Whitehorse, city (1991 pop. 17,925), S Yukon, Canada, on the Yukon River. Since 1952 it has been the territorial capital. Whitehorse is on the Alaska Highway and was the terminus of the White Pass and Yukon Railway from Skagway, Alaska, which suspended service in 1982. The city is the center of a copper-mining, hunting, and fur-trapping region that attracts growing numbers of tourists. After an economic lull in the mid-1980s, the discovery of the world's largest tungsten reserve at Mae Pass revitalized the city. It is headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for S Yukon and has an airport, a radio station, and a weather station. It was an important supply and stage center during the Klondike gold rush (1897–98). During World War II it was the center of the Canol oil project (closed in 1945).
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