Models of Historical and Other Structures.

Structures in Bonanza Flats and Bear Creek.

Photos by Brian Pate, unless otherwise noted.

The model of dredge construction on Bonanza Flats was completed in October of 2006. The general layout of the site followed this 1939 photo by the late Philip Eccles, as well as other photos taken by him. Philip worked on painting dredges during their construction, and he is commemorated in one of the figures painting the barge planking. The internal structure of the dredge was copied from interior photos taken of several dredges, in particular #9 in 1990. The traveling crane was discovered in the storage yard at Bear Creek also in 1990 and photographed and measured there. The model of it incorporates commercial bridge girder elements.

The YCGC Shops building at Bear Creek. The scaled space available for the model was a small fraction of that occupied by the prototype building, so a representation of the front of the prototype was chosen, retaining its style and construction materials. The model was built in March of 2006. The vehicles are from Jordan kits.

YCGC Stores building at Bear Creek. The model is a composite of several of the warehouse buildings on the Bear Creek site, several of which featured crane rails running through the building. The model was built in April 2006 and is selectively compressed to fit the site.

Joe Boyle's house at Bear Creek was known in later years as the VIP residence. Boyle was the owner of the Canadian Klondyke Mining Company (a predecessor of the YCGC) from 1907 to 1916. The model was built full size (except for some front-to-back compression) in September 2006 from photos provided by Bob Mitchell. The screens on the porch out front, which evidently had disappeared over the years, were put back on the model, using fine mesh material from a glare screen for a video display.

The Gold Room at the YCGC compound at Bear Creek. This is where the placer gold recovered by the dredges was processed. It was manually picked over to remove buckshot and other heavy debris accumulated by the dredges. The gold was then cast into bricks for shipment. The model was built in May 2006 from photos and plans from R. Mitchell and Parks Canada, with selective compression front-to-back to fit the available site. It was built without the security bars and notices added later by Parks. The function of the chevron-shaped decoration out front is unknown.