Re-Creating the Yukon Ditch Near Dawson City, Yukon

摘要

The "Yukon Ditch" is an extraordinary example of the water supply technology that advanced the post gold rush era of mining in the Klondike region of the Yukon. Water was an essential element for the extraction of gold from the gold bearing soils of the valleys in the Klondike area. This need for water did not change from the use of gold pans and rocker boxes to the industrial era of gold dredges. In fact, the need for water increased dramatically with the industrial age of placer mining in the Yukon, along with the need for power to energize the industrial age machinery.Valley slopes contained as much gold as the river bottoms, and the mining of these elevated benches was accomplished by washing the material using "hydraulic" mining, with nozzles delivering water in excess of 1030 kPa (150 psi). The pressure and volume of water to accomplish hydraulic mining was delivered to the Klondike River valley through a series of flumes, ditches and pipes, which transported water 110 kilometres from the mountain range to the north of Dawson City. This project became affectionately known as the Yukon Ditch.The design, supply and construction technology applied to creation of the ditch used experience gained from the California gold rush 35 years before, with innovations associated with the extreme climate and geography. Very little remains of the Yukon Ditch today, but with the help century old photos, century old reports and design manuals, and topographic mapping, it has been possible to re-create the ditch and gain a new sense of the scale of this extraordinary project.