Perhaps Yukon Land Records is an odd topic, but not really. Remember, during the Yukon Gold Rush (1896-1899) some 100,000 people literally rushed into the Yukon and Alaska, going back and forth. This was only one period of gold fever. Early land concerned the mining industry; with homesteads opening up in 1906.
People came and settled, and others returned home when their luck ran out. This makes land records for the Yukon important. I already have done one blog on “Lost in Alaska and the Yukon” on 19 May 2012. This blog is best used in conjunction with that presentation.
The Yukon Archives: www.yukongenealogy.com has records of placer claims (1896-1908). These include miners who were the first to obtain the Crown grant of a particular claim. Other records include the bills of sales (1896-1907), applications for hydraulic leases (1898-1900), Free Miner’s Certificates (1897-1907). All individuals and companies had to purchase a Free Miner’s Certificate which authorized its owner to engage in mining. Many mining records are being placed on the “Dawson City Pan for Gold Database” on the cited website.
Concerning homesteads, the original land titles and documents are registered and stored at the Yukon Land Titles Office in Whitehorse: www.justice.gov.yk.ca/prog/ls/lto/ Yukon land was based on the Torrens System of land registration. Under this system, the
government has custody of all original documents, titles, and plans of survey.
A good resource is the YukonGenWeb project: www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~canyk/research.html Constantly check back to see if anything new has been added. Also, consult the guide Genealogical Research at the Yukon Archives: www.tc.gov.yk.ca/pdf/finding_aids/genealogical_bib.pdf
While Yukon connections may raise an eyebrow; keep in mind the sheer numbers of people who spent time there. It may be within a Yukon record you answer the question as to where your ancestor was for those missing years.
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