The history of Yukon covers the period from the arrival of
Paleo-Indians through the
Beringia land bridge approximately 20,000 years ago. In the 18th century, Russian explorers began to trade with the
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 ...
people along the Alaskan coast, and later established trade networks extending into Yukon. By the 19th century, traders from the
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
were also active in the region. The region was administered as a part of the
North-Western Territory until 1870, when the United Kingdom transferred the territory to Canada and it became the
North-West Territories.
After gold was discovered in the
Klondike region in 1896, the area saw a
large influx of prospectors enter into the region in search of gold. Due to the large influx of prospectors into the region, the western portion of the North-West Territories was split from the rest of the territory in 1898 to form the Yukon Territory. Although the gold rush ended by the turn of the century, mining developments continued to take place in the territory during the early 20th century. During the Second World War, the
Alaska Highway was built through the territory in order to facilitate the transportation of supplies to
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
. In 1953, the capital of the territory was moved from
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 ...
to
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 ...
. From the late-20th century, a number of First Nations in Yukon have entered into
land claim negotiations with the government of Canada.
Early history
Disputed evidence of the oldest remains of human inhabitation in
North America have been found in the Yukon. A large number of apparently human-modified animal bones were discovered in the
Old Crow
Old Crow is a low-priced brand of Kentucky-made straight bourbon whiskey distilled by Beam Suntory, which also produces Jim Beam and several other brands of whiskey. The current Old Crow product uses the same mash bill and yeast as Jim Beam, but ...
area in the northern Yukon that have been dated to 25,000–40,000 years ago by
carbon dating.
The central and northern Yukon were not
glaciated
A glacier (; ) is a persistent body of dense ice that is constantly moving under its own weight. A glacier forms where the accumulation of snow exceeds its ablation over many years, often centuries. It acquires distinguishing features, such as ...
,
as they were part of
Beringia.
At about AD 800, a large
volcanic
A volcano is a rupture in the crust of a planetary-mass object, such as Earth, that allows hot lava, volcanic ash, and gases to escape from a magma chamber below the surface.
On Earth, volcanoes are most often found where tectonic plates a ...
eruption in
Mount Churchill near the
Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
border blanketed the southern Yukon with ash.
That layer of ash can still be seen 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 ...
. Yukon
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 ...
stories speak of all the animals and fish dying as a result. Similar stories are told among the
Athabaskan-speaking
Navajo and
Apache, leading to the conclusion by some anthropologists that the migration of Athabaskan peoples into what is now the
southwestern United States could have been due to the eruption. After that, the hunting technology saw the replacement of
atlatl
A spear-thrower, spear-throwing lever or ''atlatl'' (pronounced or ; Nahuatl ''ahtlatl'' ) is a tool that uses leverage to achieve greater velocity in dart or javelin-throwing, and includes a bearing surface which allows the user to store ene ...
s with
bows and arrows
The bow and arrow is a ranged weapon system consisting of an elastic launching device (bow) and long-shafted projectiles ( arrows). Humans used bows and arrows for hunting and aggression long before recorded history, and the practice was com ...
.
Extensive trading networks between the coastal
Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), s and the interior First Nations developed, where the coastal peoples would trade
eulachon
The eulacheon ( (''Thaleichthys pacificus''), also spelled oolichan , ooligan , hooligan ), also called the candlefish, is a small anadromous species of smelt that spawns in some of the major river systems along the Pacific coast of North Ame ...
oil and other coastal goods for native copper and furs found in the interior. The Yukon was part of the long disappeared
Beringia and hosted a wide variety of megafaunal species like
steppe wisents,
American lion
''Panthera atrox'', better known as the American lion, also called the North American lion, or American cave lion, is an extinct pantherine cat that lived in North America during the Pleistocene epoch and the early Holocene epoch, about 340,0 ...
s,
short-faced bear
The Tremarctinae or short-faced bears is a subfamily of Ursidae that contains one living representative, the spectacled bear (''Tremarctos ornatus'') of South America, and several extinct species from four genera: the Florida spectacled bear ('' ...
s,
woolly mammoth
The woolly mammoth (''Mammuthus primigenius'') is an extinct species of mammoth that lived during the Pleistocene until its extinction in the Holocene epoch. It was one of the last in a line of mammoth species, beginning with '' Mammuthus s ...
s,
giant beavers,
American mastodon
American(s) may refer to:
* American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America"
** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America
** American ancestry, p ...
s,
stag-moose
''Cervalces scotti'', the elk moose or stag-moose, is an extinct species of large deer that lived in North America during the Late Pleistocene epoch. It had palmate antlers that were more complex than those of a moose and a muzzle more closely re ...
