Alexander Armstrong in the Land of the Midnight Sun

Episode 3 (1x3)

Air date: Oct 28, 2015

In episode three, Alexander begins the final leg of his journey by flying over the Canadian arctic over the Yukon and Klondike regions, which experienced a gold rush at the beginning of the 20th century. At Canada’s Great Slave Lake, he boards a 1956 Bombardier with tank tracks and skis, which transports him to the settlement close to the north shore of the lake. Alexander meets Daniel Gillis and Monique Robert who came to the lake five years ago from Ottowa, to run a floating B&B. In addition to running the B&B, Monique has a successful side line as a painter. Monique explains: “Work is very good here. Jobs are more plentiful than down south. So people have more income to spend on painting and the arts in general. There are people from all over the world here. They want to experience the north in as frontier a situation as possible, so they’re off grid mostly except for the cords running to their shacks.” After being taught how to ice-skate by Daniel, Alexander heads off to Dawson City, at the heart of the region. Checking into the infamous Bombay Peggy hotel, a former house of ill repute, he is given the key to the ‘Lipstick Room’. Alexander says: “Dawson is a bit of a revelation. It is, in every detail, exactly what I was expecting a gold rush town to look like. If you listen hard, you can almost hear the ghostly piano playing downstairs and maybe a few chairs being broken over people’s heads. I think I’m going to have a fantastic time here.” With the price of gold topping $1000 an ounce since 2008, the city is experiencing a second wave of gold fever and Alexander meets Denys Sevigny, who has been prospecting in the hills for 12 years. Alexander is surprised at the high value of the gold when Denys shows him a small amount in the palm of his hand. Denys says: “Well this here, I would say is probably close to a quarter ounce, maybe ten grams. So close to $600 bucks.” Alexander then climbs into the deep s