Alaska-Yukon Cruise Tour

Carcross, Yukon

Carcross history

Carcross Carcross Golden Spike historic marker On display by the historic marker Carcross The general store The post office where we got our passports stamped Some buildings around town Some buildings around town Some buildings around town Some buildings around town Some buildings around town Some buildings around town Some buildings around town Some buildings around town Inside the general store Inside the general store Inside the general store As we left town Caribou Hotel Sign as we left Carcross-the bus was moving lightbox gallery cmsby VisualLightBox.com v6.1

Carcross, originally known as Caribou Crossing, is an unincorporated community and a Reserve in the Territory of Yukon, Canada on Lake Bennett and Nares Lake. It has a population of 437 (Yukon Bureau of Statistics, December 2006).

It is 42 miles south-southeast by the Alaska Highway of Whitehorse to the Klondike Highway.  One end of the Tagish Road is in Carcross.  Carcross is also on the White Pass and Yukon Route railway.

Caribou Crossing was a fishing and hunting camp for Inland Tlingit and Tagish people. 4,500-year-old artifacts from aboriginal people living in the area have been found in the region.

Caribou Crossing got its name from the migration of huge numbers of caribou across the natural land bridge between Lake Bennett and Nares Lake. That caribou herd was decimated during the Klondike Gold Rush, but a recovery program raised the number of animals to about 450.

The modern village began in 1896, during the Klondike Gold Rush. At the time, Caribou Crossing was a popular stopping place for prospectors going to and from the gold fields of Dawson City.

Caribou Crossing was also a station for the Royal Mail and the Dominion Telegraph Line, and it served as a communications point on the Yukon River.

In 1904, Caribou Crossing was renamed Carcross as a result of some mail mix-ups with the district of Cariboo in nearby British Columbia, Canada.

Just north of the town is Carcross Desert, often referred to as the "world's smallest desert."  The tour bus made a brief stop in the rain.  It definitely was a small desert with sand and small pine trees.