We drove about 12kms out of town and had a tour over No. 4 Dredge which was in operation until 1959. It had been covered by mud and debris in 1959 when the dam higher up the river broke and flooded the lower reaches. The dredge is the biggest wooden hull, bucket-line gold dredge in North America. It rests on Claim No. 17 on Bonanza Creek. It is being restored and maintained by Parks Canada. The wood is Douglas Fir and is very, very expensive to buy and hard to procure.
The rest of the day was spent looking through the information bureau and shops for books and generally wandering around. Everyone is so friendly in this small town and obviously our arrival was well publicised before we came. One chap who came up and spoke to us had driven over 100 kms to come to town to get a haircut and hopefully see some of the military vehicles. A pretty expensive haircut!!
The only access to the Top of the Road Highway that we were going to be driving on was to cross the river by ferry boat so at about 4.00pm we queued for about an hour until it was our time to board the ferry. We camped at a National campground right on the edge of the river set in amongst the bushes. It was bear country so "bear precautions" had to be observed.
On the river's edge about a 1/4 mile up from our campsite there were about 5 wrecked
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