Montague Roadhouse

Montague Roadhouse

The Montague Roadhouse is a historic site dating back to the Klondike Gold Rush located on the North Klondike Highway near the community of Carmacks and Dawson City in the Yukon.

The Montague Roadhouse was one of many staging posts located on the Overland Trail. Roadhouses were spaced apart by 20 to 30 kilometres along the route. Each roadhouse varied in services, hospitality and quality but most still provided stables, storage, meals and accommodations.

In 1902 the government asked the White Pass & Yukon Route Railway to build a wagon road connecting Whitehorse with Dawson City. When completed the Overland Trail measured 330 kilometres. It would take a carriage 5 days to complete the route. Carriages traveled the route regularly delivering mail and goods.

The original Montague Roadhouse was constructed in 1900 on the opposite side of the Klondike Highway from where it stands now. But, it burnt down from a fire. Soon later another roadhouse was constructed. But it too burnt down in 1909.

Then in 1915, another attempt to build the roadhouse was made. This one did not burn down. It operated until the 1950s servicing travelers on the Overland Trail.

The main floor of the Montague Roadhouse was a restaurant and the second floor housed the bedrooms. The entire roadhouse was heated by two wood stoves. The inside walls of the roadhouse were lined with cheesecloth. A method used to lighten the color of the room, keep heat in and to keep the chinking from making a mess on the floor.

The roadhouse still stands, although time has taken its toll. There are a few other outbuildings on the site. All are log cabin style buildings. A path leads you around the roadhouse. There are some interpretive signs along the way to explain the history.

Montague Roadhouse in the Yukon Territories, Klondike Region, Canada