,
ground sloths, ''
Camelops
''Camelops''Being occasionally called ''Western Camel'' or ''Yesterday's Camel''. is an extinct genus of camels that lived in North and Central America, ranging from Alaska to Guatemala, from the middle Pliocene to the end of the Pleistocene. It ...
'',
dire wolves,
caribou,
muskox
The muskox (''Ovibos moschatus'', in Latin "musky sheep-ox"), also spelled musk ox and musk-ox, plural muskoxen or musk oxen (in iu, ᐅᒥᖕᒪᒃ, umingmak; in Woods Cree: ), is a hoofed mammal of the family Bovidae. Native to the Arctic, ...
en,
saiga
The saiga antelope (, ''Saiga tatarica''), or saiga, is a critically endangered antelope which during antiquity inhabited a vast area of the Eurasian steppe spanning the foothills of the Carpathian Mountains in the northwest and Caucasus in t ...
,
American cheetah
The American cheetah is either of two feline species of the extinct genus ''Miracinonyx'', endemic to North America during the Pleistocene epoch (2.6 million to 12,000 years ago) and morphologically similar to the modern cheetah (''Acinony ...
s,
bison,
grizzly bears, ''
Equus scotti
''Equus scotti'' (translated from Latin as Scott's horse, (2003) ''Annotated Bibliography of Quaternary Vertebrates of Northern North America: With Radiocarbon Dates'', University of Toronto Press, 539 pages named after vertebrate paleontologis ...
'', ''
Equus lambei'',
gray wolves
The wolf (''Canis lupus''; : wolves), also known as the gray wolf or grey wolf, is a large canine native to Eurasia and North America. More than thirty subspecies of ''Canis lupus'' have been recognized, and gray wolves, as popularly un ...
, and
yaks.
First Nations
Estimates of the population of the Yukon Territory at the beginning of the 19th century vary greatly. Some historians estimated that about 8,000 people lived in the territory. While other estimates were between 7,000 to 8,000 people. One estimate put the number at more than 9,000 people.
[Kenneth Coates. Canada's colonies: a history of the Yukon and Northwest Territories. — James Lorimer & Company, 1985. — 362 p.] Another estimate showed that by the year 1830, the number of indigenous people was about 4,700.
The main part of the territory of the modern Yukon was occupied by various
Athabaskan tribes. In the north, in basins of
Peel River and
Porcupine River
The Porcupine River (''Ch’ôonjik'' in Gwich’in) is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States. It rises in the Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. From there it flows north through the community of ...
there lived
Kutchin or as they call themselves Gwitchin. About the middle of
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 ...
, on the border with Alaska, there lived the
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 ...
people.
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 ...
occupied most of the central part of the Yukon, in the basins of the Pelly River and the
Stewart River. The
Southern Tutchone
The Southern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the southern Yukon in Canada. The Southern Tutchone language, traditionally spoken by the Southern Tutchone people, is a variet ...
were located in the south-west part of the Yukon. In the south-east, in the basin of
Liard River, there lived the
Kaska
The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language, originally spoken by the Kaska, is an Athabas ...
Natives. In the south, near the lakes in upper courses of Yukon River, there lived the
Tagish
The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan ( Tagish: ; tli, Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh Lake, in Yukon of Canada. The Tagish intermarried heavily with ...
. In the south-west, in the riverheads of the
White River, there lived
Upper Tanana
Upper Tanana (also known as Tabesna, Nabesna or Nee'aanèegn') is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken in eastern Interior Alaska, United States, mainly in the villages of Northway, Tetlin, and Tok, and adjacent areas of the Canadian ter ...
