Whitehorse was an important supply and stage center during the Klondike gold rush of 1897 and 1898. During World War II, the city was the center of the Canol oil project, which was closed in 1945. Since 1952 it has been the capital of Canada's Yukon Territory. Whitehorse is on the Alaska Highway. It used to be the terminus of the White Pass and Yukon Railway from Skagway in Alaska, which suspended service in 1982. After an economic lull in the mid-1980's, the discovery of the world's largest tungsten reserve at Mae Pass revitalized the city's economy.

Whitehorse is the center of a copper-mining, hunting and fur-trapping region that attracts growing numbers of tourists. It is headquarters of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for southern Yukon and it has an airport, a radio station and a weather station.

There are many hotels and restaurants in Whitehorse. The city is on the Yukon River in the south of Yukon Territory, 4100 km northwest from Ottawa.