Silver Trail

Km 50 - Mayo

Mayo Lake and Mayo River were named in 1887 by Alexander MacDonald, a New Brunswick prospector. The trading partners, Al Mayo, "Jack" McQuesten, and Arthur Harper, invested in, or "grubstaked" many of the early prospectors like MacDonald.

The Klondike Gold Rush brought thousands of prospectors into the Yukon and they searched the creeks for the yellow metal. The Gustaveson family, a father and his two sons, found the first gold on Duncan Creek in 1898 and more stampeders followed. By 1902, the creek was staked from the headwaters to the Mayo River.

The steamers Lightning, Prospector, and Vidette brought miners and supplies to Gordon's Landing, the trailhead for Duncan Creek, about 17 miles above present-day Mayo. Mayo Landing was established in 1903 to accommodate the bigger steamers. In that year, coarse gold nuggets were found in many of the small creeks draining into Mayo Lake. The government constructed a road from Mayo Landing to Duncan Creek in 1904/05 and, in the same year, Dawson and Mayo Landing were connected by a winter road.

Mayo Landing

The discovery of silver-rich galena on the trail to Duncan Creek was first made in 1903 by "Jake" Davidson. He did not consider the find important and gave the ore samples to Harry McWhorter. In 1913 McWhorter staked the Silver King, one of the most important discoveries of the Mayo District.

The road from Mayo Landing to Keno was constructed after Louis Bouvette's silver discovery on Keno Hill in 1919. Mayo became a busy mining camp and ore bags of silver concentrate were stockpiled for the boats during the winter. During low water, ore was taken from Mayo to Stewart on the shallow draft sternwheelers Vidette and Pauline. The ore was transferred at Stewart to larger steamers like the Canadian, Aksala and the Nasutlin. These boats were able to navigate the Stewart River as far as Mayo in higher water.

By 1925 silver production was booming. Ore was shipped out from Mayo Landing on the boats until 1955, when shipping via the new road to Whitehorse proved more economical and could occur year-round. The name Mayo Landing was changed to Mayo in 1958.

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