Yukon

The Yukon is sandwiched between Alaska to the west and the Canadian northwest territories in the east. It has long winters and short summers, when hardy grains and flowering plants thrive briefly. The sparsely limbed sub-alpine fir is well adapted to the heavy snows of the Yukon winter. Grizzly bears, black bears, and polar bears all live in the Yukon. Caribou, moose, elk, musk ox, and red deer all thrive in the frozen terrain despite predation by wolves. The first non-natives to explore the Yukon were Russians. (actually the first was a Dane in the Russian Navy, Vitus Bering, who was exploring the western coast of North America). In the late nineteenth century, gold was discovered in Rabbit Creek, now Bonanza Creek, which became the heart of the Klondike or Yukon gold rush. More than 25,000 eager prospectors descended on the inhospitable place to strike it rich. It was only a few years before easily accessible gold deposits were exhausted and the boom ended.

From the game's History encyclopedia, AoE3: DE 100.19.18309.