The Yukon claims to be larger than life and it truly is one of those special places in the world. It is home to Canada’s highest mountain (Mt. Logan), a World Heritage Site (Kluane National Park), The 5th longest River in North America (The Yukon River), the famed Saint Elias Mountain Range, beautiful Kluane Lake, and the site of the world famous Klondike Gold Rush in Dawson City. It’s an impressive resumé to say the least.
The lure of this powerful land is documented as far back as the middle 1800s. The first white men to travel here found well established First Nations cultures with whom to trade for furs and it was the First Nations residents that first told the white men about the gold that could be scooped from the streams in the area.
While George Carmacks is credited with the discovery of the gold that started the Klondike Gold Rush, the two co-discoverers of the original find in Dawson City, were Skookum Jim and Tagish Charlie. These two First Nation men found the gold but they could not register a claim in their own names because they were not white.
Their claim was instead registered to George Carmacks, who was married to Skookum Jim’s sister, Kate. Many of the early pioneers that traveled here for the gold rush, opted to stay and their descendants continue to live in the Yukon today.
The Staff at the Yukon Visitor Information Centers are experts in their local area and can assist in planning your ultimate Yukon itinerary. Centers are in Watson Lake, Whitehorse, Haines Junction, Beaver Creek, Dawson City and Carcross.
