THE KLONDIKE GOLD DISTRICT. 293 



the Lewes and the main Yukon, from Whitehorse to Dawson, without 

 any interruption, a distance of about 350 miles by the stream. From 

 Dawson the traveller may visit all parts of the Klondike district by 

 driving over the smooth roads, with long easy grades, which have 

 been constructed by the Canadian Government, at a cost of nearly 

 two millions of dollars. 



Fluctuations in the Population of Dawson. 



The town of Dawson, situated where the Klondike River falls 

 into the Yukon, at the north-west corner of the Klondike district, 

 sprang into existence as soon as the gold-mining began. In 1900 it 

 had a settled and floating population of about 20,000, but in 1905 

 this had diminished to about 4,000, and the number is still smaller 

 at the present time, having continued to diminish with the gold 

 yield. A strong detachment of .the Royal Canadian Mounted Police 

 has always been stationed at Dawson, and law and order have been 

 as well maintained in all parts of the Yukon region as in any other 

 part of Canada. 



Yearly Values op Gold Produced. 

 From the time of the discovery of gold in the Klondike district 

 till 1896 the output was small, and no correct record of it was kept, 

 but in that year placer mining began to be an important industry. 

 A royalty of 10 per cent, on the gross yield was imposed by the 

 Canadian Government in the following year, but, about 1904, it was 

 reduced to 5 per cent. A means was thus established of keeping a 

 record of the greater part of the production. The annual yield since 

 1896 is given by the statistical branch of the Geological Survey of 

 Canada as follows : — 



This gold has been all safely cared for and sent out by the 

 Dawson agency of the Canadian Bank of Commerce. 



Other Minerals of the Klondike District. 

 The whole of the abovementioned gold was obtained by placer 

 mining, for, although the precious metal is known to exist in a 

 number of irregular short veins of quartz, and may sometimes be 

 detected in stones of the White Channel gravel, no one has had suffi- 

 cient confidence in these occurrences to test their value on a working 

 scale. 



