Watson Lake, Yukon

Watson Lake is a town in Yukon, Canada located at mile 635 on the Alaska Highway close to the British Columbia border. The Canada 2016 Census put the population at 790, a drop of 1.5% from 802 in 2011. The town is named for Frank Watson, an American-born trapper and prospector, who settled in the area at the end of the nineteenth century.Watson Lake is near the Liard River, at the junction of the Robert Campbell Highway and the Alaska Highway. The Cassiar Highway's northern end is 22 kilometres west of Watson Lake. The town is also served by the Watson Lake Airport; the airport was formerly served by Canadian Pacific Airlines and other local and regional airlines, but now only provides corporate and charter services.

Watson Lake is the main centre of the small forestry industry in Yukon and has been a service centre for the mining industry, especially for the Cassiar asbestos mine in northern British Columbia and the Cantung tungsten mine on the Yukon-Northwest Territories border in…