.
[Wurm, Stephen A.; Mühlhäusler, Peter; Tryon, Darrell T. Volume I. (Trends in Linguistics, Documentation Series, Vol 13) / Atlas of languages of intercultural communication in the Pacific, Asia, and the Americas. Berlin, Walter de Gruyter, 1996.]
Besides Athabaskan, on the Arctic coast of modern Yukon, including
Herschel Island
Herschel Island (french: Île d'Herschel; Inuit languages: ''Qikiqtaruk'') is an island in the Beaufort Sea (part of the Arctic Ocean), which lies off the coast of Yukon in Canada, of which it is administratively a part. It is Yukon's only ...
, there lived the
Inuit
Inuit (; iu, ᐃᓄᐃᑦ 'the people', singular: Inuk, , dual: Inuuk, ) are a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic and subarctic regions of Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwest Territories ...
(
Eskimo). And in the south, down the
Teslin River
The Teslin River is a river in southern Yukon Territory and northwestern British Columbia, Canada, that flows from its source south of Teslin Lake to its confluence with the Yukon River.
During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–99, the river beca ...
, there lived continental
Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), (Teslin) whose
language
Language is a structured system of communication. The structure of a language is its grammar and the free components are its vocabulary. Languages are the primary means by which humans communicate, and may be conveyed through a variety of ...
together with
Athabaskan languages
Athabaskan (also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large family of indigenous languages of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, Pacific C ...
is included into
Na-Dene
Na-Dene (; also Nadene, Na-Dené, Athabaskan–Eyak–Tlingit, Tlina–Dene) is a family of Native American languages that includes at least the Athabaskan languages, Eyak, and Tlingit languages. Haida was formerly included, but is now considered ...
language family.
Covered with snow, the area around
Mount Saint Elias
Mount Saint Elias (also designated Boundary Peak 186), the second-highest mountain in both Canada and the United States, stands on the Yukon and Alaska border about southwest of Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada. The Canadian side of ...
in the extreme south-west of the Yukon was unsettled.
19th century
In the 18th century, Russian explorers began to trade with the First Nations people along the Alaskan coast, and later established trade networks extending into Yukon.
European incursions into what later became the Yukon started in the first half of the 19th century with the fur trade.
Hudson's Bay Company
The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC; french: Compagnie de la Baie d'Hudson) is a Canadian retail business group. A fur trading business for much of its existence, HBC now owns and operates retail stores in Canada. The company's namesake business di ...
explorers and traders from
Mackenzie River trading posts used two different routes to enter Yukon and created trading posts along the way. The northern route started in
Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories
Fort McPherson ( Gwich'in: ''Teetł'it Zheh'' , ''at the head of the waters'') is a hamlet located in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on the east bank of the Peel River and is south of Inuvik on the Demps ...
along the Mackenzie River, crossed the mountains into the
Bell
A bell is a directly struck idiophone percussion instrument. Most bells have the shape of a hollow cup that when struck vibrates in a single strong strike tone, with its sides forming an efficient resonator. The strike may be made by an inte ...
and
Porcupine River
The Porcupine River (''Ch’ôonjik'' in Gwich’in) is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada and the United States. It rises in the Ogilvie Mountains north of Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. From there it flows north through the community of ...
s to 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 ...
. The southern route started at
Fort Laird, then westward along the
Liard River to
Frances Lake and then along the
Pelly River to its juncture with Yukon River.
After establishing
Fort McPherson,
John Bell crossed the mountains into Yukon River watershed in 1845, and went down the Rat River (today the Bell River) to its confluence with the Porcupine River. After managing the fur trade at Fort McPherson, he returned to the Bell River, and followed the Porcupine to its juncture with Yukon River, the eventual site of
Fort Yukon
Fort Yukon (''Gwichyaa Zheh'' in Gwich'in) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, straddling the Arctic Circle. The population, predominantly Gwich'in Alaska Natives, was 583 at the 2010 census, down from 595 ...
