I had intended. While, for the most part, the burials are in organized rows, occasionally, there are also half-and-between rows and burials that are independent of the organizational structure. The rows are also not quite parallel to the front fence, and the entire cemetery is set on a hillside, so there were some challenges. I ended up with a half-decent map in the end, and I can come back to this cemetery next month and refine it if necessary.

I noticed A few things about the Y.O.O.P. cemetery: I couldn't tell how whoever had been refreshing/replacing the markers was deciding which to work on. A good quantity had been replaced at one point or another at varying times, judging by the wear and quality of the replacements. Still, many others are completely illegible or have fallen. Perhaps this is a sign that the cemetery had not been worked on in a few years, though it seemed clear to me that the repairs that had been done had been done by multiple people with some variance in the quality of finish. The replacement markers were placed into the ground using an angle iron length on both sides and then they were sunk far enough into the ground to conceal the angle iron. This method seemed to be as effective as the rebar I had seen used in the other cemeteries and maybe slightly less harmful over time to the markers; however, due to the height of many of the markers and the moisture in the soil, the markers seemed prone to leaning over time. In general, in Skagway and Dawson, given the environment these markers exist within and the primary construction material being wood, these markers require additional support beyond being sunk into the earth, where their bases tend to rot away quite quickly.

Anyway, after finishing at the Y.O.O.P. cemetery, I hiked to the Typhoid Cemetery, about a 15-minute walk away. By this time, the sun was high, and it was sweltering, so I was grateful knowing that I would be in the shelter of the woods for a while.

Honestly, there wasn't much for me to do at the Typhoid Cemetery. The way that the cemetery is now, it's difficult to see much of anything, let alone the supposed boundaries of the site or potential remnants of markers. Hence, mapping is currently entirely out of the question, so I had to resign myself to simple observation and survey. The burials in the Typhoid Cemetery dot their way up a relatively steep hillside. I began at the bottom, running side to side to where I thought the boundaries were, stopping and reversing when I either a) began running into metal objects or b) reached what I suspected to be a sterile area, that is, an area free of burials. I kept working this way, slowly going up the hillside, not wanting to miss anyone. By the time I completed my work, I had documented 23 suspected burial sites that still appeared to have some form of commemoration remaining (though two were just wooden stakes). Sadly, approximately 3/4 of those are unidentifiable, but, once again, this is the value of collecting as many photographs of these sites as possible over time.

An example of one of the graves in the 3rd Avenue Typhoid Cemetery.

I began to notice today that I tend to talk to the dead as I do my work. It's just little things like remarking to them about the state of their graves or apologizing for being in their space or for disrupting them as I tromp all over and hold back foliage like a multi-limbed beast trying to get a good photograph. I'm sure if anyone happened upon me, they would have some serious concerns.

Despite how much this cemetery, in particular, frustrates me, at the end of it all, I felt at peace and pleased with the work I had done today. At 4:30, Earl rolled on by and picked me up like some wild cemetery hitchhiker, and we went back to camp for the evening. So here I am, happily fed and taking advantage of the seemingly neverending light and my freshly charged laptop to write this blog post for all of you while also putting together a poster for the museum to advertise my little community meeting. It's been a darn good day, and I'll see you tomorrow!

-Nikki