DAWSON CITY – While the Yukon government continues with its formal attempt to create an ice bridge north of the ferry landing, local folks have tried a different method – and seem to have succeeded.

About seven blocks south of the ferry landing, over the dike from the Tribute to the Miner statue, the open water in the Yukon River narrows considerably from the location where the government’s contractor, Cobalt Construction, has been making its attempt.

Working from the west side of the river, Kyler Mather, Guy Couture, Scott Fraser and Duncan Smith cut a large slab of ice from the river bank with chainsaws.

They then used a combination of rope and an iron bar to manoeuvre it into a position where it would wedge fast and stick against the current.

From the east bank, it looked like nothing so much as a large sheet of plywood, quite smooth and acting like a bridge. It’s spanning a gap of about 13 metres (45 feet), in Mather’s estimation.

The men could be seen walking back and forth on it as they secured the location and detached the rope they had used while angling the slab.

Mather said he would feel quite comfortable taking a snowmobile across the new bridge, but advises that anyone doing so should be careful.

As it’s shore ice, the slab is thinner at one end than the other. While it should thicken as the small amount of slush in the river adheres to it, that will probably take a while.

This new crossing is not connected to either of the existing informal crossing areas.

Mather said the snow on the river is too thick in that area for anyone to attempt to drive it except by snow machine.

His preferred crossing is on the snowmobile and walking trail that leads north from the ferry landing, crosses the river, and then comes back south to the town side ferry landing.

He has also driven the route from Sunnydale to the south. It eventually leads a driver to the lower dike trail and exits onto Front Street across from the Gold Village Chinese Restaurant.

He said he sees regular-sized pickups and four-wheel-drive vehicles on the route all the time.

Mather was one of the people who created a similar crossing last winter, using a smaller version of the cable and tree boom method that the government is trying this year.

This year’s homemade bridge uses a different method and was basically attempted just to see if it would work.

It was somewhat ironic that the four men were working on their DYI (do it yourself) project while Premier Sandy Silver was addressing that very subject, among others, at his Saturday afternoon constituency meeting at the KIAC Building.

“We didn’t plan it that way,” Mather said. “It’s a coincidence.”