Dawson City, Yukon

The Town of the City of Dawson or Dawson City is a town in the Yukon territory of Canada, located at {{coor dms|64|03|45|N|139|25|50|W|}}. The current population is approximately 2,000. The locals generally refer to it simply as 'Dawson', but the tourist industry generally refers to it as 'Dawson City' to differentiate it from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, which is at Km 0 of the Alaska Highway.

Industry

Today, Dawson City's main industries are tourism and gold mining.

Related Topics:
Tourism - Gold - Mining

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Gold mining started in 1896 with the Bonanza Creek discovery by George Carmack, Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim Mason. The area's creeks were quickly staked and most of the thousands who arrived in the spring of 1898 for the Klondike Gold Rush found that there was very little opportunity to benefit directly from gold mining. Many instead became entrepreneurs to provide services to miners.

Related Topics:
Bonanza Creek - George Carmack - Dawson Charlie - Skookum Jim Mason - Klondike Gold Rush

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Starting approximately 10 years later, large gold dredges began an industrial mining operation, scooping huge amounts of gold out of the creeks, and completely reworking the landscape, altering the locations of rivers and creeks and leaving tailing piles in their wake. A network of canals and dams were built to the north to produce hydroelectric power for the dredges. The dredges shut down for the winter, but one built for "Klondike Joe Boyle" was designed to operate year-round, and Boyle had it operate all through one winter. That dredge is open as a national historic site on Bonanza Creek.

Related Topics:
Dredge - Tailing - Hydroelectric - "Klondike Joe Boyle" - National historic site

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The last dredge shut down in 1966, and the hydroelectric facility was closed when the City of Dawson declined an offer to purchase it. Since then, placer miners have returned to the status of being the primary mining operators in the region.

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The town is served by the Dawson Airport.

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