The discovery of the Klondike gold fields completely changed conditions in the hitherto unorganized and almost unknown Yukon terri tory. The town of Dawson was built at the confluence of the Yukon and Klondike rivers, and soon superseded Forty-mile as the chief commercial centre. A local administration, with courts of justice and other organizations neces sary to government, was quickly established. The demand for better transportation was met by the construction of a railway from tide-water at the head of Lynn Canal to the foot of the Whitehorse rapids on the Lewes River from which point communication with Dawson is maintained by a large fleet of well-equipped river steamers. Telegraphic communication was also established with the outside world and roads were constructed up the valleys of most of the producing creeks.
The territory is governed, at present, by a commissioner appointed by the Federal government at Ottawa, assisted by an elective council of 10 members.
Industries.— Placer The devel opment of the territory has depended so far almost entirely on placer mining. The rich Klondike creeks have been worked continuously since 1897, and have yielded gold to the value of $170,304,000 up to the end of 1917. The yearly production reached its maximum in 1900, when it amounted to $22.275,000. Since that date production has been marked by a generally pro gressive decline; the yield of 1917 was $3,672, 703. The dwindling production marks the grad ual exhaustion of the phenomenally rich claims on the various creeks, but does not mean a corresponding decline in the mining industry as the amount of gravel handled has if anything increased in recent years. The decreased re turns are due to the lower grade of the gravels mined. In the early days of the camp most of the work was done with pick and shovel.
More economic methods, such as dredging and hydraulicing, are now being introduced.
Outside the Klondike district, some placer mining is being done on the upper waters of the Stewart. on the south branch of the Big Salmon and ow the headwaters of the Alsek and White rivers. A certain proportion of the territory is still unprospected.
Ore Ore mining follows placer mining in most mining camps, and suck promises to be the case in the Yukon. Quartz veins carrying freegold have beet, found at several points in the Klondike district. An important copper belt occurs west of A'hiteborse. Some development work has been done on a few of the claims and some rich ore, principally bornite, has been shipped to outside smelters. Native copper, sometimes in large masses, occurs loose in many of the creeks at the head of White River, but has not bees traced to its source. Numerous discoveries of quartz veins carrying high grade silver minerals have re cently been made in the vicinity of Windy Tagish Lake. Work is being actively on some of these veins with very satisfactory results. Besides those mentioned, discoveries of ores of various kinds have been reported from nearly every section of the territory.
Coal Mining.— Seams of lignite coal of occur at several points along the River, and a sufficient quantity is mined to supply the small local demand. Anthracite coal also occurs in the region southwest of Whitehorse but has not so far been worked.
Experiments made during the past few years have shown that nearly all the common vegetables can be grown successfully in the Yukon valley, and there is every reason to believe that in the near future produce of this kind will be raised in sufficient quantity to supply the local market.
R. G. McComint Geological Survey of Canada.