YUKON, yi7VkOn. A Territory 'of Canada occupying the northwestern portion of the Do minion. It, is bounded on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the Territory of Mackenzie, on the south by British Columbia and southern Alaska, and on the west by the main portion of Alaska, the boundary. toward which is the 141st , meridian of west longitude (Nlap: ('anada, D 4). Area, about 196,300 square miles. The surface, whose features were little known until the last decade of the nineteenth century, is uneven in greater part, with the general elevation between 2000 aml :3000 feet, and the whole country is filled with mountain ranges and rolling hills penetrated everywhere by large navigable rivers. There are a number of peaks rising considerably above the snow-line in the north and in the south west, the loftiest being Mount Logan, close to the 11:Iskan boundary adjacent to Mount Saint Elias, with an elevation thought to exceed 19.000 feet. The main divide of the Rocky Mountains, separating the watershed of the Yukon from that of the Mackenzie. forms the eastern boundary, hut it is in parts so low and depressed as to barely give the aspect even of a line of hills. The principal river i; the Yukon, whose navigable headst reams and branehes penetrate almost every part of the Territory. With respect to climate the Yukon is one of the coldest regions in the world. A maximum temperature of over SO - F. is frequently observed in summer. but the sum mers are very short, and frost occurs every mouth in the year. In winter a temperature of 50° below zero is common, and it has been recorded as low as 63' and 68°. The air is, however, dry, and the rainfall is not heavy, though it is suffi cient to support large forests or woods of spruce and poplar, which cover the valleys and moun tain slopes up to an altitude of about 2500 feet ; the timber, however, is rarely of large dimensions. The agricultural possibilities of the Territory are probably not very great. but some of the hardier crops. such as rye and barley, are easily raised, and some little truck farming of potatoes. turnip., lettuce, peas, and cabbage has been car ried on in different localities. The geological structure is largely a continuation of that of British Columbia. consisting mainly of Arehman
ridges flanked by extensive Paleozoic strata, which contains some of the richest gold-fields in the world. (See YUKON Gotat-FIEws.) Beds of lignitie coal occur. Before the discovery of gold in 1896 the Yukon district was almost unin habited: in 1901 the census population was 27, 219. In 189S the district was organized as a separate Territory. and Dawson (q.v.) is now the capital. Means of communication are amply af forded by the navigable rivers within the Terri tory, but access across the mountainous borders was at first very difficult. A railroad traversing the White Pass is now in operation between Skagway and the upper waters of the Yukon.
YUKON It is intended to describe under this title not only the gold-mining distriets situated along the tributaries of the Yukon River, but also the Nome district of Seward Peninsula, which was discovered and developed largely as a result of the operations in the Yukon region. The occurrence of gold in the in terior of Alaska was known in the early part of the last century. but it was not until 1886, when the auriferous gravels of Forty-Mile Creek. a tributary of the Yukon. were found, that mining operations assumed a permanent character. Soon after this date the settlements of Forty-Mile and Circle City became the centres of a small min ing industry, and further explorations made known the gold districts of Birch Creek, Mission Creek, Koyukuk River, and other streams in the Yukon basin. Iv August. ISOIl. a rich placer claim was located by a California prospector on Bonanza Creek, a tributary of the Klondike River, which joins the Yukon a short distance above the American boundary. This diseovery may be said to mark the beginning of the present important industry. It was followed by an in vasion of miners from the other fields of Alaska, and (hiring the ensuing winter began the remark able 'rush' from Canada and the United States. which was attended with terrible hardships and great loss of life. By the summer of 1gO8 there were over 40.000 people in the Klondike region. and had la Tonle a thriving camp with several thousand inhabitants.