| Whitehorse is the likeable capital of the Yukon, home | | | | The 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, and | | | | put this tentative settlement on a firmer footing. |
| a bustling, welcoming stop off for thousands of | | | | Almost at the same time as the gold rush petered |
| summer visitors. Whilst roads bring in todays | | | | out. In the early years of the twentieth century the |
| business, the town owes its existence to the Yukon | | | | towns population dwindled quickly from about 10,000 |
| River, a 3000 kilometre artery that rises in the Coast | | | | to about 400, for forty years the place slumbered, |
| Mountains and flows through the heart of the Yukon | | | | barely 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 above | | | | occasional tourist. The towns second boom arrived |
| the present town were long a resting point for Dene | | | | with the construction of the Alaska Hwy, a kick start |
| peoples, but the spot burgeoned into a full blown city | | | | that swelled the towns population from 800 to |
| with the arrival of thousands of stampedes in the | | | | 40,000 almost overnight, and has stood it in good |
| spring of 1898. Having braved the Chilkoot Pass to | | | | stead ever since. |
| meet the Yukons upper reaches, men and supplies | | | | The airport is 7 miles west of downtown. |
| then had to pause on the shores of Lineman or | | | | Whitehorse has a dry sub arctic climate |
| Bennett Lake before navigating the Miles Canyon and | | | | Some 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 reduced | | | | Yukon Transportation Museum, the MacBride |
| to matchwood, the Mounties laid down rules allowing | | | | Museum, 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 lot | | | | Whitehorse fish ladder, the Yukon Wildlife Preserve |
| of money in the summer of 1898, when more than | | | | and the Takhini Hot Springs, and the Yukon visitor |
| seven thousand boats left the lakes. After a period | | | | centre. |
| the prospectors constructed an eight kilometre | | | | Whitehorse supports a thriving, vibrant art and music |
| wooden tramway around the rapids, and in time | | | | scene, hosting several music festivals every year. In |
| raised a shantytown settlement at the canyon and | | | | the dead of winter the Frostbite Music festival |
| tramways northern head to catch their breath before | | | | warms things up with everything from funk to punk |
| the river journey to Dawson City. | | | | and much more. |