Clinton Creek (

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 ...

: ''Dätl'äkayy juu'') \was a mining town in

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

. It was a small company-owned

asbestos Asbestos ( ) is a group of naturally occurring, Toxicity, toxic, carcinogenic and fibrous silicate minerals. There are six types, all of which are composed of long and thin fibrous Crystal habit, crystals, each fibre (particulate with length su ...

mining town in western

near the confluence of the

and Fortymile rivers. It was operated by the Cassiar Asbestos Corporation, which also operated the

mine in

Cassiar, British Columbia Cassiar is a ghost town in British Columbia, Canada. It was a small company-owned asbestos mining town located in the Cassiar Mountains of Northern British Columbia north of Dease Lake. History The discovery of asbestos in the area in 1950 l ...

, from 1967 to 1978, when it was closed and all the buildings were auctioned off.

History

Clinton Creek had a population of 500, a main building housing the post office, grocery store, cafeteria (used mainly for mine workers), and the remaining rooms served for community social gatherings like a projector set up for weekly reel movies, and a snack bar. Road access was available via a road that joined with Yukon Highway 3, known since 1978 as Yukon territorial highway 9, the

Top of the World Highway The Top of the World Highway is a highway, beginning at a junction with the Taylor Highway near the unincorporated community of Jack Wade, Alaska travelling east to its terminus at the ferry terminal in West Dawson, Yukon, on the western banks ...

. Mining product was transported across the

Yukon River The Yukon River is a major watercourse of northwestern North America. From its source in British Columbia, it flows through Canada's territory of Yukon (itself named after the river). The lower half of the river continues westward through the U.S ...

Dawson City Dawson City is a town in the Canadian territory of Yukon. It is inseparably linked to the Klondike Gold Rush (1896–1899). Its population was 1,577 as of the 2021 census, making it the second-largest municipality in Yukon. History Prior t ...

ferry A ferry is a boat or ship that transports passengers, and occasionally vehicles and cargo, across a body of water. A small passenger ferry with multiple stops, like those in Venice, Italy, is sometimes referred to as a water taxi or water bus ...

in summer,

ice road An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Int ...

in winter, and by a tram system in the spring and fall. At the time, at least some

residents demanded that a bridge be built. The community was fairly well served, with dial telephone service, and it was one of the only six communities in Yukon with television service before 1973. Upon the closing of the townsite, many residents dispersed to other mining towns like

, and

Faro, Yukon Faro is a town in central Yukon, Canada, the home of the now abandoned Faro Mine. It was the largest open-pit lead– zinc mine in the world as well as a significant producer of silver and other natural resources. The mine was built by the ...

. Although the townsite is now abandoned, the road is passable to allow access to the historic ghost town of Fortymile, which was itself abandoned around 1898 when

boomed. Fortymile was the location of a mining office where the Klondike gold strike claim was registered by

George Carmack George Washington Carmack (September 24, 1860 – June 5, 1922) was an American prospector in the Yukon. He was originally credited with registering Discovery Claim, the discovery of gold that set off the Klondike Gold Rush on August 16, 1896. T ...

and his two relatives,

Dawson Charlie Dawson Charlie or K̲áa Goox̱ ʰáː kuːχ( – 26 December 1908) was a Canadian Tagish/Tlingit First Nation prospector and one of the co-discoverers of gold at Discovery Claim that led to the Klondike Gold Rush located in the Yukon territ ...

and

Skookum Jim Mason Keish ( – July 11, 1916), also known as James Mason and by the nickname Skookum Jim Mason, was a member of the Tagish First Nation in what became the Yukon Territory of Canada. He was born near Bennett Lake, on what is now the Yukon–Bri ...

References

Clinton Creek Photography 2012Unremediated Yukon asbestos mine poses health hazards, flood risk 42 years after closing
Ghost towns in Yukon {{Canada-ghost-town-stub Populated places established in 1967 1967 establishments in Canada