. Soon after,
Alexander Hunter Murray
Alexander Hunter Murray (1818 or 1819 – 20 April 1874) was a Hudson's Bay Company fur trader and artist.
Life
According to the Parish Registers at the General Register Office in Edinburgh four brothers were registered at Crawfordjohn, Lanar ...
established trading posts at
Lapierre House Lapierre or LaPierre is a surname, and may refer to:
People
* Dominique Lapierre, French author
* Edmond Lapierre (1866–1960), Canadian politician
* Fabrice Lapierre, Australian athlete
* Gary LaPierre, American radio broadcaster
* Jean Lapierre ...
(1846) and at
Fort Yukon
Fort Yukon (''Gwichyaa Zheh'' in Gwich'in) is a city in the Yukon-Koyukuk Census Area in the U.S. state of Alaska, straddling the Arctic Circle. The population, predominantly Gwich'in Alaska Natives, was 583 at the 2010 census, down from 595 ...
(1847) at the juncture of the Porcupine and Yukon Rivers. Murray drew numerous sketches of fur trade posts and of people and wrote the ''Journal of Yukon, 1847–48'', which give valuable insight into the culture of local
Gwich’in First Nation people at the time.
While the post was actually in
Russian Alaska
Russian America (russian: Русская Америка, Russkaya Amerika) was the name for the Russian Empire's colonial possessions in North America from 1799 to 1867. It consisted mostly of present-day Alaska in the United States, but a ...
, the Hudson's Bay Company continued to trade there until expelled by the American traders in 1869, following the
Alaska Purchase
The Alaska Purchase (russian: Продажа Аляски, Prodazha Alyaski, Sale of Alaska) was the United States' acquisition of Alaska from the Russian Empire. Alaska was formally transferred to the United States on October 18, 1867, through a ...
. A new trading post,
Rampart House was established upstream along the Porcupine, but it also proved to be just inside Alaska's boundary. Gwich’in people, especially under the leadership of
Sahneuti, played off the Hudson's Bay Company against American traders from the
Alaska Commercial Company.
At about the same time,
Robert Campbell, coming from
Fort Simpson
Fort Simpson (Slavey language: ''Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́'' "place where rivers come together") is a village, the only one in the entire territory, in the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The community is located on an ...
explored a large part of the southern Yukon and established
Fort Frances (1842) on
Frances Lake in the Liard River basin and
Fort Selkirk, Yukon
Fort Selkirk is a former trading post on the Yukon River at the confluence of the Pelly River in Canada's Yukon. For many years it was home to the Selkirk First Nation (Northern Tutchone).
History
Archaeological evidence shows that the site h ...
(1848) at the juncture of the Yukon River and the Pelly River. In 1852, Fort Selkirk was sacked by
Tlingit
The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ), warriors from the coast who objected to its interference with their trade. Fort Selkirk was abandoned and not reestablished until 1889.
Anglican and
Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
* Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
* Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a let ...
missionaries followed in the wake of the fur trade. Of note is
William Carpenter Bompas who became the first Anglican
bishop
A bishop is an ordained clergy member who is entrusted with a position of authority and oversight in a religious institution.
In Christianity, bishops are normally responsible for the governance of dioceses. The role or office of bishop is c ...
of the Yukon. Catholic missionaries were mainly from the order of
Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate
The Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI) is a missionary religious congregation in the Catholic Church. It was founded on January 25, 1816, by Eugène de Mazenod, a French priest born in Aix-en-Provence in the south of France on August 1, ...
, who still retain a presence in the Yukon today.
