Dawson City

This article is about the Canadian settlement. For the American settlement formerly known as "Dawson City", see Dawson Springs, Kentucky.

Dawson City
Town
Town of the City of Dawson
Aerial view of Dawson City with the Yukon River
Nickname(s): Paris of the North
Dawson City Location of Dawson City in Yukon
Coordinates:
Country	Canada
Territory	Yukon
Settled	1896
City	1902
Town	1980
Government
• Mayor	Wayne Potoroka
Area
• Total	32.45 km2 (12.53 sq mi)
Elevation	370 m (1,214 ft)
Population (2011)
• Total	1,319
• Density	40.7/km2 (105/sq mi)
Time zone	Pacific (PST) (UTC-8)
• Summer (DST)	PDT (UTC-7)
Canadian Postal code	Y0B 1G0
Area code(s)	867
NTS Map	105D11
GNBC Code	KAHFT
Website	www.cityofdawson.ca

The Town of the City of Dawson or Dawson City is a town in Yukon, Canada.

The population was 1,319 at the 2011 census.

History

Yukon Hotel

The townsite was founded by Joseph Ladue and named in January 1897 after noted Canadian geologist George M. Dawson, who had explored and mapped the region in 1887. It served as Yukon's capital from the territory's founding in 1898 until 1952, when the seat was moved to Whitehorse.

Dawson has a much longer history, however, as an important harvest area used for millennia by the Hän-speaking people of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and their forebears. The heart of their homeland was Tr'ochëk, a fishing camp at the confluence of the Klondike River and Yukon River, now a National Historic Site of Canada. This site was also an important summer gathering spot and a base for moose-hunting on the Klondike Valley.

Klondike Kate's Restaurant

Dawson City was the center of the Klondike Gold Rush. It began in 1896 and changed the First Nations camp into a thriving city of 40,000 by 1898. By 1899, the gold rush had ended and the town's population plummeted as all but 8,000 people left. When Dawson was incorporated as a city in 1902, the population was under 5,000. St. Paul's Anglican Church built that same year is a National Historic Site.

Most of Dawson's buildings have the appearance of 19th-Century construction. All new construction must comply with visual standards ensuring conformity to this appearance

The population dropped after World War II when the Alaska Highway bypassed it 300 miles (480 km) to the south. The economic damage to Dawson City was such that Whitehorse, the highway's hub, replaced it as territorial capital in 1953. Dawson City's population languished around the 600–900 mark through the 1960s and 1970s, but has risen and held stable since then. The high price of gold has made modern placer mining operations profitable, and the growth of the tourism industry has encouraged development of facilities. In the early 1950s, Dawson was linked by road to Alaska, and in fall 1955, with Whitehorse along a road that now forms part of the Klondike Highway.

In 1978, another kind of buried treasure was discovered when a construction excavation inadvertently found a forgotten collection of more than 500 discarded films of fragile nitrate filmstock from the early 20th century that were buried in and preserved in the permafrost. This historical find was moved south to Library and Archives Canada and the U.S. Library of Congress for both transfer to safety filmstock and storage.

The City of Dawson and the nearby ghost town of Forty Mile are featured prominently in the novels and short stories of American author Jack London, including The Call of the Wild. London lived in the Dawson area from October 1897 to June 1898. Other notable writers who lived in and wrote of Dawson City include Robert Service and Pierre Burton. The childhood home of the latter is now used as a retreat for professional writers.

Geology

Dawson City lies on the Tintina Fault. This fault line has created the Tintina Trench and continues eastward for several hundred kilometres. Erosional remnants of lava flows form outcrops immediately north and west of Dawson City.

Climate

Like most of Yukon, Dawson City has a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc). The average temperature in July is 15.7 °C (60.3 °F) and in January is −26.0 °C (−14.8 °F). The highest temperature ever recorded is 34.7 °C (94.5 °F) on May 31, 1983 and the lowest temperature ever recorded is −55.8 °C (−68.4 °F) on February 11, 1979. It experiences a wide range of temperatures surpassing 30 °C (86 °F) in most summers and dropping below −40 °C (−40 °F) in winter.

