Dawson City, officially known as the City of Dawson, is a city nestled in the Canadian territory of Yukon. With a population of 1,577 as of the 2021 census, it stands as the second-largest city in Yukon. Dawson City is deeply intertwined with the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899), a historical event that significantly shaped its identity.
Before the late modern period, the area was a hunting and gathering ground for the Hän-speaking people of the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in and their ancestors. Their homeland's heart was Tr'ochëk, a fishing camp at the Klondike River and Yukon River's confluence, now a National Historic Site of Canada.
The current settlement was founded by Joseph Ladue in January 1897 and named after the renowned Canadian geologist George M. Dawson. Dawson City served as Yukon's capital from the territory's founding in 1898 until 1952.
Dawson City was the epicenter of the Klondike Gold Rush, transforming the First Nations camp into a bustling city of 16,000–17,000 by 1898. However, by 1899, the gold rush had ended, and the town's population drastically dropped. Despite several devastating fires and floods, Dawson City has persevered and evolved, with the high price of gold making modern placer mining operations profitable and the growth of the tourism industry encouraging the development of facilities.
In 2023, the Dawson City townsite became part of the Tr’ondëk-Klondike UNESCO World Heritage Site, further cementing its historical significance.
Dawson City is situated on the Tintina Fault, which has created the Tintina Trench and continues eastward for several hundred kilometres. Erosional remnants of lava flows form outcrops immediately north and west of Dawson City.
Dawson City experiences a subarctic climate, with most precipitation occurring during the summer. The average temperature in July is 15.7 °C (60.3 °F) and in January is −26.0 °C (−14.8 °F). The community is at an elevation of 320 m (1,050 ft), and the town is built on a layer of frozen earth, which may pose a threat to the town's infrastructure if the permafrost melts.
As per the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Dawson City had a population of 1,577 living in 770 of its 836 total private dwellings. The town is predominantly European Canadian, with First Nations accounting for 15.3% of the population and Filipino accounting for 4.4% of the population.
Dawson City boasts of two airports, the Dawson City Airport and the Dawson City Water Aerodrome. The city is accessible via the Klondike Highway from Whitehorse and the Top of the World Highway from Tok, Alaska. During winter, an ice bridge across the Yukon River facilitates foot and vehicle traffic. The city also has a municipal government-owned cable television system and a Northwestel telephone exchange.