In 1859,
Robert Kennicott
Robert Kennicott (November 13, 1835 – May 13, 1866) was an American naturalist and herpetologist. Chronic illness kept Kennicott out of school as a child. Instead, Kennicott spent most of his time outdoors, collecting plants and animals. H ...
set off on an expedition to collect natural history specimens in what is now the Mackenzie River and Yukon River valleys and in the
Arctic
The Arctic ( or ) is a polar region located at the northernmost part of Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean, adjacent seas, and parts of Canada (Yukon, Northwest Territories, Nunavut), Danish Realm (Greenland), Finland, Iceland, N ...
tundra
In physical geography, tundra () is a type of biome where tree growth is hindered by frigid temperatures and short growing seasons. The term ''tundra'' comes through Russian (') from the Kildin Sámi word (') meaning "uplands", "treeless mou ...
beyond. Kenicott became popular with Hudson's Bay Company fur traders in the area and encouraged them to collect and send natural history specimens and First Nations artifacts to the Smithsonian. In 1865 the
Western Union Telegraph Expedition was mounted to find a possible route for a telegraph line between North America and
Russia
Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...
by way of the
Bering Sea. Kennicott was the chief scientist for this expedition and the party of naturalists sent to assist him included
W.H. Dall. Kennicott died of a heart attack while travelling up the Yukon River. However, Kennicott's efforts brought what is now the Yukon to the world's attention.
In 1870, the United Kingdom transferred the North-Western Territory to the
government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...
.
Rumours of the presence of gold in the area had been reported by Hudson's Bay Company traders, but little had been done about them. Following the Alaska purchase and the abandonment of Rampart house, Alaska Commercial Company traders started working along the upper Yukon River. Three miners —
Alfred Mayo,
Jack McQuesten, and
Arthur Harper — having heard of these rumours, went to work for the Alaska Commercial Company as traders, although their main interest was in the gold prospects. In 1874, Mayo and McQuesten established
Fort Reliance
Fort Reliance is an abandoned trading post in the Yukon Territory of Canada. It stands on the east bank of the Yukon River, downstream of the town of Dawson City. The fort was established in 1874 by François Mercier, Jack McQuesten, and Fran ...
, a few miles downstream of what later became
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 ...
. Miners and prospectors slowly trickled in, and gold was found in many areas but rarely in paying quantities.
In 1885, a paying amount of gold was found on the
Stewart River, and McQuesten convinced the Alaska Commercial Company to start catering to miners rather than focusing only on the fur trade. The following year, paying quantities of coarse gold were found on the
Fortymile River, and a new trading post,
Forty Mile, Yukon
Forty Mile is best known as the oldest town in Canada’s Yukon. It was established in 1886 at the confluence of the Yukon and Fortymile rivers by prospectors and fortune hunters in search of gold. Largely abandoned during the nearby Klondike G ...
was established at the confluence of the Fortymile with the Yukon River.
At the same time as the initial gold discoveries were being made, the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
sent lieutenant
Frederick Schwatka
Frederick Gustavus Schwatka (29 September 1849 – 2 November 1892) was a United States Army lieutenant with degrees in medicine and law, and was a noted explorer of northern Canada and Alaska.
Early life and career
Schwatka was born in Galena, ...
to reconnoiter the Yukon River. Going over the
Chilkoot Pass
Chilkoot Pass (el. ) is a high mountain pass through the Boundary Ranges of the Coast Mountains in the U.S. state of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. It is the highest point along the Chilkoot Trail that leads from Dyea, Alaska to Bennett La ...
, his party built rafts and floated down the Yukon River to its mouth in the Bering Sea, naming many geographic features along the way. Schwatka's expedition alarmed the Canadian government, who then sent an expedition under
George Mercer Dawson
George Mercer Dawson (August 1, 1849 – March 2, 1901) was a Canadian geologist and surveyor.
Biography
He was born in Pictou, Nova Scotia, the eldest son of Sir John William Dawson, Principal of McGill University and a noted geologis ...
in 1887.
William Ogilvie, a surveyor who was later to become famous during the Klondike gold Rush and was part of Dawson's expedition, surveyed the boundary with Alaska.
In 1894, concerned about the influx of American miners and the liquor trade, the Canadian government sent inspector
Charles Constantine of the
North-West Mounted Police to examine conditions in the Yukon district.
In 1895, the Yukon District was carved out of the North-West Territories. With the rapid population increase due to the gold rush, three years later on 13 June 1898, the Yukon became its own territory called ''the Yukon Territory'' with the passing of the Yukon Act.
