Carmacks is a village in

Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

, Canada, on the

Yukon River The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...

along the

Klondike Highway The Klondike Highway is a highway that runs from the Alaska Panhandle through the province of British Columbia and the territory of Yukon in Canada, linking the coastal town of Skagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon. Its route somewhat pa ...

, and at the west end of the

Robert Campbell Highway Yukon Highway 4, also known as the Robert Campbell Highway or Campbell Highway, is a road between Watson Lake, Yukon on the Alaska Highway to Carmacks, Yukon on the Klondike Highway. It is long and mostly gravel-surfaced. It serves the communi ...

from Watson Lake. The population is 493 (Canada Census, 2016). It is the home of the

Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation The Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation is a First Nation in the central Yukon Territory in Canada. Its original population centre was Little Salmon, Yukon, but most of its citizens live in Carmacks, Yukon. The language originally spoken by the Lit ...

, a

Northern Tutchone The Northern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the central Yukon in Canada. Language and culture The Northern Tutchone language, originally spoken by the Northern Tutchone p ...

-speaking people.

History

The name of the community comes from George Washington Carmack who found coal near Tantalus Butte (locally called Coal Mine Hill) in the early 1890s. He built a trading post near the present site of Carmacks and traded with locals before opening a

coal mine Coal mining is the process of extracting coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from ...

in the south bank of the

. The focus of his entrepreneurial energy switched a few years later when he or his wife,

Kate Carmack Shaaw Tláa, also known as Kate Carmack ( – 29 March 1920), was a Tagish First Nation woman who was one of the party that first found gold in the Klondike River in 1896, and is sometimes credited with being the person who made the actual ...

, discovered gold with her brother,

Keish Keish ( – July 11, 1916), also known as James Mason and by the nickname Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born near Bennett Lake on what is now the British Col ...

(Skookum Jim), and

Dawson Charlie Dawson Charlie or K̲áa Goox̱ ʰáː kuːχ( – 26 December 1908) was a Canadians, Canadian Tagish/Tlingit First Nations in Canada, First Nation person and one of the co-discoverers of gold at Discovery Claim that led to the Klondike Gold R ...

(Tagish Charlie) at what was to become the

Discovery Claim Discovery Claim is a mining claim at Bonanza Creek, a watercourse in the Yukon, Canada. It is the site where, in the afternoon of August 16, 1896, the first piece of gold was found in the Yukon by prospectors. The site is considered to be th ...

, near

Dawson City Dawson City, officially the City of Dawson, is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest town in Yuko ...

, which started the Klondike Gold Rush. Carmacks incorporated as a village on November 1, 1984.

Geography

The community consists of the Village of Carmacks and the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation. Carmacks Landing Settlement is within the Village of Carmacks. Carmacks is situated at the confluence of the Nordenskiold and Yukon rivers, approximately north of Whitehorse and south of

on the North Klondike Highway. It is the site of one of the four bridges over the Yukon River. The Campbell Highway also intersects the community and carries on to Faro, Ross River and Watson Lake, providing a gateway to the

Canol Road The Canol Road was part of the Canol Project and was built to construct a pipeline from Norman Wells, Northwest Territories, to Whitehorse, Yukon, during World War II. The pipeline no longer exists, but the long Yukon portion of the road ...

and some of Yukon's most spectacular scenery.

Climate

Carmacks has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, ge ...

( Dfc) with short but mild summers and long, severely cold winters.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; french: Statistique Canada), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and cultur ...

, the Village of Carmacks had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. As a

designated place A designated place (DPL) is a type of community or settlement identified by Statistics Canada that does not meet the criteria used to define municipalities or population centres. DPLs are delineated every 5 years for the Canadian census as the sta ...

in the 2021 census, Carmacks Landing Settlement had a population of 206 living in 86 of its 95 total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of 168. With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. Carmacks has a 91.4%

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

population the majority of which belong to the Little Salmon Carmacks First Nations. The local language of the LSCFN community is Northern Tuchone, which is carried on both by the elders and taught to all students at the local Tantalus Elementary/high School.

Economy

The area around Carmacks has abundant mineral resources, including coal, copper, and gold. Various mining activities are taking place on mineral sites around Carmacks. There is a small zinc-copper mine in production near Carmacks operated by Western Silver and a gold property northwest of Carmacks currently in the exploration stage operated by Northern Freegold Resources based out of

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

Attractions

The Carmacks Recreation Centre is at the east end of River Drive between the nursing station and visitor centre, and is a community focal point for youth. There is a youth drop in daily with a computer access, video games, table games and other activities, often funded by Yukon grant programs. The gymnasium is host to adult floor hockey and other sports. The Recreation Centre also holds a three lane curling rink, fully loaded fitness gym and a full kitchen for all occasions. Carmacks also has an indoor swimming pool that is open to the community from June to September.

Infrastructure

Carmacks is served by

by cars and

Carmacks Airport Carmacks Airport is located from the community of Carmacks, Yukon Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least pop ...

by air.

Sports

Every February, Carmacks hosts a checkpoint for both the long-distance

Yukon Quest The Yukon Quest, formally the Yukon Quest 1,000-mile International Sled Dog Race is a sled dog race scheduled every February since 1984 between Fairbanks, Alaska, and Whitehorse, Yukon. Because of the harsh winter conditions, difficult trail, and ...

sled dog race and the Yukon Arctic Ultra foot/ski/bike race.

References

External links

* {{Subdivisions of Yukon Northern Tutchone Villages in Yukon Yukon River