The Klondike (pronounced /ˈklɒndaɪk/; from Hän Tr'ondëk, meaning "hammerstone water") is a region in the Yukon territory of northwestern Canada. It is located near the Klondike River, a small river that flows into the Yukon River from the east at Dawson City. The Klondike is not an official area and does not serve as an administrative region.

The Klondike is famous for the Klondike Gold Rush, which began in 1896 and ended in 1899. Gold has been mined there continuously since then, except for a short break in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

In 2023, the cultural landscape of the Tr'ondëk-Klondike was recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site because it shows how the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people adapted to European colonization that started in the late 19th century.

Climate and ecology

Klondike has a cold climate, similar to a subarctic climate (Köppen Dfc) and close to a tundra climate (Köppen ET). The area has a short summer with warm temperatures and a long winter with very cold weather. By late October, ice covers the rivers. For most of the year, the ground remains frozen to a depth of 1 to 3 meters (3 to 10 feet). The landscape is mainly covered by spruce, aspen, and birch trees, with plants along rivers mixed in.

Salmon have likely traveled from the Pacific Ocean to the Klondike River to lay eggs for at least 65,000 years. Archaeological evidence shows people have fished for salmon in the area as far back as 11,500 years ago. Caribou also move through the Klondike region during their seasonal migrations. Other animals living in the area include moose, black bear, grizzly bear, lynx, marten, wolf, wolverine, Dall's sheep, and beaver.

A weather station in Klondike is located along the Dempster Highway, near the southern entrance of Tombstone Territorial Park, at an elevation of 973 meters (3,192 feet).

Politics

Klondike is a district in the Yukon Legislative Assembly. Sandy Silver, who was the former Premier of Yukon and a member of the Liberal party, represents the electoral district of Klondike.

History

The Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in people have lived in the Klondike region for more than 9,000 years. UNESCO said the area changed a lot during when colonists took over the land. European traders arrived in the mid-1800s, and in 1874, the first trading post in the Klondike, called Fort Reliance, was built. In 1876, the Indian Act was passed without any agreement from Indigenous people. This law limited Indigenous Canadians’ ability to practice their culture or live on their traditional lands. This law, along with the discovery of valuable metals in the area, caused more colonists to arrive in the 1880s. In 1893, the first permanent non-Indigenous settlement was built at Ch'ëdähdëk (Forty Mile), a place that had been used by Indigenous people for hunting. When gold was found nearby in 1896, many boomtowns were created, and the Klondike became an industrial area. Nearly 30,000 people arrived in Dawson City in the following years. In mid-1901, an expedition left California to prove the Klondike was the location of the Biblical Garden of Eden. The trip was funded with $50,000 by Morris Ketchum Jesup and included an American naturalist, Norman Buxton, and two Russian scientists, Waldemar Bogoras and Waldemar Jochelson. The Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in were forced to move downriver to an ancestral camp called Moosehide, which became the center of the Indigenous community until the 1950s.

After the Klondike Gold Rush ended near the start of the 20th century, many boomtowns became ghost towns. However, Dawson City remained the capital of the Yukon until 1953, when the capital was moved to Whitehorse.

Tr'ondëk-Klondike World Heritage Site

In 2023, several archaeological sites in the Klondike were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List as a cultural landscape. This area includes eight distinct properties that show evidence of the change from Indigenous to European land use and the interactions between these groups. The sites are described as follows:

• Fort Reliance: The first trading post in the Klondike, built in 1874.
• Ch'ëdähdëk (Forty Mile): A traditional hunting location and the oldest European settlement in the Yukon, which was abandoned during the Klondike Gold Rush.
• Ch'ëdähdëk Tth'än K'et (Dënezhu Graveyard): A First Nations cemetery with about 22 graves.
• Fort Cudahy and Fort Constantine: Forts built in 1893 and 1895, both abandoned shortly after.
• Tr'ochëk: A traditional fishing camp.
• Dawson City: The major city and industrial center of the Yukon during the Klondike Gold Rush.
• Jëjik Dhä Dënezhu Kek'it (Moosehide Village): An important gathering place for the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in First Nation, where they relocated during European expansion.
• Zra¸y Kek'it (Black City): An archaeological site and abandoned Indigenous settlement used in the 19th century to take advantage of trade with European colonists.