Gold, discovered in 1896 on nearby creeks, caused the Klondike Gold Rush which turned this native summer fish camp at the junction of the Klondike and Yukon Rivers into the "Paris of the North". (The natives moved downstream to Moosehide.) The town was staked out by Joe Ladue and named after George M. Dawson, Director of the Geological Survey of Canada, who explored the region in 1887.
Major mining operations took over most of the Klondike gold beds in the years following the Gold Rush, but production declined after an all-time high in 1911. Higher gold prices caused a minor boom in the 1930's, but the last dredge was shut down in 1966. The Yukon's economic centre shifted to Whitehorse, which became the capital in 1953. Whitehorse was more accessible than Dawson due to the building of the Alaska Highway and cessation of riverboat travel.
536 kilometres (334 miles) northwest of Whitehorse on the Klondike Highway