Properties

Klondike Visitors Association (KVA) is a not-for-profit tourism sector organization, based in Dawson City, Yukon, representing local and regional members and industry stakeholders.  KVA’s mandate includes destination marketing, operation of attractions, and presentation of special events that increase visitation and add to the quality of life in our community.  KVA’s owned and operated attractions include:  Diamond Tooth Gerties Gambling Hall, Jack London Museum, and the Free Claim # 6 on Bonanza Creek.

Diamond Tooth Gerties

Opened in 1971, Diamond Tooth Gerties is run by the Klondike Visitors Association, reinvesting money in our community through grant programs, fundraising opportunities, sponsorship, contracts, wages, and marketing Dawson City as a tourist destination. Gerties prides itself on being Canada’s first and friendliest gambling hall!

Gerties offers a variety of tables from blackjack to roulette, boasts 64 slot machines, and hosts various poker games and tournaments! With a bar fully equipped with quality beers and finely crafted cocktails, The High Roller Canteen, and nightly exhilarating cancan shows throughout the summer season, Gerties provides a one-of-a-kind experience for everyone!

The building that is home to Diamond Tooth Gerties was originally built in 1901 by the Arctic Brotherhood a popular fraternal organization at the time.  Over the years the hall hosted many community events including balls, dinners, and even activities like indoor baseball!  Ownership changed hands many times, but it always functioned as a community gathering place.  Now a Municipal Heritage Site, the building remains true to its original function of being a place where people gather and have a good time.

For more information about Gerties, please visit www.DiamondToothGerties.ca

Free Claim No. 6

Claim #6 was first staked by F. Ladouceur October 3rd, 1896, not long after George Carmack, Kate Carmack, Skookum Jim, and Dawson Charlie made the famous discovery about a half-mile downstream. After a small amount of hand mining, part of the claim was dredged by the Yukon Gold Co. Dredge No. 8. The main business section of the abandoned town of Grand Forks was on this Claim and is possible that some of the pay gravels were never found in and around the hills.

Today, the Klondike Visitors Association now owns the claim, and visitors are welcome to pan for free and can keep any gold that they find.

During the summer, under the midnight sun, you pan for gold anytime! Visitors can borrow pans from the Visitor Information Center to take to with them and try their hand at an authentic mining experience.

Travel approximately 18 km (12 miles) down Bonanza Creek Road, into the Gold Field (about a fifteen-minute drive outside of Dawson City). Free Claim No. 6 is about half a mile upstream from the famous discovery claim that kick-started the Klondike Gold Rush.

Jack London Museum

The Jack London Museum is dedicated entirely to the life and writing of author Jack London. It features historical archives and photos of London and the local First Nation historian guides who located his cabin in the bush. The Museum now houses a replica made of half the logs from the original cabin and is furnished with gold rush timepieces that showcase life for a stampeder at the time.

For more information, please visit www.jacklondonmuseum.ca

Straights Auction House/Guns & Ammo

This “boomtown” structure is known as Strait’s Auction House or locally as the Guns and Ammo Building because of the ‘Guns and Ammunition’ sign that adorned the east side of the façade for years. The building is a simple wood frame construction with false-front façade that was typical of many of the turn-of-the-century commercial buildings in Dawson City. Now owned by the Klondike Visitors Association, the Strait’s Auction House is still known as one of the most photographed buildings in Dawson City.