THE YUKON region of Canada occupies the south-eastern part of the Yukon Plateau, which stretches from the northern border of British Columbia into Alaska. It is bounded on the east by the last ranges of the Rocky Mountains which overlook the valley of the Mackenzie, and on the west by the Coast Ranges. The interior of the country is cut up by valleys varying from 1,000 to 3,000 feet in depth, but the uplands form broad plains and are the remains of a plateau which has been dissected by the Yukon and its tributaries. The climate is severe, and, although a certain amount of cultivation is possible, the economic value of the region depends entirely upon its minerals. Of these the most important is gold, which is at present chiefly worked in the Klondike, a district bounded by the Yukon, Klondike, and Indian rivers. The gold occurs in placer deposits, both in the valleys of existing streams and in the remains of older valleys on the hillsides. The con tinuously frozen character of the subsoil, in which the gold occurs, rendered placer mining more difficult than usual ; and it was not till the expensive method of thawing the ground by steam was introduced in 1899 that the maximum yield was obtained. In 1900 the output was valued at £4,500,000, or more than twice the amount of 1898. After 1900, however, the yield of gold rapidly declined, and in 1907 did not exceed £600,000. Since then hydraulic machinery has been introduced and there has been a slight recovery. Coal, copper, and platinum are also found in the Yukon and worked to some extent. A railway has been constructed from Skagway, at the head of Lynn Canal, across the White Pass to White Horse, from which point there is river communication by the Lewes and Yukon rivers to Dawson, the chief town of the Klondike.
COMMUNICATIONS.—The political and economic growth of Canada is to a great extent the result of the development of its railway system. In earlier times, it is true, the St. Lawrence and the Great Lakes offered a means of access into the country, and rendered possible the foundation of Quebec and Ontario, but the close settlement of the region further west could not be effected until the advent of the railway. Since then the progress of agriculture
and the extension of railways have been concurrent.
Four important systems at present exist. The Intercolonial Railway connects Montreal with Halifax and St. John, the winter ports of the Dominion; but the political conditions prevailing at the time the railway was built rendered it advisable that it should be as far as possible from the American frontier, and accordingly it does not follow the most direct route. This is taken by the Cana dian Pacific, which, however, passes through Maine, in the United States, on its way from Montreal to St. John. From Montreal westward, this line, as yet the only trans-continental one in Canada, runs north of the Great Lakes, by Sudbury and Port Arthur, to Winnipeg. It then pushes its way across the prairie regions to the Western Cordillera, enters the Rocky Mountains by the Bow Valley, crosses Kicking Horse Pass, and descends into the valley of the Columbia. It leaves this river to cross the Selkirk Range, and then follows, first the South Thompson River, and then the Fraser River, almost to its terminus at Vancouver. Among the more important branches of the Canadian Pacific Railway, one runs from Montreal, by Toronto, through peninsular Ontario to Detroit ; a second breaks off at Winnipeg and goes by Saskatoon to Strathcona--on the opposite bank of the Saskatchewan from Edmonton ; a third leaves the main line near Medicine Hat, and, entering the Rocky Mountains by Crowsnest Pass, taps the coal fields of that region ; while a fourth runs from Calgary and joins the Winnipeg-Strathcona line near the latter town. In conjunction with the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie Railway, the Canadian Pacific also connects Sault Ste. Marie, Winnipeg, and Pasqua (west of Regina) with Minneapolis and St. Paul.