| The history of the Yukon River in Alaska and western Canada is perceived through the interpretive lens of Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis. Turner believed that successive waves of particular groups--fur traders, cattlemen, and farmers--confronted the distinctive American environment and adapted their political, economic, and social practices accordingly. While the Yukon frontier did not include Turner's cattlemen and farmers, the westward movement did extend to the north country.;The first group to the Yukon adapted the most thoroughly and compatibly with the environment--the Native American. In the 1830s the white man moved into the Yukon Basin from two directions. From the east came the British Hudson's Bay Company fur traders and from the west came the Russian-American Company's. In 1867, when Russia could no longer enjoy the luxury of an expensive American colony, the United States purchased the land called Alaska and pushed the British back behind the 141st meridian.;Early American fur traders adjusted to the harsh environment by adopting much of the Native material culture. With the discovery of the first gold in 1885, the emphasis shifted from trading with Natives to supplying miners. Meanwhile, scientists and explorers described the land and its resources to a receptive American public. The Klondike Gold Rush of 1896 resulted in new techniques of mining, subsequent gold rushes, and the development of an isolated country. In turn, the stampede brought the military to provide law and order and missionaries to minister to miners, Natives, and townspeople. Initially, most frontiersmen traveled in steamboats and other watercraft, but because the rivers were frozen seven months of the year, trails, roads, railroads, and aviation developed. With the improvement of land transportation, miners of the twentieth century expanded into sophisticated and expensive dredging and open-cut mining operations. At the same time, modern trappers harvested fur, whose proceeds occasionally surpassed the production of gold.;Although the Yukon frontiers differed substantially from Turner's, his general thesis lends the structure for understanding and interpreting the history of the new region.;The Yukon River flows 1,900 miles from a cluster of lakes in the Canadian province of British Columbia, through the heartland of Alaska, to the Bering Sea. Immense distances, hostile terrain, extreme temperatures, and severe isolation form a formidable and unique environment. |
