Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (July 28/99) - A house on Latham Island has its own bank, Raven Tours tour guide Shirley Saint revealed. No cash is changing hands though, only history.

An old Bank of Toronto Building, a tiny log structure which was located in Old Town but was saved and moved to Latham Island, is just one of many sights Saint points out as Raven Tours' Yellowknife city tour guide.

Raven Tours, owned by Bill Tait, is the company that created the aurora tour a decade ago.

Saint says the tour, one of several products offered by Raven Tours, is designed to "show Yellowknife as it is: no more, no less."

In winter, about 95 per cent of those taking the tour are from Japan. The tour complements their trip to see the northern lights.

But, said Raven Tours president Tait, "Shirley has put together a wonderful package" of information on the city that he believes would be of interest to North American tourists, locals and any other visitors.

"There are Yellowknife people who take the tour. Many are people who have lived here and returned."

Often, these "tourists" reminisce about Yellowknife's past and, in so doing, they become a source of information about the history of the city, Saint said.

In summer, conference-goers are often looking to learn more about the city and the tour is popular with this group of visitors as well, Saint said.

"In summer, we have people from everywhere -- Norway, Australia and more."

Among the tour's highlights are stops at the Beck's dog mushing kennels in Kam Lake and at Pilot's Monument.

Saint packs the trip with info about the city. People taking the tour learn more than just the fact that the regional hospital carries the name of the city's first doctor. Dr. Oliver and Ruth Stanton, a nurse, were the first to give medical attention to residents of Yellowknife. When their three-bed hospital was full, the Stantons slept on the floor, Saint said.

If there's a question she cannot answer, she'll invite the person -- the van has room for about a dozen people at a time -- to write it down. Saint then finds the facts and either contacts the customer at their hotel or sends them a postcard with the sought-after information.

As well as driver-guiding, Saint will do "step-on guiding" aboard the bus. Bus tour companies often contact Raven Tours for a guide to give talks about Yellowknife. As the bus winds its way through the city, Saint indicates points of interest and fields questions from as many as 48 tourists.

"One of the things I try to do is give people a look at the sites they might like to come back to later, like the legislature building and the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre," Saint said.

"Yellowknife is a very interesting city. It's easy to be the medium between the city and the people on the tour."