is a
Canadian city, the territorial
Capital of the
Yukon . Its population is 23,205 (Yukon Bureau of Statistics Dec 2004).
Whitehorse is at
Kilometre 1489 of the
Alaska Highway and is the former terminus of the
White Pass And Yukon Route Railway from
Skagway, Alaska (although the rails are still there, the train only goes as far as Carcross now). At the head of navigation on the
Yukon River , the city was an important supply and stage centre during the
Klondike Gold Rush . It has been the territorial capital since
1952 , when the seat was moved from
Dawson City after the construction of the
Klondike Highway .
The city gets its name from the Whitehorse
Rapid s, which were said to look like the mane of a white
Horse . The rapids have disappeared under
Schwatka Lake behind a
Hydroelectric Dam , which was completed in 1957.
Nowadays Whitehorse is a government town, with excellent facilities for visitors and locals to enjoy. It is the home of the main campus of
Yukon College . A $60 million (CAD) Multiplex centre has been built for the
Canada Winter Games in
2007 . Whitehorse also previously hosted the 1972, 1980, 1986, 1992 and 2000
Arctic Winter Games .
Some of the tourist attractions in Whitehorse include Miles Canyon, the S.S. Klondike
Sternwheeler , the MacBride Museum, the Old Log Church Museum, the
Beringia Centre, Yukon Gardens, "Log Skyscrapers," the Whitehorse
Fish Ladder , the Yukon Wildlife Preserve and the Takhini
Hot Springs .
Whitehorse is served by the
Whitehorse International Airport and has scheduled service to
Vancouver ,
Calgary ,
Edmonton ,
Fairbanks and
Frankfurt ,
Germany (summer months). During the
September 11, 2001 Attacks , 3 aircraft approaching the United States from Asia were diverted to Whitehorse as part of
Operation Yellow Ribbon , including a
Korean Air 747 that was feared hijacked but this was not the case — the plane was low on fuel. Many of the buildings in the downtown area below the airport were evacuated. Those who witnessed the plane's landing said that they saw the
RCMP order the crew out at gunpoint.
Although he grew up mostly in
Dawson City , Canadian author
Pierre Berton was born in Whitehorse. As well,
Robert W. Service started writing his poetry when he moved to Whitehorse. Other famous people from Whitehorse include senator
Ione Christensen and actor
Tahmoh Penikett .
Like most of the Yukon, Whitehorse has a dry
Subarctic Climate , although with warmer winters than some
Canadian Prairies cities. Whitehorse experiences annual temperature average daily highs of 21 °C in July and average daily lows of −22 °C in January. Record high temperature was 34 °C in June 1969 and the lowest was −52 °C in January 1947. Whitehorse has little precipitation with an average annual snowfall of 145 cm and 163 mm of rainfall.
According to of the
Coast Mountains . Surprisingly, despite its relatively cold climate, Whitehorse was ranked among Canadian cities with the
most comfortable climate.
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