-one of three territories in Canada
-the smallest territory
-Northwest Territories is east; British Columbia is south
-Arctic Ocean is north of the Yukon, and the state of Alaska is west.
-capital city - Whitehorse
-flower - Fireweed, bird - Common Raven
-name : from the Native word "Yu-kun-ah" meaning Great River
PEOPLE
-home to about 30,700 Canadians
-Over 70 percent live in Whitehorse, the capital city
-people have come from other parts of Canada to live there
-about 21 percent of the people are Aboriginal.
the Tlingit in the south
the Gwich'in in the north
Inuvialuit on Herschel Island
Old Crow is a Gwich'in community of 263 people
( located north of
the Arctic Circle )
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HISTORY
-Aboriginal people may have migrated from Asia across a Bering Sea land
bridge.
-they hunted, fished and trapped to survive
-1840 - Britsh fur trader and explorer Robert Campbell arrived
-Forts built so the Hudson's Bay Company could trade for furs with the trappers
-Klondike Gold Rush in 1896 brought many people to the Yukon.
-Thousands of prospectors formed a "tent city" called Dawson.
-In 1898 the area became Canada's second territory.
-Dawson was the capital until 1951.
-By 1899 the gold was almost gone; people left the Yukon.
-Building of the Alaska highway (1942) brought hundreds of workers.
-Whitehorse replaced Dawson as the capital.
-Canadian government opened the Dempster Highway (1979).
-It was an all-weather road that crossed the Arctic Circle.
LAND AND WATER
-many rivers, lakes and streams in the Yukon
-rivers : the Klondike, Peel, Pelly, Stewart, Porcupine and Yukon River
-part of the land is "tundra" : rocky, moss, tough grasses, small willow shrubs grow
-soil is frozen so growing crops is difficult
-part of the land is covered with forests
-There are three national parks in the Yukon.
-Mount Logan, the highest mountain in Canada (6000 m.) is in Kluane National Park.
RESOURCES
-People visit the Yukon to hike, raft, camp, rock climb, fish,
see wildlife, and hunt.
-Tourism provides many jobs for people.
-The largest industry is mining (gold, lead, zinc and silver).
-They are drilling for oil in the Beaufort Sea.
-Factories package fish (grayling, northern pike, lake and rainbow
trout, salmon, whitefish, and arctic char).
-Beaver, lynx, wolverine, muskrat, marten and fox are trapped and the furs are sold.
PEOPLE
-Audrey McLaughin was a member of parliament for the Yukon.
She was the first woman to lead a national party (the N.D.P.)
-Robert W. Service (1874-1958) was "the poet of the Yukon".
He wrote poems about
life during the Klondike Gold Rush.
-Ted Harrison, an English artist, painted the landscape of the Yukon.
PLACES
Watson Lake is (near the southern border) the site of Signpost Fores.
There are over 30,000 signs from cities and towns around the world