Dawson City, Yukon

A crowd at Dawson City, Yukon Territory, gathers for hot air balloon launch ca. 1899. John Leonard made history in 1899 when he became the first person to fly a balloon over Dawson City. The thousands of gold miners that flocked to this area deep in the northern wilderness in the late 1890s welcomed any form of entertainment that was imported from the developed world. The Dawson Daily newspaper described the event, which occurred in September:

"Dawson is strictly up to date on attractions of all kinds, even to ballooning, as was evidenced by two ascensions made by Professore Leonard, most recently - the last on Labour day. The river front was lined with 10,000 to see the daring young man."

Scene in Alaska Commercial Co.'s store in Dawson, June 9, 1901

The Magnet Road House at Grand Forks, Yukon ca. 1898. Belinda Mulrooney built this establishment, the first road house on Bonanza Creek, about 10 miles southeast of Dawson City. Residents of Dawson were skeptical that the business would succeed so far from town, but as miners by the hundreds started working the placer mines in the Grand Forks area, The Magnet became a bustling source of food, rest, and entertainment for the weary men.