page_title: Timeline of Yellowknife history
section_title: 20th century
hierarchical_section_title: Timeline of Yellowknife history / 20th century
caption_attribution_description: English: East face of the Prince of Wales Museum, Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, Canada.
context_page_description: This timeline of Yellowknife history summarises key events in the history of Yellowknife, a city in the Northwest Territories, Canada.
context_section_description: 1929 – In the late 1920s, aircraft were first used to explore Canada's Arctic regions. Yellowknife Bay is a fuel cache point for aerial exploration to the arctic coastline.
  1930 – By the 1930s First Nations people had a settlement on a point of land on the east side of Yellowknife Bay, Dettah.
  1933 – Two prospectors, Herb Dixon and Johnny Baker, canoe down the Yellowknife River from Great Bear Lake to survey for possible mineral deposits. They found gold samples at Quyta Lake, about 30 km (19 mi) up the Yellowknife River, and some additional samples at Homer Lake.
  1934 – Johnny Baker discovers gold on the east side of Yellowknife Bay in 1934 at what becomes the Burwash Mine.
  1935–36 – The Burwash Mine is developed—the regions first underground gold project.
  1935 – The Geological Survey of Canada under Dr. Alfred Jolliffe is dispatched to map the Yellowknife Bay region. One of their crews uncover gold in more favourable geology on the west side of Yellowknife Bay and a small staking rush occurs which leads to the staking of the Con and Negus Mines.
  1936–37 – Con Mine was the most impressive gold deposit and its development created the excitement that led to the first settlement of Yellowknife in 1936–1937.
  1937 – First evidence of a settlement on what becomes Yellowknife's Old Town waterfront. Business that are open during 1937 include: Corona Inn, Yellowknife Supplies Ltd, Weaver & Devore, Mining Corporation warehouses, and the Wildcat Cafe.
  1938 – Yellowknife is booming and construction around Old Town and Latham Island is quickly proceeding. Canadian Bank of Commerce opens the first Yellowknife bank in February 1938. Vic Ingraham build his first hotel in July. A newspaper called The Prospector also starts that summer.
  1938 – The Con Mine entered production on September 5 with the pouring of its first gold brick.
  1939 – Mildred Hall, Yellowknife's first schoolteacher arrived; Mildred Hall School was named after her.
  1939–53 – Yellowknife (Administrative district) created. Yellowknife was controlled by the Northern Affairs department (now Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada) of the Government of Canada. A small council, partially elected and partially appointed, made decisions.
  1940 – The population of Yellowknife quickly grew to 1,000 by 1940.
  1942 – Five gold mines were in production in the Yellowknife region.
  1943 – Gold production slows in Yellowknife as men and material like dynamite were needed for the war effort.
  1944 – An exploration program at the Giant Mine property on the north end of town had suggested a sizable gold deposit in 1944. This new find resulted in a massive post-war staking rush to Yellowknife. A new period of financial excitement brings two new banks to Yellowknife: the Bank of Toronto and the Imperial Bank of Canada.
  1945–46 – The Yellowknife townsite expanded from the Old Town waterfront, and the new townsite was established during 1945–1946.
  1948 – Giant Mine begins gold production.
  1949 – CFYK radio station starts broadcasting as a volunteer-run operation.
  1950 – The Discovery Mine, with its own townsite, operated 81 km (50 mi) to the north-northeast of Yellowknife from 1950 to 1969.
  1953 – By 1953, Yellowknife had grown so much that it was made a municipality, with its own council and town hall. The first mayor of Yellowknife is Jock McNiven.
  1955 – Operation Bulldog III, a mock invasion from the north, is conducted around Yellowknife by the Canadian military to prepare for the possibility of Soviet forces doing it for real.
  1958 – The Gold Range opened, one of the oldest and most colorful drinking establishments in the Northwest Territories was featured in Mordecai Richler's novel Solomon Gursky Was Here
  1960 – Yellowknife Highway built.
  1963 – Carrothers Commission established in April.
  1967 – On September 18, Yellowknife officially became the capital of the Northwest Territories. This important new status sparked what has been coined as the third boom in Yellowknife. New sub-divisions were established to house an influx of government workers.
  1967 – CFYK-TV first airs.
  1970 – Yellowkni
caption: Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre
exif: {"Image Model": "Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XTi", "Image ExifOffset": "66", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "559/100", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "100", "EXIF FocalLength": "18", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:06:13 12:36:48"}