The community is at an elevation of 320 m (1,050 ft) and the average rainfall in July is 49.0 mm (1.93 in) and the average snowfall in January is 27.6 cm (10.87 in). Dawson has an average total annual snowfall of 166.5 cm (65.55 in) and averages 70 frost free days per year. The town is built on a layer of frozen earth, which may pose a threat to the town's infrastructure in the future if the permafrost melts.

Climate data for Dawson City Airport
Month	Jan	Feb	Mar	Apr	May	Jun	Jul	Aug	Sep	Oct	Nov	Dec	Year
Record high humidex	9.7	8.8	10.7	22.4	34.9	35.0	39.4	37.9	24.9	19.5	10.0	5.0	39.4
Record high °C (°F)	9.7 (49.5)	9.5 (49.1)	11.1 (52)	22.5 (72.5)	34.7 (94.5)	34.5 (94.1)	33.5 (92.3)	33.5 (92.3)	25.3 (77.5)	17.7 (63.9)	10.6 (51.1)	6.5 (43.7)	34.7 (94.5)
Average high °C (°F)	−21.8 (−7.2)	−15.8 (3.6)	−3.8 (25.2)	7.5 (45.5)	15.5 (59.9)	21.8 (71.2)	23.1 (73.6)	19.4 (66.9)	12.1 (53.8)	−0.4 (31.3)	−14.3 (6.3)	−18.7 (−1.7)	2.1 (35.8)
Daily mean °C (°F)	−26.0 (−14.8)	−21.5 (−6.7)	−12.1 (10.2)	−0.1 (31.8)	8.2 (46.8)	14.0 (57.2)	15.7 (60.3)	12.3 (54.1)	5.8 (42.4)	−4.7 (23.5)	−18.1 (−0.6)	−22.9 (−9.2)	−4.1 (24.6)
Average low °C (°F)	−30.1 (−22.2)	−27.1 (−16.8)	−20.3 (−4.5)	−7.7 (18.1)	0.9 (33.6)	6.2 (43.2)	8.2 (46.8)	5.2 (41.4)	−0.5 (31.1)	−9.0 (15.8)	−21.9 (−7.4)	−27.1 (−16.8)	−10.3 (13.5)
Record low °C (°F)	−53.8 (−64.8)	−55.8 (−68.4)	−45.2 (−49.4)	−32.0 (−25.6)	−13.5 (7.7)	−3.0 (26.6)	−2.0 (28.4)	−11.0 (12.2)	−23.2 (−9.8)	−36.5 (−33.7)	−47.9 (−54.2)	−51.8 (−61.2)	−55.8 (−68.4)
Record low wind chill	−59.8	−58.6	−47.7	−37.9	−18.2	−3.5	0.0	−9.2	−25.8	−41.0	−50.9	−63.8	−63.8
Average precipitation mm (inches)	19.4 (0.764)	12.8 (0.504)	9.9 (0.39)	8.2 (0.323)	30.8 (1.213)	38.2 (1.504)	49.0 (1.929)	43.4 (1.709)	34.0 (1.339)	31.4 (1.236)	25.5 (1.004)	22.0 (0.866)	324.4 (12.772)
Average rainfall mm (inches)	0.1 (0.004)	0.0 (0)	0.3 (0.012)	2.6 (0.102)	28.4 (1.118)	38.2 (1.504)	49.0 (1.929)	43.1 (1.697)	29.7 (1.169)	9.4 (0.37)	0.1 (0.004)	0.4 (0.016)	201.3 (7.925)
Average snowfall cm (inches)	27.6 (10.87)	18.2 (7.17)	12.1 (4.76)	7.2 (2.83)	2.5 (0.98)	0.0 (0)	0.0 (0)	0.4 (0.16)	4.6 (1.81)	26.7 (10.51)	36.3 (14.29)	31.0 (12.2)	166.5 (65.55)
Average precipitation days (≥ 0.2 mm)	11.7	8.7	6.3	4.5	10.9	12.0	14.4	13.7	11.0	12.7	12.7	11.5	130.2
Average rainy days (≥ 0.2 mm)	0.2	0.0	0.2	2.0	10.6	12.0	14.4	13.6	10.0	3.8	0.3	0.1	67.1
Average snowy days (≥ 0.2 cm)	12.3	9.8	6.5	3.2	1.0	0.0	0.0	0.1	1.5	9.9	13.5	12.2	69.8
Average relative humidity (%)	81.9	78.2	67.8	45.2	38.7	41.4	46.5	51.1	56.2	74.8	82.2	80.8	62.1
Source: Environment Canada Canadian Climate Normals 1981–2010

