The klondike () is a region of the territory of Yukon, in northwestern Canada. It lies around the

Klondike River The Klondike River (Hän: ') is a tributary of the Yukon River in Canada that gave its name to the Klondike Gold Rush. The Klondike River rises in the Ogilvie Mountains and flows into the Yukon River at Dawson City. Its name comes from the H� ...

, a small river that enters the

Yukon River The Yukon River ( Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän: ''Tth'echù'' or ''Chuu k'onn'', Southern Tutchone: Chu Nìikwän, russian: Юкон, Yukon) is a major watercourse ...

from the east at Dawson City. The area is merely an informal geographic region, and has no function to the territory as any kind of

administrative region Administrative division, administrative unit,Article 3(1). country subdivision, administrative region, subnational entity, constituent state, as well as many similar terms, are generic names for geographical areas into which a particular, ind ...

. The Klondike is famed due to the Klondike Gold Rush, which started in 1896 and lasted until 1899. Gold has been mined continuously in that area, except for a pause in the late 1960s and early 1970s. The name "Klondike" evolved from the

Hän The Hän, Han or Hwëch'in / Han Hwech’in (meaning "People of the River, i.e. Yukon River", in English also Hankutchin) are a First Nations people of Canada and an Alaska Native Athabaskan people of the United States; they are part of the At ...

word ''Tr'ondëk'', which means " hammerstone water". Early gold seekers found it difficult to pronounce the First Nations word, so "Klondike" was the best approximation.

Climate

The climate is warm in the short summer, and very cold during the long winter. By late October, ice forms over the rivers. For the majority of the year, the ground is frozen to a depth of .

Politics

Klondike is a district of the

Legislative Assembly of Yukon The Yukon Legislative Assembly (french: Assemblée législative du Yukon) is the legislative assembly for Yukon, Canada. Unique among Canada's three territories, the Yukon Legislative Assembly is the only territorial legislature which is organiz ...

. The current Premier of the Yukon, Liberal

Sandy Silver Sidney Alexander "Sandy" Silver (born October 15, 1969) is a Canadian politician, the ninth and current premier of Yukon since 2016. He was first elected to the Yukon Legislative Assembly in the 2011 election, and was re-elected in 2016. He repre ...

, represents the electoral district of Klondike.

References

Hän Geography of Yukon Klondike Gold Rush Geographic regions of Canada {{Yukon-geo-stub