What is Whitehorse?

Whitehorse is the capital of Yukon and the largest community in the territory, with a population of about 30,000 in the city and about 32,000 in the Whitehorse Metropolitan Area. About two-thirds of all Yukon residents live in Whitehorse. The city is on the Yukon River in southern Yukon, about 100 kilometres north of the British Columbia border. Whitehorse has been the territorial capital since 1953, when the capital moved from Dawson City following the post-war decline of the Klondike.

The settlement was founded in 1900 as the southern end of the White Pass and Yukon Route narrow-gauge railway, which ran 177 kilometres from Skagway, Alaska to Whitehorse. The railway was built in 1898 to 1900 to serve the Klondike Gold Rush and was the principal transportation link between southern coast and the Yukon interior until the Alaska Highway opened in 1942 (the WP&YR closed in 1982 and partially reopened as a tourist railway in 1988). Whitehorse was named for the rapids on the Yukon River below town that were said to resemble white horses' manes; the rapids were inundated by the Whitehorse Rapids hydroelectric dam in 1958.

Whitehorse is the principal Yukon transportation hub. The Alaska Highway (opened November 21, 1942 by the United States Army during the Second World War to provide a Pacific defence route to Alaska) passes through the city. The Erik Nielsen Whitehorse International Airport (named for the Yukon politician who was Deputy Prime Minister 1984 to 1986) is the principal Yukon airport with daily service to Vancouver, Calgary, and Edmonton. The MV Klondike, a stern-wheel paddle steamer that operated on the Yukon River from 1937 to 1955, is preserved as a National Historic Site on the city's waterfront.

Whitehorse hosts the Yukon Legislative Assembly, the Yukon Government Administration Building, and most federal and territorial government offices in Yukon. The Yukon Quest 1,000-mile sled dog race between Whitehorse and Fairbanks, Alaska (held annually since 1984) is one of the world's longest sled-dog events. Major attractions include the MacBride Museum of Yukon History, the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre (focused on Pleistocene fauna of the Beringia land bridge), the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, the Robert Service Cabin, and the Sourdough Rendezvous winter festival each February. The Kwanlin Dun First Nation and the Ta'an Kwach'an Council (both signatories to Yukon final agreements) hold settlement land within Whitehorse city limits.