Mayo, Yukon


Mayo is a village in Yukon, Canada, along the Silver Trail and the Stewart River. The population at the 2016 census was 200, a decrease of 11.5% from the 2011 census. The Yukon Bureau of Statistics speaks of 496 residents as of 31 March 2019, in Mayo. It is also the home of the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyäk Dun, whose primary language is Northern Tutchone. Na-Cho Nyäk Dun translates into "big river people."
The community, formerly called Mayo Landing, is serviced by Mayo Airport. The village was named after former circus acrobat turned settler and explorer Alfred Mayo.
Its only school is J. V. Clark School, which is named after Dr. Clark. The school had about 70 students in 2012. The current Principal is Rosemary Popadynec.

History

Before Europeans came there were in the area two communities of the Na-cho Nyäk Dun people, who lived by hunting and trapping. The river now known as the Stewart River was known as the "Náhcho Nyäk". The people lived across the Stewart River from the main focus of today's Mayo, in a district today called "Old Mayo village". The old settlement was reinstated on the initiative of a missionary, but in 1934 the river burst its banks and flattened much of the old village, destroying the church and many cultural treasures.
The first gold discoveries in the area were made in the 1880s: silver was also discovered some time later. Till the mid-twentieth century Mayo was connected with the outside world by the river and received any supplies by boat. In the 1950s the construction of the Klondike Highway and the Silver Trail provided Mayo with a road link to Stewart Crossing.
Between 1973 and 1984 negotiation took place between the government and the northern :de:Tutchone|Tutchone leaders over land rights and self-government. A breakthrough came only in 1993 with a treaty between the residents and the lawmakers concerning an area of and a payment, over fifteen years, totalling C$14.5 million.
Together with the Tr'ondek Hwech’in First Nation an agreement has been made with Yukon Energy to supply electricity to Dawson City using the Mayo-Dawson Power Line.
May 2008 saw a preliminary agreement with Alexco Resource Corp. concerning silver extraction in the Keno Hill Silver area near the far end of Mayo lake where the corporation operates approximately 40 silver mines.

Climate

Mayo has the warmest summers in the Yukon with a mean average summer temperature of. Mayo has a subarctic climate, with generally warm summers and severely cold winters lasting half the year. Spring and autumn are very short transitional seasons between summer and winter, with average temperatures rising and falling very fast during these times.