Yellowknife, NWT, City, pop 17 275 (1996c), 15 179 (1991c) 11 753 (1986c), area 102.38 km2, inc 1970, is the capital of the Northwest Territories and the territory's only city. It sits on the ancient rock of the Canadian SHIELD, on the north shore of GREAT SLAVE LAKE.

Due to its northerly location, Yellowknife is the Canadian city with the most hours of summer sunshine, averaging 1036.6 hours.

Gold put Yellowknife on the map in 1934 and mining still ranks second only to government as an employer, but the city has also become the transportation and communications hub of the western Arctic and a staging area for diamond and other mineral exploration and development. There are 2 gold mines within the city limits, and Canada's first diamond mine is expected to be in production 300 km to the north in 1998.

The city's population is predominantly non-native (85%), with smaller numbers of DENE and INUIT. Gold Gold was first found near Yellowknife in 1898 by a prospector heading for the KLONDIKE GOLD RUSH in the Yukon, but the first free (visible) gold was not discovered until 1934. That triggered a claim-staking rush which transformed a lonely bay into a frantic, overnight boom town of shacks, tents and dugouts. Yellowknife's first successful gold mine, the Con Mine, went into production in 1936 and by 1940 Yellowknife had a population of about 1000.

Manpower demands of World War II shut down all mining operations except the Con Mine, but development resumed at war's end. In 1948 the Giant gold mine became the second producing mine within the city limits. Both mines are still producing and Yellowknife is, in the words of local composer Robin Beaumont, "a city where the gold is paved with streets." Workings of the huge Con Mine, 1860 m deep, extend under most of the city and Yellowknife Bay almost to Dettah. Giant holds 2 records. In 1986 it became one of fewer than a dozen gold mines in the world to produce 10 000 gold bricks. And in 1993 a striking miner murdered 9 men, 6 of them strikers who had crossed the picket line, when a bomb he set blew up the man-car they were riding, 225 m underground. That was the worst crime in Canadian labour's history.

Cultural Life
Old Town's restored, log-built Wildcat Cafe is now a UNITED NATIONS WORLD HERITAGE SITE. Yet YK, as it's known, is a city in every sense of the word. It has a strikingly modern, zinc-clad, domed legislature and impressive city hall, a state-of-the-art Stanton Regional Hospital, a twin cinema and an Olympic-size swimming pool (with wave action). Its big Fred Henne Campground has a swimming beach and hot showers and there are several marinas and 2 yacht clubs. Visitors come away impressed by Yellowknife's Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, a first-rate museum of the North, and its well-equipped Northern Arts and Cultural Centre, where active local theatre companies and visiting artists perform.