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Yellowknife - New Town - Day 5

Date of visit:   June 25, 2007
Blog written:    July 25, 2007


My first destination in Yellowknife - "New Town" was Aurora College located right downtown on Franklin Avenue.
 
The purpose of my visit was to obtain a room in the student residence.
 
Staying in student residences at universities or colleges during the summer is a great way to get decent accommodations at rock bottom prices of $35 per night which is what Barbara recently paid at the University of Victoria. The residences usually have a moderately priced cafeteria and wireless Internet but at that price you may have to use a communal washroom.
 
With this in mind, I was somewhat disappointed to learn that Aurora College did not rent out rooms to visitors during the summer.
 
I checked the prices at a large, average downtown hotel and was quickly persuaded by the price of $120 per night with no wireless Internet to seek an alternative.
 
Fortunately Fred Henne Territorial Park with a campground, just on the outskirts of Yellowknife, provides such an alternative at $15 per night.
 
While most people would rule out camping as being too primitive, I have always embraced it as a means of getting the most out of my travel dollar.
 
Spending $15 per night, as opposed to $120, leaves room (excuse the pun) for a lot of other possibilities. How else could I afford the extensive traveling which I do?
 
However, Fred Henne Territorial Park does not have wireless internet! No problem, the main library located above the Center Square Mall on Franklin Avenue provides limitless wireless in beautiful surroundings.
 
While in Yellowknife I kept comparing this town of 40,000 with Prince George BC, where I live, which has a population of 80,000.
 
I was perplexed that a town half the size of Prince George would have such a pleasant, relatively modern downtown with an enviable collection of mid-rise office buildings.
 
How do I feel now upon writing my previous blog and discovering that I had gotten my numbers mixed up? The 40,000 is the population of the entire North-West Territories and Yellowknife only has a population of less than 20,000!
 
That is why I have to say, for a population of 20,000 this is an impressive city.
 
Just as an aside, the most impressive discovery I made this year in the category of cities was Santa Clara, California, population 104,000.
 
Shopping in downtown Yellowknife (not that I did any) is a pleasure because of the abundance of businesses along the main streets and because of the Center Square Mall which, despite its modest entrance, has an impressive selection of stores.
 
The mall is part of an office complex where on the third floor the public library is located. As I mentioned, it is a great place to sit and relax, surf the Internet and catch up on blogging because it has wireless with no time limit and no fees.
 
The side entrance of the mall leading to 48th Street is noteworthy for several reasons.
After my second visit I put two and two together and concluded that the loud operatic music that is played non-stop over loud speakers outside the entrance was designed to keep the street people from gathering here. I later confirmed that conclusion in a conversation with a librarian.
 
It seemed to work due to the abscence of street people but on both visits I noticed that it did not discourage a lone protestor who picketed on the sidewalk just outside the entrance.

 
As a blogger I could not resist striking up a conversation with this gentleman.
 
His battle was with the Worker's Compensation Board over a back injury which he had suffered years ago while working in the diamond mines. According to him he was not capable of working while the Board of course held the opposite view.
 
This was a man who was not going to take "no" for an answer. If he and his family were to go down, the whole world was going to know about it.
 
His story was written, albeit in enigmatic language, on large cardboard box panels for all to read.
 
He seemed to have a particular axe to grind with the new director of the Yellowknife Worker's Compensation Board office who would not listen to his story and who after all was an "easterner from Ottawa".
 
Back injuries often present a problem of optics. By that I mean that the man seemed strong and ready to take on the world, so why couldn't he work? The plausible answer may be the obviou: appearances are deceiving.
 
Franklin Avenue is also the location of the head office of Diavik Diamond Mines Inc. On the ground floor, in the Visitor's Center, they have a self-guided tour which satisfies most people's curiosity about this fascinating industry. 
 
One can only marvel at the importance which people attach to this mineral and the technology which is used to create an open pit mine in the middle of a lake.
 
The thought of diamonds brings to mind either South Africa or more recently Sierra Leon and the sordid business of the "blood diamonds". People tend to forget that we have a very active diamond industry right here in the Yellowknife area run by workers who are very well paid and free of controversy.
 
The downtown of Yellowknife still has not suffered what I call the "Prince George effect". By this I mean that the life has not been sucked out of downtown by suburban box stores.
 
The closest thing Yellowknife has to suburban box stores can be found, an 8 minute drive from downtown, on Old Airport Road between Franklin Avenue and Range Lake Road. There is a great deal of commercialization here but there are no heavy hitters like Costco or Home Depot. Canadian Tire would be the top selection here where all merchandise is trucked in from Edmonton, AB.
 
The most popular business on this strip is --- yes, Tim Hortons. Being the only one in town, the line ups are even worse than elsewhere.

 
While residential housing in Yellowknife can be described mostly as modest I did not see any "run down" areas.
 
There is a large selection of apartment buildings which would meet the shifting needs of the natural resource based industries and its workers.
 
The new construction in the Niven Lake area is anything but modest as my photos attest. These are beautiful homes built in a lovely setting, if you like rock that is!
 
The Precambrian Shield once again makes itself evident since these homes are built on exposed rock and any foundation work starts with a fair amount of blasting to get a flat spot upon which to construct a house. Due to the rocky terrain, most homes have no lawns or landscaping .



Given this rugged terrain and the cost of transporting construction materials a great distance, the result must be high construction costs.
 
In my conversation with a representative of Premium Homes Ltd. (867) 920-2678 which is one of four contractors in this area, the price of homes range from $500,000 to $800,000. Sales are brisk in a market that is obviously targeted at professionals and the higher echelon of the civil service and business. Nevertheless, I am astounded at the starting prices. I would have estimated it to be around $300,000.

During my stay in Yellowknife, while the weather was excellent, there was a constant haze over the city due to a forest or grass fire in Wood Buffalo National Park, Alberta located across Great Slave Lake. It became the obvious topic of conversation.

The tourist office has a well-prepared, detailed pamphlet entitled:

New Town - Heritage Walking Tour of Yellowknife.

Unfortunately, despite appearances, I am not much for detail so I did not take the time to do this walk. On the other hand, I did do another walk which I will blog.
 
Yet to come:

Yellowknife - Frame Lake
 
Yellowknife - The Legislative Assembly
 
Yellowknife - the Prince of Wales Museum
 
Yellowknife - Golf Course and Airport

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