Whitehorse is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River, which rises in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in Alaska. The city was named after the White Horse Rapids for their resemblance to the mane of a white horse.
Because of the city's location in the Whitehorse valley and relative proximity to the Pacific Ocean, the climate tends to be milder. At this latitude, winter days are short and summer days have up to about 19 hours of daylight.
As of the 2021 Canadian census, the population was 28,201 within city boundaries and 31,913 in the census agglomeration. These figures represent approximately 70 and 79 percent, respectively, of the total population of Yukon.
History
Archaeological research south of the downtown area, at a location known as Canyon City, has revealed evidence of use by First Nations for several thousand years. The surrounding area had seasonal fish camps and Frederick Schwatka, in 1883, observed the presence of a portage trail used to bypass Miles Canyon. Before the Gold Rush, several different tribes passed through the area seasonally and their territories overlapped.
The discovery of gold in the Klondike in August 1896, by Skookum Jim, Tagish Charlie, and George Washington Carmack, set off a major change in the historical patterns of the region. Early prospectors used the Chilkoot Pass, but by July 1897, crowds of neophyte prospectors had arrived via steamship and were camping at "White Horse". By June 1898, there was a bottleneck of prospectors at Canyon City, and many boats had been lost to the rapids as well as five people. Samuel Steele of the North-West Mounted Police remarked: "why more casualties have not occurred is a mystery to me."
On their way to find gold, prospectors also found copper in the "copper belt" in the hills west of Whitehorse. The first copper claims were staked by Jack McIntyre on July 6, 1898, and Sam McGee on July 16, 1899. Two tram lines were built, one stretch on the east bank of the Yukon River from Canyon City to the rapids, just across from the present day downtown, and the other on the west bank of the river.
The White Pass and Yukon Route narrow-gauge railway linking Skagway to Whitehorse had begun construction in May 1898. By May 1899, construction had arrived at the south end of Bennett Lake. Construction began again at the north end of Bennett lake to Whitehorse. It was only in June–July 1900 that construction finished the difficult Bennett Lake section itself, completing the entire route.
By 1901, the Whitehorse Star was already reporting on daily freight volumes. Even though traders and prospectors were all calling the city Whitehorse (White Horse), there was an attempt by the railway people to change the name to Closeleigh (British Close brothers provided funding for the railway), this was refused by William Ogilvie, the territory's Commissioner.
On May 23, 1905, a small fire in the barber shop of the Windsor Hotel got out of control when the fire engine ran out of water, spreading throughout the city and causing $300,000 (equivalent to $ million in ) in damage, though there were no deaths. Robert Service was working as a bank teller at the time and participated in suppressing the flame. The White Horse Restaurant and Inn was among the buildings destroyed, after its co-founder Frederick Trump had sold his shares and left the city.Gwenda Blair (2000). The Trumps: Three Generations That Built an Empire. Simon and Schuster. .
In 1920, the first planes landed in Whitehorse and the first air mail was sent in November 1927. Until 1942, rail, river, and air were the only way to get to Whitehorse, but in 1942 the US military decided an interior road would be safer to transfer troops and provisions between Alaska and the US mainland and began construction of the Alaska Highway. The entire project was accomplished between March and November 1942. The Canadian portion of the highway was only returned to Canadian sovereignty after the war. The Canol pipeline was also constructed to supply oil to the north with a refinery in Whitehorse.
In 1950, the city was incorporated and by 1951 the population had doubled from its 1941 numbers. On April 1, 1953, the city was designated the capital of the Yukon Territory when the seat was moved from Dawson City after the construction of the Klondike Highway. On March 21, 1957, the name was officially changed from "White Horse" to "Whitehorse".Robert G. Woodall, The Postal History of Yukon, Canada, Lawrence, MA, Quarterman, Revised edition, ©1976, , p.239
Geography Whitehorse is located at kilometre 1,425 (Historic Mile 918) of the Alaska Highway and is framed by three nearby mountains: Grey Mountain to the east, Mount Sumanik to the northwest and Golden Horn Mountain to the south. The rapids which were the namesake of the city have disappeared under Miles Canyon and Schwatka Lake, formed by the construction of a hydroelectricity dam in 1958. Whitehorse is currently the 64th largest city in Canada by area. The city limits present a near rectangular shape orientated in a NW-SE direction.
Cityscape Whitehorse Bylaw 426 (1975) restricts the operation of motor vehicles to designated roadways in certain "Protected Areas" to ensure maximum conservation of the environmental quality. Most are near the downtown core (downtown and Yukon river escarpments, Mt. Mac ski trails, Riverdale, Valleyview, Hillcrest, Granger, Porter Creek, and Mountainview) and one, Pineridge, is south of downtown.
In 1999, the city approved the Area Development Scheme (ADS) which reallocated the area previously known as "Whitehorse Copper" to the following uses: Country Residential, Commercial, Service Industrial, and Heavy industrial.
Recent demands for growth have reignited urban planning debates in Whitehorse. In 1970 the Metropolitan Whitehorse development plan included park and greenbelt areas that were to be preserved to ensure high quality of life even within city limits.
