Early Yukon Engineering Projects

The scale and challenges of the construction of the Yukon Ditch make it one of the most ambitious engineering projects in early Yukon history along with the building of the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway. A network of ditches, flumes and pipelines spanning 112 km was built over three summer seasons (1906 to 1909) by the Yukon Gold Company. Find out more…

Livingston Wernecke, engineer and Treadwell Yukon Corp. (TYC) executive, had to overcome transportation difficulties when building new mining operations on Keno and Galena Hills. In the mid 1930s he directed John Henderson Scott, TYC engineer, to design an aerial tramway. A 4,325 m aerial tramline with a vertical drop of about 400 m was built to transport ore from the Hector-Calumet mine to the Elsa mill. Find out more…

Before settling on the Whitehorse Rapids site, two other sites and a coal fired steam plant were considered. In the end, construction of a hydro generating station in Whitehorse was approved. On-site work began in late 1957. Find out more…

Providing safe, reliable and inexpensive transportation was one of the main challenges to making mines and other operations profitable in the Yukon. Find out more…

Electricity arrived in Dawson City long before other major cities in North America. Powered by a steam plant built at the south end of Dawson City near the Klondike River, electricity was illuminating the streets and parlours of Dawson by late 1898. Find out more…

William R. Young staked the Montana claim in 1899, giving the mountain upon which it was staked its name. In 1900, three prospectors, Jack Pooley, Jack Stewart and Ira Petty prospected the region of the Montana claim, staking the Mountain Hero claim next to Young’s property. The Venus and Uranus claims were staked the following year. Interest increased and others started staking claims in the same region in 1903. During a visit to the Yukon in 1904, entrepreneur John H. Conrad showed an interest in various Windy Arm properties. He formed two companies and the development of the Windy Arm claims began in March, 1905. Find out more…