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Whitehorse is at kilometre 1489 of the Alaska Highway and was the terminus of the White Pass and Yukon Route Railway from Skagway, Alaska. The city was an important supply and stage center during the Klondike Gold Rush. It has been the territorial capital since 1952, when the seat was moved from Dawson.
Nowdays Whitehorse is a government town, with excellent facilities for visitors and locals to enjoy. A $20 million Multiplex centre is being built for the Canada Winter Games in 2007.
Some of the tourist attractions in Whitehorse include Miles Canyon, the S.S. Klondike sternwheeler, the MacBride Museum, Yukon Gardens, "Log Skyscrapers," the Whitehorse fish ladder, and the Takhini Hot Springs.
Whitehorse is served by an international airport. During the September 11, 2001 attacks, a number of aircraft approaching the United States from Asia were diverted to Whitehorse, including a Korean Air 747 that was feared hijacked but this was not the case.
According to the 2001 Statistics Canada census:
| Population: | 19,058 (-0.5% from 1996) |
| Land area: | 416.44 kmē |
| Population density: | 45.8 people/kmē |
| Median age: | 35.1 (males: 34.8, females: 35.3) |
| Total private dwellings: | 7,831 |
| Median household income: | $60,139 |