Climate Whitehorse has a subarctic climate (Köppen climate classification: Dfc, Trewartha Eclc) and lies in the rain shadow of the Coast Mountains, causing precipitation totals to be quite low year-round. Due to the city's location in the Whitehorse valley, the climate is milder than other comparable northern communities such as Yellowknife; however, during cold snaps it is not uncommon for temperatures to drop below . With an average annual temperature of Whitehorse is the warmest place in the Yukon. The temperature measurements for the city are taken at the airport. The Whitehorse Riverdale weather station situated at a lower elevation than the airport is also .
At this latitude winter days are short and summer days have just over 19 hours of daylight. Whitehorse has an average daily high of in July and average daily low of in January. The highest temperature ever recorded in Whitehorse was on 14 June 1969. The coldest temperature ever recorded was on 21 January 1906.
Whitehorse has little precipitation, with an average annual snowfall of and of rainfall. According to the Meteorological Service of Canada, Whitehorse has the distinction of being Canada's driest city. Whitehorse is in the Cordilleran climate region, the Complex Soils of Mountain Areas soil region, the Cordilleran vegetation region, and the Boreal Cordillera ecozone.
Neighbourhoods Due to Whitehorse's unique urban development objectives and varied topography, neighbourhoods are usually separated from each other by large geographical features. In addition to the city's downtown core on the Yukon River's west bank, two subdivisions sit at the same elevation as the Yukon River — . Crossing the bridge to the east bank of the river leads to Riverdale, one of the city's oldest neighbourhoods. From Riverdale, the road climbing up Grey Mountain leads to Grey Mountain Cemetery and the local FM radio antenna.
The rest of Whitehorse is generally located above . Immediately after climbing "Two Mile Hill", looking to the north are the old residential neighbourhoods of Takhini West, Takhini North, and Takhini East, where many homes actually are originally army barracks and military officers' residences. Yukon University, Yukon Arts Centre and Whitehorse Correctional Centre are situated in Takhini. Situated further north are Range Point, Porter Creek, and Crestview, as well as Whitehorse's newest neighbourhood, Whistle Bend, where a significant amount of new residential growth is currently occurring.
West of downtown are Valleyview, Hillcrest (also largely constituted of old military lodgings) and the Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport; and beyond the Canada Games Centre along Hamilton Boulevard are the neighbourhoods of McIntyre (designated to replace inferior lands and homes of the Kwanlin Dun First Nation ("The Village") previously located where Marwell adjoins a marshy area), then Ingram, Arkell, Logan, Granger, and rapidly expanding Copper Ridge.
Whitehorse also has subdivisions designated "Country Residential" which are subject to different municipal bylaws and are located farther out from the downtown. They consist of the rural Whitehorse subdivisions of Hidden Valley and MacPherson at Whitehorse's northern limits; to the south: McCrae (also spelt MacRae), Wolf Creek, Wolf Creek North, Mary Lake, Cowley Creek, Spruce Hill, Pineridge and Fox Haven Estates. Also located at the south end of the city is the newly designated Mt. Sima Service Industrial Subdivision.
Construction of Whistle Bend, Whitehorse's newest subdivision, began in 2010 on the "Lower Bench" east of the Porter Creek subdivision.
Attractions
MacBride Copperbelt Mining Museum MacBride Museum of Yukon History Miles Canyon sternwheeler Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre Yukon Transportation Museum
Demographics
In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Whitehorse had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021.
The 2021 census reported that immigrants (individuals born outside Canada) comprise 4,195 persons or 15.1% of the total population of Whitehorse. Of the total immigrant population, the top countries of origin were Philippines (1,325 persons or 31.6%), United Kingdom (395 persons or 9.4%), United States of America (365 persons or 8.7%), India (335 persons or 8.0%), Germany (230 persons or 5.5%), China (175 persons or 4.2%), France (95 persons or 2.3%), Netherlands (70 persons or 1.7%), South Korea (65 persons or 1.5%), and Japan (60 persons or 1.4%).
As of 2021, most of the residents are Canadian citizens (91.0%).
Ethnicity Whitehorse's population is mostly European (66.9%), but has a significant number of Indigenous peoples (16.3%): First Nations (11.7%), Metis (3.4%), and Inuit (0.7%). There is also a moderate visible minority population (16.8%): Filipino (6.6%), South Asian (3.5%), and Chinese (1.9%) were the three largest minority groups. + Panethnic groups in the City of Whitehorse (2001–2021)Panethnicgroup20212016201120062001 European 18,535 17,475 17,235 15,450 14,995 Indigenous 4,530 4,420 3,770 3,785 3,010 Southeast Asian 1,970 1,215 785 320 305 South Asian 975 480 355 170 205 East Asian 785 505 420 300 240 African 520 215 70 95 95 Latin American 215 100 95 95 35 Middle Eastern 40 40 0 20 10 Other 155 105 50 50 15 Total responses 27,725 24,560 22,810 20,290 18,915 Total population 28,201 25,085 23,276 20,461 19,058 Note: There are totals greater than 100% due to multiple origin responses.
Language