About the Yukon

The Yukon Territory is home to an eclectic population of about 33,000 people, with fourteen First Nations speaking eight languages of the Athapaskan and Tlingit language families. Among the non-Native population are people from vastly different cultures from all over the world, attracted by the romance of the North, by the wilderness, by the relatively stress-free lifestyle. (Although three solid weeks of minus 40 temperatures carries it own very special stress.)

Archeologists estimate that the first humans came to the Yukon about 10,000 years ago, over the Bering land bridge from Asia. The first Europeans arrived much more recently about 150 years ago and established a fur trade, disrupting the already thriving trading system between coastal and inland First Nations. In 1898, gold was discovered at Bonanza Creek near Dawson City prompting the gold rush that made the Yukon famous the world over.

Twenty thousand would-be millionaires climbed the Chilkoot and White Passes and floated down the Yukon River to Dawson. Some struck it rich, but by far the majority did not, and by 1900 the excitement was over. The population of the Yukon gradually decreased over the next 20 years, with the economy being kept alive by small-scale mining operations, the fur trade, and the train and paddlewheel transportation system moving goods from Skagway to Dawson and beyond.

In the late 20s and early 30s bush pilots opened up the Yukon somewhat, flying mail, supplies, miners and speculators to communities and sites throughout the territory. The next big flurry of activity was the building of the Alaska Highway in 1942, which brought 20,000 American soldiers and civilian workers to the Yukon and changed the face of the territory forever.

When the dust cleared, there was a length of highway stretching from Dawson Creek in British Columbia to Fairbanks, Alaska and a brand new telephone system in place. Years of isolation were coming to an end. The effect on the Yukon’s First Nations was devastating, changing a way of life that had lasted for thousands of years.

The last fifty years have seen more gradual changes in the social life, economy and politics of the Yukon. The Yukon's history is one of boom and busts, and that trend continues, though perhaps not as dramatically as in the past. People come and go, but underneath is a solid base of those who fell under the spell of the North, and find themselves unable to leave.

Civil servants, miners, small business owners, hippies, artists, musicians and farmers co-exist in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance (most of the time). First Nations peoples are deeply involved in the land claims process, reclaiming their traditional lands. The Yukon is actively in search of finding a balance between mining interests, First Nations land claims and wilderness protection.

Yukoners who live in Whitehorse today enjoy both the proximity of the wilderness and some of the amenities of the big city like small specialty shops, one of them featuring a coffee roaster. Such things take the edge off our long winter nights.