City or town

Dawson Gold

Diamond Tooth Gerties

Dawson was incorporated as a city in 1902 when it met the criteria for "city" status under the municipal act of that time. It retained the incorporation even as the population plummeted. When a new municipal act was adopted in the 1980s, Dawson met the criteria of "town", and was incorporated as such although with a special provision to allow it to continue to use the word "City", partially for historical reasons and partially to distinguish it from Dawson Creek, a small city in northeastern British Columbia. Dawson Creek is also named in honour of George M. Dawson. This led the territorial government to post the following signs at the boundaries of the town: "Welcome to the Town of the City of Dawson".

Law and government

In 2004, the Yukon government removed the mayor and the town council, as a result of the town going bankrupt. The territorial government accepted a large portion of the responsibility for this situation in March 2006, writing off $3.43 million of the debt and leaving the town with $1.5 million still to pay off. Elections were set for June 15, 2006. John Steins, a local artist and one of the leaders of the movement to restore democracy to Dawson, was acclaimed as mayor, while 13 residents ran for the four council seats. Steins was succeeded in office by former mayor Peter Jenkins, who in turn was succeeded by the current mayor, Wayne Potoroka.

Other past mayors of Dawson City have included Art Webster, Colin Mayes, Yolanda Burkhard, Mike Comadain and Vi Campbell.

In the Legislative Assembly of Yukon, Dawson City is in the electoral district of Klondike, currently represented by Sandy Silver of the Yukon Liberal Party.

The government of Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, now a self-governing First Nation, is also located in Dawson.

Industry

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

Energy

Electricity is provided by Yukon Energy Corporation (YEC). Most of the grid power is hydroelectric power through the north-south grid from dams near Mayo, Whitehorse and Aishihik Lake. After the local hydroelectric power plant for the gold dredges was shut down in 1966, YEC provided electrical power from local diesel generators. In 2004 YEC connected Dawson to its grid system. Since then the diesel generators function as a backup to the grid.

Gold mining

Gold mining started in 1896 with the Bonanza (Rabbit) Creek discovery by George Carmack, Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim Mason (Keish). 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.

Dredge No. 4

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 (Dredge No. 4) is open as a National Historic Site of Canada on Bonanza Creek.

The last dredge shut down in 1966, and the hydroelectric facility, at North Fork, 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.

Tourism

There are 8 National Historic Sites of Canada located in Dawson, including the "Dawson Historical Complex", a National Historic Site encompassing the historic core of the town.

The Downtown Hotel at Second Avenue and Queen Street has garnered media attention for its unusual Sourtoe Cocktail, which features a real mummified human toe.

Bonanza Creek has two National Historic Sites; the Discovery Claim and the No. 4 Dredge.

Tr'ochëk is the site of a traditional Han fishing camp on the flats at the confluence of the Klondike River and Yukon River. The site is owned and managed by the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation. In addition to the fishing camp remains, the site includes traditional plant harvesting areas and lookout points.

Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Hall puts on nightly vaudeville shows during tourist season, from May to September.

Education

Yukon School of Visual Arts, a university level accredited art program, is based in Dawson City.

