Rivers

The 3,700 km Yukon River was the major route of travel across north-western North America from 1898 until after the Second World War when the Alaska Highway was constructed. The section of the Yukon from Lake Laberge to the mouth of the Teslin River was named the Thirty Mile River during the Klondike Gold Rush. It is now a designated Canadian Heritage River. The last paddlewheeler was dry-docked in the early 1950s, leaving a system of wood cutting camps and river-oriented towns without support. The majority of today’s Yukon River travellers are recreational.