Burnham, Ronald Eugene2025-08-232025-08-232002https://hdl.handle.net/1828/22649Few North American 19th-century boomtowns have survived. As accessible mineral reserves ran out, miners and townspeople followed. Those mining camps still extant have usually survived through government sponsorship and historic park designation, and act as outdoor museums. An exception to this is Dawson City, Yukon Territory, Canada. How has Dawson, just kilometres south of the Arctic Circle, perservered without the mining wealth that created it? This thesis explores that phenomenon, concluding that the building of a fully serviced town in the 1890's in such an unlikely location owed much to the Canadian government's determination to resist American colonization of this country. Dawson City's preservation into this century is best explained by a combination of factors: its architectural heritage survives through major and equivalent roles of government, tourism, and the loyalty of the townspeople.enAvailable to the World Wide WebThesisDepartment of Art History and Visual Studies