Stewart River | |
---|---|
![]() The Stewart River seen from the Klondike Highway bridge | |
Etymology | Named by Robert Campbell for one of his friends in the Hudson's Bay Company |
Native name | Nä`chòo ndek (Hän) |
Location | |
Country | Canada |
Territory | Yukon |
Cities | |
Physical characteristics | |
Source | Selwyn Mountains |
Mouth | Yukon River |
• coordinates | 63°17′30″N139°24′42″W / 63.29167°N 139.41167°W Coordinates: 63°17′30″N139°24′42″W / 63.29167°N 139.41167°W |
Length | 533 km (331 mi) |
Basin size | 51,000 km2 (20,000 sq mi) [1] |
Discharge | |
• average | 850 m3/s (30,000 cu ft/s) [1] |
• minimum | 52 m3/s (1,800 cu ft/s) |
• maximum | 3,940 m3/s (139,000 cu ft/s) |
Basin features | |
Tributaries | |
• left | Hess River |
• right | Beaver River (Stewart River) |
The Stewart River (Hän: Nä`chòo ndek) is a 533-kilometre (331 mi) tributary of Yukon River in the Yukon Territory of Canada. [2] It originates in the Selwyn Mountains, which stand on the border between the Northwest Territories and the Yukon Territory. From there, the Stewart flows west, past the village of Mayo. The river is crossed by the Klondike Highway at the village of Stewart Crossing, and the highway parallels the river westward for about 56 kilometres (35 mi). After leaving the highway, the river travels southwest until it intersects the Yukon River 112 kilometres (70 mi) south of Dawson City. The mostly abandoned village of Stewart River is located at the mouth of the river.
The Stewart River was explored by Robert Campbell of the Hudson's Bay Company in 1850. He named the river after a close friend and assistant in the company, James Green Stewart. Stewart was instrumental in helping Campbell build and supply Fort Selkirk at the junction of the Pelly and Yukon rivers. [3] It lay undeveloped until the Klondike Gold Rush opened the area to prospecting and mining. Because the Stewart River was located away from the Klondike River and the best-known gold fields, it did not receive as much attention from big mining companies. Individual miners and smaller companies explored gold prospects along the river, and in 1914, a large silver lode was found on a tributary of the Stewart. This spurred mining, and in 1918, an even bigger silver source was found at the present-day site of Keno City. [4]
Mining operations increased and, by 1923, the value of silver mined from the Stewart River area surpassed that of the gold taken from the Klondike. Because the Stewart is shallower than the Yukon River, ordinary steamboats could not be used on the river. Special models had to be built, and these operated on the Stewart River until they were replaced by a road network after World War II. The S.S. Keno, a Stewart River steamer, has been preserved as a Canadian historic monument in Dawson City. [5]
Yukon is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 44,238 as of March 2023. Whitehorse, the territorial capital, is the largest settlement in any of the three territories.
Dawson City, officially the City of Dawson, is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–99). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest town in Yukon.
Carcross, originally known as Caribou Crossing, is an unincorporated community in Yukon, Canada, on Bennett Lake and Nares Lake. It is home to the Carcross/Tagish First Nation.
The Klondike Highway is a highway that runs from the Alaska Panhandle through the province of British Columbia and the territory of Yukon in Canada, linking the coastal town of Skagway, Alaska, to Dawson City, Yukon. Its route somewhat parallels the route used by prospectors in the 1898 Klondike Gold Rush.
Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park is a national historical park operated by the National Park Service that seeks to commemorate the Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s. Though the gold fields that were the ultimate goal of the stampeders lay in the Yukon Territory, the park comprises staging areas for the trek there and the routes leading in its direction. There are four units, including three in Municipality of Skagway Borough, Alaska and a fourth in the Pioneer Square National Historic District in Seattle, Washington.
Elsa is a former privately owned mining town in the Canadian territory of Yukon, between the Stewart River valley to the south and the Mackenzie Mountains to the north. It is located at Kilometre 97 of the Silver Trail, approximately 700 kilometres (435 mi) north of Whitehorse and 600 km (373 mi) east of the Alaskan border.
Carmacks is a village in Yukon, Canada, on the Yukon River along the Klondike Highway, and at the west end of the Robert Campbell Highway from Watson Lake. The population is 493. It is the home of the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation, a Northern Tutchone-speaking people.
