Tourist Attractions in Whitehorse

Whitehorse is the likeable capital of the Yukon, homeThe completion of the White Pass and Yukon
to two thirds of its population, around 24,000 people.Railway to Whitehorse, newly named after the rapids
The centre of its mining and forestry industries, andput this tentative settlement on a firmer footing.
a bustling, welcoming stop off for thousands ofAlmost at the same time as the gold rush petered
summer visitors. Whilst roads bring in todaysout. In the early years of the twentieth century the
business, the town owes its existence to the Yukontowns population dwindled quickly from about 10,000
River, a 3000 kilometre artery that rises in the Coastto about 400, for forty years the place slumbered,
Mountains and flows through the heart of the Yukonbarely sustained by copper mining and the paddle
and Alaska to the Bering Sea.wheelers that plied the river carrying freight and the
The rivers flood plain and strange escarpment aboveoccasional tourist. The towns second boom arrived
the present town were long a resting point for Denewith the construction of the Alaska Hwy, a kick start
peoples, but the spot burgeoned into a full blown citythat swelled the towns population from 800 to
with the arrival of thousands of stampedes in the40,000 almost overnight, and has stood it in good
spring of 1898. Having braved the Chilkoot Pass tostead ever since.
meet the Yukons upper reaches, men and suppliesThe airport is 7 miles west of downtown.
then had to pause on the shores of Lineman orWhitehorse has a dry sub arctic climate
Bennett Lake before navigating the Miles Canyon andSome of the tourist attractions in Whitehorse include
White Horse rapids southeast of the present town.Miles Canyon, the S.S. Klondike sternwheeler, the
After the first few boats through had been reducedYukon Transportation Museum, the MacBride
to matchwood, the Mounties laid down rules allowingMuseum, the Old Log Church Museum, the Beringia
only experienced boatmen to take craft through.Centre, Yukon Gardens, Log Skyscrapers, the
Writer Jack London, one such boatman, made a lotWhitehorse fish ladder, the Yukon Wildlife Preserve
of money in the summer of 1898, when more thanand the Takhini Hot Springs, and the Yukon visitor
seven thousand boats left the lakes. After a periodcentre.
the prospectors constructed an eight kilometreWhitehorse supports a thriving, vibrant art and music
wooden tramway around the rapids, and in timescene, hosting several music festivals every year. In
raised a shantytown settlement at the canyon andthe dead of winter the Frostbite Music festival
tramways northern head to catch their breath beforewarms things up with everything from funk to punk
the river journey to Dawson City.and much more.