Dawson City Sissies
by Ed Ogle

A few summers back, I was in Dawson City, the old site of Canada's greatest gold rush. I bumped into a man who had been there when Dawson had 40,000 people and was the liveliest town in North America.

Now only about 750 people made Dawson their home all year round, but the place still attracts loads of tourists every summer. Quite a summer show is staged as can-can girls dance their famed high kicking steps and open gaming is allowed at Diamond Gerties.

Well the man I met that night was one of the few survivors of that boom. He had made his money by supplying coal to the shacks of gold miners. Black Mike agreed to go to Diamond Gerties with me. I was hoping to get him high enough on overproof rum to tell me some old stories about the place. He knew them all.

At Gerties, the gambler needs to buy tickets for the game tables, the can-can show and anything else he wants. I told Mike to sit down and watch the girls kick up their legs. He settled down to watch but before I could get my tickets he came shuffling over.

I said, "What's the matter, Mike, girls no good"?

Mike said, "Damn sissies".

I said, "What do you mean, sissies"?

Mike said, "That's all, sissies", and he looked at me, "wearing panties they are".

Makes you wonder about the old days, doesn't it!

Background Information

Talk about Canada's gold rush. You might have to get some information from somewhere else. Talk about how we sometimes make the "old days" seem very innocent, pure and boring.

Questions

1. Where was the site of Canada's greatest gold rush?

2. How many people live in Dawson now?

3. What is a can-can girl?

4. What's another way to say open gaming?

5. What does the word boom mean in the story?

6. How did the man Ed met make his money?

7. Why do you think Ed wanted to hear old stories about Dawson?

8. Why did Ed have to get the man drunk to tell the stories?

9. What do you have to buy tickets at Gerties for?

10. Do you think that the past was boring? Why or why not?