At the same time as the initial gold discoveries were being made, the US Army sent Lieutenant Frederick Schwatka to reconnoiter Yukon River by the US Army.
The Progressive Conservatives won these elections and formed the first party government of Yukon in January 1979.
The Yukon Act, passed on April 1, 2003, formalized the powers of the Yukon government and devolved a number of additional powers to the territorial government (e.g., control over land and natural resources).
At about 800 C.E., a large volcanic eruption in Mount Churchill near the Alaska border blanketed the southern Yukon with ash.
The central and northern Yukon were not glaciated, as they were part of Beringia.
After establishing Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, John Bell crossed the mountains into Yukon River watershed in 1845, and went down the Rat River (today the Bell River) to its confluence with the Porcupine River.
Soon after, Alexander Hunter Murray established trading posts at Lapierre House (1846) and at Fort Yukon (1847) at the juncture of the Porcupine and Yukon Rivers.
European incursions into what later became Yukon started in the first half of the nineteenth century.
Going over the Chilkoot Pass, his party built rafts and floated down Yukon River to its mouth in the Bering Sea, naming many geographic features along the way.
The southern route started at Fort Liard, Northwest Territories, then westward along the Liard River to Frances Lake and then along the Pelly River to its juncture with Yukon River.
Most of the Sahara consists of rocky hammada; ergs (large sand dunes) form only a minor part.
Of note is William Carpenter Bompas who became the first Anglican bishop of Yukon.
The Liberal government of Pat Duncan was defeated in elections in November 2002, with Dennis Fentie of the Yukon Party forming the government as Premier.
The conservatives returned to power in 1992 under John Ostashek after having renamed themselves the Yukon Party.
Yukon, also known as the "Yukon Territory," is one of Canada's three most northern arctic territories.
Yukon First Nations stories speak of all the animals and fish dying as a result.
In 1859, Robert Kennicott set off on an expedition to collect natural history specimens in what are now the Mackenzie River and Yukon River valleys and in the Arctic tundra beyond.
After managing the fur trade at Fort McPherson, he returned to the Bell River, and followed the Porcupine to its juncture with Yukon River, the eventual site of Fort Yukon.
The influx of people greatly stimulated mineral exploration in other parts of Yukon and led to two subsidiary gold rushes in Atlin, British Columbia and Nome, Alaska as well as a number of mini-rushes.
The northern route started in Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories along the Mackenzie River, crossed the mountains into the Bell and Porcupine Rivers to the Yukon River.
Murray drew numerous sketches of fur trade posts and of people and wrote the Journal of Yukon, 1847–48, which give valuable insight into the culture of local Gwich’in First Nation people at the time.
Following the Alaska purchase and the abandonment of Rampart house, Alaska Commercial Company traders started working along the upper Yukon River.
In 1894, concerned about the influx of American miners and the liquor trade, the Canadian government sent inspector Charles Constantine of the Northwest Mounted Police to examine conditions in Yukon district.
The region known today as the state of Wyoming was originally inhabited by several Native American groups.
Disputed evidence of the oldest remains of human inhabitation in North America have been found in Yukon.
The Yukon New Democratic Party (NDP) formed the government from 1985 to 1992 under Tony Penikett and again from 1996 under Piers McDonald until being defeated in 2000.
Yukon's capital is the city of Whitehorse, with a population of 23,272.
A large number of apparently human-modified animal bones were discovered in the caves of the Old Crow area in the northern Yukon that have been dated to 25,000–40,000 years ago by carbon dating.
The Yukon Consolidated Gold Company continued to dredge for gold until the 1960s.
All Yukon communities except one are accessible by mostly paved roads, but air travel is the only way to reach one remote community in the Far North (Old Crow).
Transportation needs to the gold fields led to the construction of the White Pass and Yukon Railway.
Hudson's Bay Company explorers and traders from Mackenzie River trading posts used two different routes to enter Yukon and created trading posts along the way.
Catholic missionaries were mainly from the order of Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate, who still retain a presence in Yukon today.
Of Canada's thirteen provinces and territories, the Yukon is the only one which is not further subdivided into census divisions—instead, the whole territory constitutes a single census division.
The Yukon is also home to Mount Logan, at 5,959 metres (19,551 ft) the highest mountain in Canada and second highest in North America (after Mount McKinley).
The region known today as the state of Wyoming was originally inhabited by several Native American groups.
One Yukon Member of Parliament — Erik Nielsen — was the Deputy Prime Minister under the Mulroney government, while another — Audrey McLaughlin — was the leader of the federal New Democratic Party.