One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish…Your Fish?

It's a special year for us here at Yukon Energy. We're celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Whitehorse Rapids Fishladder.

The ladder was completed in June 1959 as a way of helping the migrating Chinook salmon get around the newly built Whitehorse dam. As the old saying goes, "You've come a long way baby!" The fishladder has grown over the years into one of the most popular visitor attractions in Yukon.

Since the fishladder holds a special place in a lot of people's hearts, we decided to do something special to mark its 50th birthday. We've hired local artist/snow carver Donald Watt to coordinate a public art piece for the ladder.

Donald's concept involves creating a school of salmon, each one-of-a-kind fish having been painted by members of the public. If you're interested in taking part in this project, all you need to do is call Donald at 332-3669 and arrange to pick up a life-sized wooden cut-out of a salmon. You can paint the salmon any way you wish, as long as you use weatherproof paints. You then return the salmon to Donald by mid-June. He'll assemble the fish at a location within the fishladder compound and the art piece will be unveiled in late July or early August.

There are some other ways we're marking the fishway's 50th birthday too. We've had a podcast produced that outlines the history and significance of the fishladder. It can be heard by scrolling to the bottom of this web page. We're also planning a public celebration in August. Watch this blog for details.

If you have any stories or memories about your own visits to the fishladder, we'd love to hear them! If we publish your story on this blog we'll send you a beautiful salmon art poster, based on the carving "Salmon's Journey" by Yukon artist Eugene Alfred. The poster can be viewed here.

The carving itself is on display at the fishladder, which re-opens for the season on June 1.