Elsa, Yukon
Template:Short description Elsa is a former privately owned mining town in the Canadian territory of Yukon, between the Stewart River valley to the south and the Mackenzie Mountains to the north. It is located at Kilometre 97 (Mile Template:Convert) of the Silver Trail,<ref name="Yukon gov driving guide">Template:Cite web</ref> approximately Template:Convert north of Whitehorse and Template:Convert east of the Alaskan border.
History
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The town was built in 1935 by the mining company Treadwell Yukon to support the development of a new mill for the nearby deposits of silver, lead, and zinc.<ref name="YukonInfo Silver trail page" /> Treadwell's assets were purchased by United Keno Hill Mines (UKHM) in 1946,<ref name="mmc silver district">Template:Cite web</ref> and by the 1950s UKHM was the second largest producer of silver in Canada and the fourth largest in the world.<ref name="YukonInfo Silver trail page">Template:Cite web</ref>
At its peak in the 1960s, Elsa was home to 600 UKHM employees and their families.<ref name="mmc silver district" /> Due to economic pressure from decreases in the price of silver in the late 1970s, United Keno Hill Mines ceased operations in Elsa in 1989.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="mmc silver district" /> UKHM attempted to sell mining rights to various companies but declared bankruptcy in 1998, with its mining assets reverting to the Government of Canada.<ref name="mmc silver district" />
Elsa is now a ghost town and is closed to the public.<ref name="Yukon gov driving guide" />