The Yukon Territory was filled with adventure, enterprise, and exploration. The Yukon Territory is named after the Yukon River which is the primary water source in Northwestern North America and is 1980 miles long. This was the primary means of transportation used by people during the Yukon Gold Rush.
On this day June 13th, in 1898, Dawson is chosen as the Capital for the Yukon Territory. As of 2011 Dawson had a population of roughly 1,300 with 60,000 visitors coming a year. That’s over 20 times the amount of visitors than population.
Joseph Ladue founded the city and named it after George Mercer Dawson, a geologist. Joseph Ladue was a gold prospector, there for the same reason that over 100,000 other people came to the Yukon, in hopes of striking it rich. Some people found gold deposits and became immensely wealthy, but it’s estimated that only 4,000 prospectors even found any gold at all. When Dawson became capital there were over 40,000 people living there. It remained the capital of the territory until 1952. Numerous books have been written about this gold rush, including “Call of the Wild” by Jack London.