'We have a lot more to offer than the cowboy museum.'

Jim Robb, artist, historian, Order of Canada recipient.

Sitting across from Jim Robb, one of the Yukon's premier historians, it was interesting to hear stories of some of the oldtimers. Guys like Wig Wam Harry, Buzz Saw Jimmy, Johnny Johns, Jerusalem Joe, Black Mike ... are the kinds of people who made up the heart of this territory.

'I've been in the Yukon for over 51 years,' said Jim Robb, a colourful character in his own right, beginning to talk about his life in the Yukon, his work, and his dream.

'I've worked a few different jobs. I worked for Yukon Electric and different jobs when I first got here for the first two, three, four years.'

The rest of those 51 years, he's been an artist, photographer, writer and defacto keeper of the public record.

'I'm a history buff,' Robb said, explaining the reasons why his life has been dedicated to sifting through the lives of others; 'history is what makes me tick.'

And looking around at his work studio, filled with newspapers, photographs, keys, shovels, trinkets and a giant moose head, that's not hard to believe.

Now in his 70s, Robb, who still works from his downtown home, has one wish for the colourful five per cent remember them and preserve the memory of what they did here.

And there's one place that we need to preserve in order to preserve their memory. It's the area that saw the shadow of all early Yukoners who crossed mountains and battled rivers to follow their dreams the waterfront.

Once the Mecca of activity in the Yukon's capital with steamboats, shipyards, warehouses, and a railway the waterfront is an area that both interests and concerns Robb.

'I think it's extremely important,' Robb said of the city's and the government's efforts to beautify the banks of the Yukon River.

'It's very interesting what they're doing on the waterfront. I think it's great, but there doesn't seem to be much history on the waterfront.'

What Robb would like to see thrown into the discussions of new buildings are the preservation and reconstruction of the old ones cabins, warehouses and the rebuilding of Canyon City.

Canyon City, if you're not sure, was the settlement which marked the beginning of one of the most treacherous parts of the journey to Dawson City and the gold fields the Whitehorse rapids.

And while the foaming, mane-like streams of water shooting up among the rapidshence our city's name are gone, their importance to who we are and why we're here is not, says Robb.

'We need to rebuild Canyon City. We could have tourists go out there, sit in the buildings while they eat their lunch ... and they could take the river back to town.

'They'd love it. Just look at places like the Cowboy Museum in the States; it's often crowded; we have a lot more to offer than the Cowboy Museum.

'We've got Gold Rush history, transportation and steamboat history, the building of the Alaska Highway ... we have so much to offer that people would like to see.

'We should have a place to showcase all our colourful characthers, past and present.'

Enter Zoe Morrison, a planner with the City of Whitehorse.

Speaking from within the sun-coloured walls of her downtown office recently, Morrison, a P.E.I.-woman-turned-Yukoner, explained one of her current, less controversial, projects.

Pulling the plans from a file on her desk, Morrison, one of the city's youngest planners, pointed to a picture of three isolated buildings along the waterfront, the city's plans for them and what it means for the city.

'It's exciting,' she says of the restoration work slated for the Jenni House, the Hatch House and the Miller House, the three loan cabins that line the river's edge in Shipyards Park.

'We've been working to get the money and the plans done for quite a while.

'The whole project is about $400,000,' she says, explaining that she hopes to see some work begin this summer.

The project: to refurbish the three last remaining homes in one of the city's largest 'squatter' subdivisions.

The reason, according to the restoration plans, that the city's doing it:

'Two are sections of the Pioneer Hotel, likely the oldest extant buildings in Whitehorse, and the third is one of the few remaining structures remaining from the construction of the Alaska Highway.

'These are the only remaining buildings from Moccasin Flats (Shipyards Park), the squatters settlement which was for many years a fixture of Whitehorse life ... (and) they present the city with an opportunity to preserve and augment the knowledge of its architectural and social history.'

Like Robb says, it's important. Of course, Robb has other reasons for looking favourably upon the project; motives involving nostalgia on his behalf.

'I made a lot of drawings inside and outside those houses,' he says.

'Through the years I did some of my best work in there.'

Perhaps that, and the fact that Robb actually knew some of the people living in those houses, which at the time, was a pretty high-profile spot.

And according to David Prodan, the Frostbite Music Society's general manager, it will be again.

Prodan and his fellow appreciators of music, as you may or may not be aware, have been busy working away on another historic building, which when restored, will sit among the other three showpieces of Whitehorse history along the waterfront.

'We were hoping to have the house in by the end of June, but the timelines are a bit delayed right now,' he said, referring to the society's soon-to-be home the historic Chambers house. (See photos, p. 7.)

The two-storey Chambers house was originally built in 1925 for Harry Chambers on the north side of Alexander Street, where the Sears store now sits.

In 1975, it was moved to the corner of Black Street and Second Avenue, where it remained until 1995, when it was moved to the city compound for storage.

'We're pretty excited about it it's a high profile spot,' Prodan said.

'Our goal is to move into the house in a year or two,' he said.

Once the house has been moved and renovated, Frostbite will move into its permanent home.

'It's been a dream of Frostbite to have a permanent home and not move from office to office,' Prodan said.

And while these projects along the city's waterfront are only the beginning, it seems almost poetic that the City of Whitehorse is beginning to turn its attention back to where it all it began; with rafts and miners, then boats, then steamships, then trains the river.

Oh, and the cowboy museum: it's in Oklahoma and is actually called the National Cowboy Hall of Fame and Western Heritage Museum.