Discover Dawson

Heart of the Klondike

Dawson City is an eclectic and vibrant northern community on the banks of the Yukon River. We boast a mixture of First Nations Heritage and Gold Rush History blended with an active Gold Mining and Tourism Industry as well as a thriving Arts scene. In brief, we’ve got everything you’re looking for in a northern town!

Dawson’s past is marked by Beringia, an Ice Age period which formed our unique landscape and the treasures they contain, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, who have called this area home for centuries, as well as the Klondike Gold Rush, that put this town on the tongue of stampeders worldwide.

Did You Know?

Dawson City is named after George Mercer Dawson, director of the Geological Survey of Canada and leader of the expedition that explored the region in 1887, with the purpose of surveying the Alaska boundary at the Yukon River.

Did You Know?

For fifty-five years between the creation of the Yukon in 1898 and 1953, Dawson City was the capital of the Yukon.

Did You Know?

In only one year– 1900– was more than a million ounces of gold taken out of the Klondike goldfields. At that time it was only worth $22 million.

Did You Know?

Tex Rickard, who went on to build Madison Square Gardens and start the New York Rangers, worked as a bartender in Dawson during the Klondike Gold Rush.

Did You Know?

Prices in Dawson were so high during the gold rush, even a nail cost twenty-five cents.

Did You Know?

Before Dawson’s first bank opened in 1898, everything was paid for in gold nuggets and gold dust, carried around in caribou skin pouches called “pokes”.

Did You Know?

At the height of the gold rush, Dawson was so cut off and people so hungry for news, that even months old newspapers were auctioned off. Some kind people read their papers aloud in public.