Sports

Foot race, Dawson City, about 1900

Every February, Dawson City acts as the halfway mark for the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race. Mushers entered in the event have a mandatory 36-hour layover in Dawson City while getting their rest and preparing for the second half of the world’s toughest sled dog race.

Dawson City also hosts a softball tournament which brings teams from Inuvik in late summer. Furthermore, a volleyball tournament is held annually at the end of October and is attended by various high schools across Yukon.

The city was home to the Dawson City Nuggets hockey team, which in 1905 challenged the Ottawa Silver Seven for the Stanley Cup. Travelling to Ottawa by dog sled, ship, and train, the team lost the most lopsided series in Stanley Cup history, losing two games by the combined score of 32 to 4.

Demographics

Historical populations
Year	Pop.	±%
1898	40,000	—
1899	8,000	−80.0%
1901	9,142	+14.3%
1911	615	−93.3%
1941	1,043	+69.6%
1956	835	−19.9%
1961	846	+1.3%
1971	762	−9.9%
1981	697	−8.5%
1986	896	+28.6%
1991	1,089	+21.5%
1996	1,287	+18.2%
2001	1,251	−2.8%
2006	1,327	+6.1%
2011	1,319	−0.6%

According to the 2011 Census:

• Population in 2011: 1,319
• Population in 2006: 1,327
• Change 2006 to 2011 population change (%): -0.6
• Total private dwellings: 727
• Population density per square kilometre: 40.7
• Land area (square km): 32.45

Canada 2006 Census		Population	% of Total Population
Visible minority group Source:	South Asian	0	0%
	Chinese	0	0%
	Black	10	0.8%
	Filipino	0	0%
	Latin American	0	0%
	Arab	0	0%
	Southeast Asian	0	0%
	West Asian	0	0%
	Korean	0	0%
	Japanese	0	0%
	Other visible minority	0	0%
	Mixed visible minority	0	0%
Total visible minority population		15	1.1%
Aboriginal group Source:	First Nations	360	27.2%
	Métis	15	1.1%
	Inuit	10	0.8%
Total Aboriginal population		390	29.4%
White		920	69.4%
Total population		1,325	100%

Transport and communications

Ferry for Highway 9.

Paddlewheeler Keno

• Airports: Dawson City Airport, located 8 nautical miles (15 km; 9.2 mi) east of the town, has a 5,000 ft (1,524 m) gravel runway. Dawson City Water Aerodrome is located next to the community on the Yukon River. Both are classified as an airport of entry and, as such, can handle aircraft with up to 30 passengers. The water aerodrome is one of only two in Canada that that is able to handle aircraft with more than 15 passengers.
• Road: Klondike Highway (Yukon route 2) from Whitehorse-open year-round; Top of the World Highway (Yukon route 9) and Taylor Highway (Alaska route 5) from Tok, Alaska.
• Winter transportation: During the winter, Dawson City is accessible via snowmachine or dog sled. The Yukon Quest sled dog race uses Dawson as the midway point of its competition in February.
• Rail: none
• Boat: none except for the Highway 9 ferry at the north end of town, although the Yukon River is navigable (when not frozen solid) and historically was travelled by commercial riverboats to Whitehorse and downstream into Alaska and the Bering Sea.
• Cable television: municipal government-owned system with several channels via satellite
• Telephone/Internet: Northwestel telephone exchange, with ADSL Internet; also dial-up internet from Yknet; cellular service is available through Bell and Telus, with 3G service having been made available in December 2012.

Media

Television

OTA channel	Call sign	Network	Notes
9 (VHF)	CH4261	Aboriginal Peoples Television Network

Radio

Frequency	Call sign	Branding	Format	Owner	Notes
AM 560	CBDN	CBC Radio One	Talk radio, public radio	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation	Rebroadcaster of CFWH-FM (Whitehorse)
FM 90.5	VF2049	–	Community radio	Northern Native Broadcasting	First Nations community radio; rebroadcaster of CHON-FM (Whitehorse)
FM 104.9	CBDN-FM	CBC Radio 2	Adult contemporary, public radio	Canadian Broadcasting Corporation	Rebroadcaster of CBU-FM (Vancouver)
FM 106.9	CFYT-FM	CFYT: The Spirit of Dawson	Community radio	Dawson City Community Radio Society	Rebroadcasts CKRW-FM (Whitehorse) when not airing local programming

Print

• Dawson City is not served by a daily newspaper. The local Klondike Sun is published every two weeks, and the Whitehorse-based Yukon News is available two days per week.
• The online literary magazine One Throne Magazine is based in Dawson City.

