Just South of 60 - Swift River
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Just South of 60 is a series of caches placed along the multiple boarders into the Yukon from BC. I think there are 8 times that BC meets the Yukon and a number of these are all within short driving distances as the highway snakes back and forth over the boarder.
Very sadly many of the roadhouses that made the Alaska Highway so famous and helped visitors feel so welcomed are all but a memory. Each year more of these close so that now there is only a handful along the route. Please do your best to support these small places along the way. Just South of 60 at Swift River is an example of a place that just couldn't survive. There is a shack opposite the old Swift River Lodge - I wonder if it has a bit of an interesting history. I wanted to place the cache in here but it was Just North of 60. Surely this cache must be the northern most in BC.
Story from a Whitehorse Newpaper published in 2009 when Swift River Lodge closed it's doors.
After more than 16 years serving Alaska Highway travellers around the clock, Swift River Lodge is boarding up its windows and padlocking the door.
“We’re broke; we’re done; we’re out of time and out of money,” said lodge co-owner Sharon Johnson on Monday.
“There is no chance of us ever complying with the government so we have no choice but to close our doors.”
More than four years ago, the Health Department shut down Swift River’s motel rooms and restaurant.
The lodge needed a new septic system and was barred from offering food or lodging until it’s old tanks were replaced and moved away from its well.
But the Johnsons only owned .5 hectares of land - not enough to accommodate the new system unless they tore down the lodge.
A land application, to allow part of the septic system to be installed on Crown land, was denied.
“The government just imposed restrictions that were impossible for us to comply with,” said Johnson. “Plus they’ve taken away the revenue from our hotel and restaurant for almost five years, so how do you start saving money for improvements when you’re losing money everyday?
“If we had known the land application would be denied; if we’d known we couldn’t get financing; we’d have closed our doors probably that first year they closed us down.
“But we’ve gone backwards for five years trying to find some way to stay here and we should never have done that because we’ve exhausted any funds we had available to us - we just went too long.”
Johnson moved north from Edmonton, and her brother came from Saskatoon, to open the lodge in 1993.
“We wanted to get out of the city and living in the North was the lifestyle we really wanted,” she said. “And we loved it - it was a very successful business, until the Health Department decided we no longer complied.”
The Johnsons were about to pay off a 15-year mortgage, and had funding lined up to rebuild, when Health issued the shutdown order.
“If we’d had one or two more years, before the problems with the Health Department, we’d have been OK, and we’d not be having this conversation at all,” said Johnson.
“But now, there’s nothing to sell, no value here at all - we lost everything.”
The only way to save the business would be to level the buildings, put in a new septic system, and then rebuild - a project that would cost several million dollars, she said.
“But can we convince someone to invest $2 million in a little spot in the middle of nowhere under current times - I don’t think so,” said Johnson.
“We’re just going to board it up and walk away.
“We’ve gotten to know so many good friends here on the highway: people who just bend over backwards to show how much they appreciate what you can do for them, people who broke down, people with tire problems, health problems - we’ve seen it all on this highway.
“People show so much gratitude just for the fact that you’re here that it makes you feel like you’re doing something right.”
Johnson’s older brother is moving to Saskatoon, but hopes to spend time up North in the summers.
“This is our home,” said Johnson. “We didn’t just lose a job, we lost an investment, we lost our business and we lost our home, too.”
Johnson’s brother is retired. “And he should have the return on his investment for his retirement,” she said. “But, unfortunately, he’s lost that, as well.”
Johnson is moving to Faro to live with her daughter.
“I can’t afford to move to Whitehorse, or anywhere else,” she said.
“Faro is my only option in terms of a place to live - hopefully I can find some work to cover my costs of sharing that home with my daughter.”
Johnson always planned to retire in the Yukon, near her three children.
“I thought that if my children were not interested in taking over the business, at least I’d have something to sell and then I’d be able to afford to retire and spend time here doing all those things we’ve never had time to do before, like camping, fishing, relaxing and just enjoying the beautiful country that’s up here,” she said.
But those dreams are shattered.
“I’ll probably be working until I absolutely can’t work any longer,” said Johnson.
“It’s really hard because I’m 57 years old and I’m starting from scratch with nothing.”
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
pyrne cynfgvp pbagnvare jvgu n oyhr yvq uvqqra haqre gur ohfurf/gerrf