Whitehorse Detail

Whitehorse ( /ˈhwaɪt.hɔrs/) is Yukon's capital and largest city (population 20,461 (2006c)). It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1476 on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas occupy both shores of the Yukon River, which originates in British Columbia and meets the Bering Sea in Alaska. The city was named after the White Horse Rapids for their resemblance to the mane of a white horse, near Miles Canyon, before the river was dammed. Because of the city's location in the Whitehorse valley, the climate is milder than other comparable northern communities.[1] At this latitude winter days are short and summer days have 20 hours of daylight.[2] Whitehorse is located at kilometre 1,425 (Historic Mile 918) of the Alaska Highway and is framed by three nearby mountains: Grey Mountain to the east, Haeckel Hill to the northwest and Golden Horn Mountain to the south. The rapids which were the namesake of the city have disappeared under Schwatka Lake, formed by the construction of a hydroelectric dam in 1958. Whitehorse is currently the 79th largest city in Canada by area. The city limits present a near rectangular shape orientated in a NW-SE direction.[3]