View of the nearly completed spawning channel as it is being filled by water from the Yukon River. The Whitehorse Rapids Fish Hatchery, water pumphouse and Grey Mountain can be seen in the distance.

George Dawson,  1887, "The salmon ascend of the Lewes [Yukon] River as far as the lower end of Lake Marsh where they were seen in considerable numbers early in September. They also, according to the Indians, run almost to the headwaters of the stream's tributary to the Lewes on the east side."

When Robert Service Way was widened in 1997, the City of Whitehorse undertook to replace lost salmon habitat. New spawning and rearing channels were built within the riverbed to replace and expand their natural habitat. In one area a steel retaining wall minimizes the road's impact on critical chinook spawning area. Large boulders set along the bank create eddies for fish to rest and feed.

From mid-August through early September, the returning salmon dig nests called "redds" and deposit eggs in riverbed gravel. During this time you can watch and listen for leaping salmon just offshore. These remarkable fish have traveled over 3300 kilometres (2000 miles) upstream from the Bering Sea - the world's longest salmon migration.

To learn more about salmon and their life's history visit the Whitehorse Rapids Fishway.

View of over-wintering channels along the east bank of the Yukon River, opposite the S.S. Klondike. Rock weirs were set into the channel to resemble natural salmon habitat.

 

Biologists catch fish trapped in the area under construction for the new road by electroshocking and then releasing them into the Yukon River.