Boom and bust: Abandoned Yukon mining town to become historic site

There's not much left of Conrad, the short-lived Yukon mining town that at its peak had about 300 residents. There are the remains of a couple of log buildings, and an old cold-storage dugout.

Now, more than a century after the town was abandoned, there's a draft plan to preserve it as a historic site. Before the town, the site was also a traditional fishing, hunting and camping site for the Tagish Kwan people.

"Conrad is significant on many levels," said Barb Hogan, the government's manager of historic sites. "It's multi-layered. It has lots of history, lots of culture."

The plan was developed by a steering committee made up of representatives of the government, and the Carcross/Tagish First Nation. It was initially promised in the First Nation's final land claim agreement.

The draft plan was presented at a public meeting in Carcross on Wednesday. Another public meeting will be held Thursday evening in Whitehorse.

'An enlightened visit'

The town was founded in 1905 by Colonel J.H. Conrad of the Conrad Consolidated Mining Company. It was briefly the largest settled town in the Southern Lakes area, but by 1914, declining silver prices forced Conrad's company into bankruptcy and the town was abandoned.

Hogan says that makes the town a good illustration of "the boom-and-bust" nature of mining.

"Conrad was only populated for a short number of years, and then people left. Then the houses left. And then the First Nations moved back, took it back, and were able to use it again," she said.

Derek Grose, heritage manager for the Carcross/Tagish First Nation, says developing the historic site will be a way of offering tourists "an enlightened visit."

"It's an area where we still practice our traditional pursuits, and it's a place that we want to be able to share with all Yukoners, and visitors from around the world."

Last summer, the government opened a new territorial campground adjacent to the historic site.

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