Klondike Gold Rush
The
Klondike Gold Rush was the seminal event in the Yukon's history. A party led by
Skookum Jim Mason discovered
gold
Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au (from la, aurum) and atomic number 79. This makes it one of the higher atomic number elements that occur naturally. It is a bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile me ...
in
Bonanza Creek
Bonanza Creek (Hän: ''Ch'ö`chozhù' ndek'') is a watercourse in Yukon Territory, Canada. It runs for about from King Solomon's Dome to the Klondike River. In the last years of the 19th century and the early 20th century, Bonanza Creek was the c ...
, a tributary of the
Klondike River
The Klondike River (Hän: ') is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada that gave its name to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Klondike River rises in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at Dawson City.
Its name comes from the H ...
, in August 1896. An estimated 30,000 to 40,000 people braved numerous hardships to reach the
Klondike gold fields in the winter and spring of 1897-1898 after the discovery became known in 1897. With the influx of American stampeders, the Canadian government decided to create a separate territory to better control the situation.
In 1901, after many had gone back, the
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...
put the population of the territory at 27,219, a figure that was not reached again until 1991. The influx of people greatly stimulated mineral exploration in other parts of the Yukon and led to two subsidiary gold rushes in
Atlin, British Columbia and
Nome, Alaska as well as a number of mini-rushes. Transportation needs to the gold fields led to the construction of the
White Pass and Yukon Route
The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) is a Canadian and U.S. Class III narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other rai ...
.
20th century
Around the start of the 20th century the
US Army
The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cla ...
began the construction of a telegraph line which ran through
Tanacross
Tanacross (also Transitional Tanana) is an endangered Athabaskan language spoken by fewer than 60 people in eastern Interior Alaska.
Overview
The word Tanacross (from " Tanana Crossing") has been used to refer both to a village in eastern ...
, crossing the
Tanana River
The Tanana River ( Lower Tanana: Tth'eetoo', Upper Tanana: ''Tth’iitu’ Niign'') is a tributary of the Yukon River in the U.S. state of Alaska. According to linguist and anthropologist William Bright, the name is from the Koyukon (Athabaska ...
at a place called Tanana Crossing. The line continued northward, past the village of Ketchumstuck, and the forked, one branch going west to
Fairbanks and the other to the military post at
Eagle
Eagle is the common name for many large birds of prey of the family Accipitridae. Eagles belong to several groups of genera, some of which are closely related. Most of the 68 species of eagle are from Eurasia and Africa. Outside this area, j ...
. The direct impact of the line was brief, however, since by 1915 the greater part was abandoned and by 1926 only 11 miles remained. In 1912 the
Protestant Episcopal Church
The Episcopal Church, based in the United States with additional dioceses elsewhere, is a member church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. It is a mainline Protestant denomination and is divided into nine provinces. The presiding bishop of ...
purchased the telegraph installation at Tanana Crossing and established St. Timothy's mission.
After the gold rush, the population of the territory declined precipitously, reaching a low of 4,157 in 1921 and remained fairly steady until the 1940s. This was despite the development of other mining areas including silver in Conrad, and especially near
Mayo Mayo often refers to:
* Mayonnaise, often shortened to "mayo"
* Mayo Clinic, a medical center in Rochester, Minnesota, United States
Mayo may also refer to:
Places
Antarctica
* Mayo Peak, Marie Byrd Land
Australia
* Division of Mayo, an Aust ...
, gold in the
Kluane Lake area, and copper near
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 ...
. In the
Klondike, individual miners' claims were bought out and consolidated with the help of the government by a small number of companies, including the
Guggenheim's Yukon Gold Corporation who used large floating
dredge
Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing da ...
s. The Yukon Consolidated Gold Company continued to dredge for gold until the 1960s. A brief period of prosperity ensued during the 1930s when the price of gold rose.
By 1920, the elected territorial council had been reduced to three members and the territory was directly ruled by the
Gold commissioner, a federal civil servant reporting to the
Minister of the Interior
An interior minister (sometimes called a minister of internal affairs or minister of home affairs) is a cabinet official position that is responsible for internal affairs, such as public security, civil registration and identification, emergency ...