Keno City is a small community in Yukon, Canada at the end of the Silver Trail highway. Keno City was the site of a former silver-lead mining area proximal to Keno Hill. Keno City is 13 kilometres away from Elsa, Yukon, which is owned by Hecla mining who currently own and operate the various Ag-Pb-Zn deposits in the Keno Hill area. Rich silver and lead ore deposits were found on Keno Hill in 1919, and since then the population of the community has fluctuated in response to the mining activity in the area. When in 1989 United Keno Hill closed the mines, literally overnight, the people in the Keno area who decided to stay chose a more sustainable economy: tourism. They successfully marketed Keno City as a quiet, tranquil community.
The Pelly River is a river in Canada, and is a headstream of the Yukon River. The river originates west of the Mackenzie Mountains and flows 530 km (330 mi) long through the south central Yukon. The Pelly has two main tributaries, the Ross and Macmillan rivers.
The Silver Trail, officially Yukon Highway 11, is a highway in the Canadian territory of Yukon connecting the communities of Mayo and Keno City with the Klondike Highway at Stewart Crossing. It was originally built in 1950-51 as the Whitehorse–Mayo Road, and originally designated as Highway 2. The route was renumbered in 1978 as Highway 11, and in the mid-1980s was given its current name to reflect to the historic operations of silver mining in the district.
Mayo is a village in Yukon, Canada, along the Silver Trail and the Stewart River. It had a population of 200 in 2016. The Yukon Bureau of Statistics estimated a population of 496 in 2019. It is also the home of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, whose primary language is Northern Tutchone. Na-Cho Nyäk Dun translates into "big river people."
The history of Yukon covers the period from the arrival of Paleo-Indians through the Beringia land bridge approximately 20,000 years ago. In the 18th century, Russian explorers began to trade with the First Nations people along the Alaskan coast, and later established trade networks extending into Yukon. By the 19th century, traders from the Hudson's Bay Company were also active in the region. The region was administered as a part of the North-Western Territory until 1870, when the United Kingdom transferred the territory to Canada and it became the North-West Territories.
Steamboats on the Yukon River played a role in the development of Alaska and Yukon. Access to the interior of Alaska and Yukon was hindered by large mountains and distance, but the wide Yukon River provided a feasible route. The first steamers on the lower Yukon River were work boats for the Collins Overland Telegraph in 1866 or 1867, with a small steamer called Wilder. The mouth of the Yukon River is far to the west at St. Michael and a journey from Seattle or San Francisco covered some 4,000 miles (6,400 km).
King Solomon's Dome, also called King Solomon Dome, is a 1,234-metre (4,049 ft) peak in the Yukon-Mackenzie Divide region of the Yukon Territory, Canada. It is 32 kilometres (20 mi) southeast of Dawson City, Yukon, and is believed to be the source of the gold fields that sparked the Klondike Gold Rush at the turn of the 20th century. The mountain's name comes from King Solomon, an ancient king of Israel who was famed for his riches.
Bonanza Creek is a watercourse in Yukon Territory, Canada. It runs for about 20 miles (32 km) from King Solomon's Dome to the Klondike River. In the last years of the 19th century and the early 20th century, Bonanza Creek was the centre of the Klondike Gold Rush, which attracted tens of thousands of prospectors to the creek and the area surrounding it. Prior to 1896 the creek was known as Rabbit Creek. Its name was changed by miners in honour of the millions of dollars in gold found in and around the creek.
The SS Keno is a preserved historic sternwheel paddle steamer, a National Historic Site of Canada, and a unit of the Canadian national park system. The SS Keno is berthed in a dry dock on the waterfront of the Yukon River in Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.
Discovery Claim is a mining claim at Bonanza Creek, a watercourse in the Yukon, Canada. It is the site where, in the afternoon of August 16, 1896, the first piece of gold was found in the Yukon by prospectors. The site is considered to be the place where the Klondike gold rush started. It is located around 17 km south-southeast of Dawson City. The Discovery claim was designated a National Historic Site of Canada on July 13, 1998.
Dredge No. 4 is a wooden-hulled bucketline sluice dredge that mined placer gold on the Yukon River from 1913 until 1959. It is now located along Bonanza Creek Road 13 kilometres (8.1 mi) south of the Klondike Highway near Dawson City, Yukon, where it is preserved as one of the National Historic Sites of Canada. It is the largest wooden-hulled dredge in North America.
Mayo was an electoral district which returned an MLA to the Legislative Assembly of the Yukon Territory in Canada. It was created in 1928, at a time when it was one of three districts who elected advisors to the Yukon Territorial Council. The more contemporary, final iteration of the riding was created from an amalgamation of the riding with part of the riding of Klondike. It was abolished in 1992 when it was amalgamated with the riding of Tatchun to form the riding of Mayo-Tatchun.