North Klondike Highway

Km 668.2 - Klondike River

Nëgha' näjil Tr'ondëk ts'a shò trin'lay hozo nëtr'onay*

Before the Klondike Gold Rush, the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in traditionally fished for the then abundant chinook and chum salmon at the mouth of the Klondike River. The entire Klondike riverbed has a thick layer of round rocks and coarse gravel of various sizes, washed down from the Ogilvie Mountains. Water flows through the river bottom and rises up through the gravel during the winter, providing warmer water for the salmon eggs to incubate and the juvenile salmon to thrive.

Salmon stocks in the Klondike are currently low due to a number of reasons including over-fishing regionally, and in the ocean, and the construction of a hydro dam on the North Klondike in 1911. The Yukon River Commercial Fishing Association and the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in are partners in restoring the salmon stocks in the Klondike and other tributaries of the Yukon River.

The Klondike was prospected for the first time in 1882 by a group of twelve miners based at Fort Reliance on the Yukon River. In 1886 four other prospectors, including Joe Ladue, the founder of Dawson City, prospected down from the headwaters. They found gold, but not enough to mine. Andrew Madden, a discoverer of gold on the Fortymile River, also found gold flakes here, years before the rich gold strike on Bonanza Creek in 1896.

*Welcome to the Klondike.

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