Notable people

Robert Service Cabin

• Robert W. Service known as The Bard of the Yukon for his famous poems "The Shooting of Dan McGrew", "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and many others which depicted the Gold Rush and the culture of the Klondike. Robert Service was transferred to the Dawson branch of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Dawson City in 1908. Then, he dwelt in a log cabin where he would pursue his writings with The Trail of 98.

Pierre Berton's childhood home

• Dawson City is home of the Berton House Writers' Retreat program, housing established Canadian writers for four three-month get-away-from-it-all subsidized residencies each year. Berton House was the childhood home of popular-history writer Pierre Berton. The program is now administered by the Writers' Trust of Canada.
  Pierre Berton narrated the 1957 film City of Gold which describes the excitement of Dawson City during the gold rush. Pierre Berton also wrote the book Klondike, a historical account of the gold rush to the Klondike 1896–1899.

Jack London Centre

• The cabin that housed writer Jack London during his time in the town is now just up the street. The London cabin was originally on Henderson Creek, a tributary of the Stewart River where Mr. London spent part of the winter 1897–1898.

Dawson City was the starting place of impresario Alexander Pantages. He opened a small theatre to serve the city. Soon, however, his activities expanded and the thrifty Greek went on and became one of America's greatest theatre and movie tycoons.

Jan Eskymo Welzl was an Moravian origin adventurer, hunter, gold-digger, Eskimo chief and Chief Justice on island New Siberia and later story-teller and writer. During his life in Dawson City he was called Perpetual Motion Man and also known as inventor. Bookes based on his stories were published in many countries over the world. Buried in Dawson City.

Martha Black, the second woman elected to the Canadian House of Commons, as a single mother in Dawson earned a living by staking gold mining claims and running a sawmill and a gold ore-crushing plant. She later married George Black, Commissioner of Yukon, and in 1935 was elected to the House of Commons for the riding of Yukon as an Independent Conservative taking the place of her ill husband.

William Judge, a Jesuit priest who during the 1897 Klondike Gold Rush established a facility in Dawson which provided shelter, food and any available medicine to the many hard-at-luck gold miners who filled the town and its environs.

William Ogilvie, a Dominion land surveyor, explorer and Commissioner of the Yukon, surveyed the townsite of Dawson City and was responsible for settling many disputes between miners.

Victor Jory, actor of stage, film, and television, was born in Dawson in 1902 to American parents.

Black Mike Winage, a Serbian-Canadian miner, pioneer, and adventurer, who lived to be 107 years old, lived in Dawson City.

In fiction, Scrooge McDuck came to Dawson in his quest for gold. He became known as the "King of Klondike" in the city.

See also

• List of municipalities in Yukon

External links

• Official town website
• Klondike Visitors Association
• Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in
• Yukon Communities. Dawson Community Profile
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections – Eric A. Hegg Photographs 736 photographs from 1897–1901 documenting the Klondike and Alaska gold rushes, including depictions of frontier life in Skagway and Nome, Alaska and Dawson, Yukon Territory.
• William E. Meed Photograph Collection, an amateur photographer who lived in Dawson from 1898 to 1907. – University of Washington Digital Collection

Tourism Related Links

• Cultural & Arts Centre
• Accredited Art School
• Local Art
• Dawson City International Short Film Festival
• Dawson City Music Festival
• Dawson National Historic Site
• CFYT 106.9fm – The Spirit of Dawson
• Dawson Web site Source of info about Dawson today
• Dawson City Attraction & Service Guide