.
The next important event in Yukon's history was the construction of the
Alaska Highway during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
, which, after its badly needed reconstruction by the Canadian Government in the late 1940s, opened up the territory to road traffic. The Alaska Highway has played an extremely important role in the acculturation of the people. Today, the highway remains a scenic and well-maintained route throughout the year. The war also saw the construction of a number of airfields as part of the
Northwest Staging Route
The Northwest Staging Route was a series of airstrips, airport and radio ranging stations built in Alberta, British Columbia, the Yukon and Alaska during World War II. It extended into the Soviet Union as the ALSIB (ALaska-SIBerian air road).
Or ...
. However, the influx of southern highway construction crews had a devastating effect on some
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 ...
, who suffered from a large number of deaths from diseases to which they had no immunity.
On 1 April 1953, the capital of the territory was moved from Dawson City to
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 ...
.
Other
highways
A highway is any public or private road or other public way on land. It is used for major roads, but also includes other public roads and public tracks. In some areas of the United States, it is used as an equivalent term to controlled-access ...
were built during the 1950s and 1960s, resulting in the decline and disappearance of the
riverboat
A riverboat is a watercraft designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury un ...
s that had provided the main means of transportation until the 1960s. In the 1950s, the
White Pass & Yukon Route
The White Pass and Yukon Route (WP&Y, WP&YR) is a Canadian and U.S. Class III narrow-gauge railroad linking the port of Skagway, Alaska, with Whitehorse, the capital of Yukon. An isolated system, it has no direct connection to any other rail ...
pioneered the use of
intermodal containerized
Containerization is a system of intermodal freight transport using intermodal containers (also called shipping containers and ISO containers). Containerization is also referred as "Container Stuffing" or "Container Loading", which is the pro ...
shipping. Mining activity also revived, including copper mining in Whitehorse, silver and lead in
Keno
Keno is a lottery-like gambling game often played at modern casinos, and also offered as a game in some lotteries.
Players wager by choosing numbers ranging from 1 through (usually) 80. After all players make their wagers, 20 numbers (some va ...
and
Elsa, asbestos in
Clinton Creek. The world's largest
open-pit
Open-pit mining, also known as open-cast or open-cut mining and in larger contexts mega-mining, is a surface mining technique of extracting rock or minerals from the earth from an open-air pit, sometimes known as a borrow.
This form of mining ...
zinc and lead mine was opened in
Faro in the early 1970s. Gold mining came back to the Klondike and other areas with the large rise in gold prices in the late 1970s.
In the 1980s and 1990s, mining declined and the role of government increased considerably with larger and larger transfers from the federal government. In 1978, party politics was introduced to the Yukon Legislative Assembly. In October 1979,
responsible government was granted by Minister
Jake Epp
Arthur Jacob "Jake" Epp, (born September 1, 1939) is a Canadian executive and former politician.
Life and career
Born into a Mennonite family in Manitoba, Epp was a high school history teacher in Steinbach, Manitoba before entering politics. J ...
. On another front,
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 ...
started lobbying and entered in
land claims negotiations in the 1970s which culminated in the signing of an "Umbrella Final Agreement" in 1992. Although most First Nations have signed agreements, land claims and self-government negotiations are still going on today. The First Nations are now considered a fourth level of government and the specific nature of inter-governmental relationships is still being worked out. Today, the Canadian government is investing in clean energy research and environmental protection in the territory, with one of the goals being the increased involvement of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples in the northern economy.
21st-century
In 2003, the Yukon Territory underwent a name change as the words ''the'' and ''Territory'' were officially dropped from the name. Unofficially, both in the Yukon government and amongst its people, ''the'' is still recognised and used.
Yukon is affected by the ongoing
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...
.
References
Further reading
* Whitcomb, Dr. Ed. ''A Short History of the Canadian North''. Ottawa. From Sea To Sea Enterprises, 2011. . 62 pp.
External links
''The Rat River and McDougalll's Pass: The Route Across the Mountains between McKenzie and the Yukon'' Manuscriptat Dartmouth College Library
{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of Yukon