Clinton Creek (

Hän The Hän, Han or Hwëch'in / Han Hwech’in (meaning "People of the River, i.e. Yukon River", in English also Hankutchin) are a First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the United States; they are part of the At ...

: ''Dätl'äkayy juu'') is a

ghost town Ghost Town(s) or Ghosttown may refer to: * Ghost town, a town that has been abandoned Film and television * ''Ghost Town'' (1936 film), an American Western film by Harry L. Fraser * ''Ghost Town'' (1956 film), an American Western film by All ...

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 ...

. It was a small company-owned asbestos mining town in western

near the confluence of the

and Fortymile rivers. It operated by the Cassiar Asbestos Corporation, which also operated the asbestos mine in

Cassiar, British Columbia Cassiar is a ghost town in British Columbia, Canada. It was a small Company town, company-owned asbestos mining town located in the Cassiar Mountains of Northern British Columbia north of Dease Lake. History The discovery of asbestos in the are ...

, from 1967 to 1978, when it was closed and all the buildings were auctioned off.

History

Clinton Creek had a population of 500, a main building housing the post office, grocery store, cafeteria (used mainly for mine workers), and the remaining rooms served for community social gatherings like a projector set up for weekly reel movies, and a snack bar. Road access was available via a road that joined with Yukon Highway 3, known since 1978 as Yukon territorial highway 9, the Top of the World Highway. Mining product was transported across the

Yukon River The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercourse ...

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 ...

by ferry in summer,

ice road An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Inte ...

in winter, and by a tram system in the spring and fall. At the time, at least some

residents demanded that a bridge be built. The community was fairly well served, with dial telephone service, and it was one of the only six communities in Yukon with television service before 1973. Upon the closing of the townsite, many residents dispersed to other mining towns like

, and

Faro, Yukon Faro is a town in the central Yukon, Canada, the home of the now abandoned Faro Mine. It was the largest open-pit lead– zinc mine in the world as well as a significant producer of silver and other natural resources. The mine was built by the ...

. Although the townsite is now abandoned, the road is passable to allow access to the historic ghost town of Fortymile, which was itself abandoned around 1898 when

boomed. Fortymile was the location of a mining office where the Klondike gold strike claim was registered by George Carmack and his two relatives, Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim Mason.

References

Clinton Creek Photography 2012Unremediated Yukon asbestos mine poses health hazards, flood risk 42 years after closing
Ghost towns in Yukon {{Canada-ghost-town-stub