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Dawson City

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Aerial view of Dawson City with the Yukon river in early May

The Town of the City of Dawson or Dawson City is a town in the Yukon Territory of Canada, located at 64°03′45″N 139°25′50″W / 64.06250°N 139.43056°W / 64.06250; -139.43056. The current population is approximately 2,020. The area draws some 60,000 visitors each year. The locals generally refer to it simply as 'Dawson', but the tourist industry generally refers to it as 'Dawson City' (partly to differentiate it from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, which is at mile 0 of the Alaska Highway).

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

The Klondike Gold Rush started in 1896 and changed the native summer fish camp into a thriving city of 40,000 by 1898. By 1899, the gold rush had ended and the town's population plummeted as 8,000 people left. When Dawson was incorporated as a city in 1902, the population was under 5,000.

The population was fairly stable until the 1930s, dropped after World War II when the territorial capital was moved to Whitehorse and 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 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.

Many of the major buildings in town are part of the Dawson National Historic Site. There are a number of displays in some of the old buildings, and parks employees dress up like characters from the Klondike Gold Rush. Also in the Dawson area is the Dredge No. 4 National Historic Site of Canada and the S.S. Keno National Historic Site of Canada.

City or town

All the buildings of the city look old-fashioned; all new construction must follow this policy.

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 historic reasons, 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 4 council seats.

Industry

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

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.

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.

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.

The town is served by the Dawson City Airport.

Climate

Like most of the Yukon, Dawson City has a subarctic climate. The average temperature in July is 15.6°C. The average temperature in January is −26.7°C. The highest temperature ever recorded is 34.7°C on May 31, 1983 and the lowest temperature ever recorded is −55.8°C on February 11, 1979. In regards to precipitation, the community is at an elevation of 370m (1,214ft) and the average rainfall in July is 48.4mm and the average snowfall in January is 24.2cm. Dawson has an average total annual snowfall of 164.5cm and averages 90 frost free days per year. The town is built on a layer of ice, which may pose a threat to the town's infrastructure in the future as the permafrost melts. [1]

Community Profile

According to the Canada 2001 Census:

  • Population in 2001: 1,251
  • Population in 1996: 1,287
  • Change 1996 to 2001 population change (%): −2.8
  • Total private dwellings: 675
  • Population density per square kilometre: 38.6
  • Land area (square km): 32.45

For complete profile, see 2001 Statistics Canada Community Highlights for Dawson

Transportation and Communications

  • Airport: Dawson City Airport, gravel runway
  • Road: Klondike Highway (Yukon route 2) from Whitehorse; Top of the World Highway (Yukon route 9) and Taylor Highway (Alaska route 5) from Tok, Alaska
  • Rail: none
  • Boat: none, although Yukon River is navigable and historically was travelled by commercial riverboats to Whitehorse and downstream into Alaska
  • Television: local transmitters for APTN and CBC English
  • Radio: local transmitters for CBC Radio One (Yukon regional network), CHON-FM
  • Newspaper: no daily newspapers locally, but Yukon News is available three days per week
  • Cable television: city-owned system with several channels via satellite
  • Telephone/Internet: Northwestel telephone exchange, with ADSL internet; also dial-up internet from Yknet; cellular service to be introduced during 2006
  • Electricity: Yukon Energy Corporation (hydro, diesel back-up)

64°03′45″N 139°25′50″W / 64.06250°N 139.43056°W / 64.06250; -139.43056

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