YUKON

The first automobile in Dawson arrived on July 11, 1907, on the shipping vessel "S.S. Whitehorse."  The earliest documentation we have on motor vehicle registration dates from 1914.  The new law passed that year, Chapter 66, required that all motor vehicles register with the Territorial Secretary and pay an annual fee of $10 per vehicle, or $3 "in the case of motorcycles".

Section 5, Item 2, states that "The Territorial Secretary shall issue and deliver to the owner of such motor vehicle at the time of the issue of the registration certificate as aforesaid two number plates having thereon the registration number of such motor vehicle, the abbreviated name of the Territory, and the year of issue."  Item 3 states that "The Territorial Secretary may charge a fee of $1 for each set of number plates...".  1-inch-tall headlight numbers were provided for in Section 11, but motorcycles were exempted from this additional requirement.

Each registration certificate was to expire on July 15 annually.  An April 1915 photo showing an automobile crossing the ice on the Yukon River along with a dog sled team clearly shows plate #20, which would be a 1914 issue, since it was valid through July 15.  Another period photo exists which clearly shows an automobile with 1914 plate #33.  Finally, the earliest known plate is a 1914 issue #30, which is 2 5/8" x 3 5/8", black on white, hand-painted on flat steel, with "YT" vertically at right above a horizontal thin line above a horizontal "14", a design which matches that of the photo.  Similar plates are known for every year from 1915 through 1922 inclusive except 1916, but with "YT", "YT." or "Y.T." above the two-digit date at right, each formatted horizontally, without a line.

Registration figures reported for Yukon begin with 1914, listed below.  Registration and plates were annual from 1914 through 1923.  Known plate numbers for 1917 and 1921 are higher than passenger registration figures for those years, probably because plates were assigned (even if not used) to motorcycles.  Here are the comparisons:

             PASSENGER      MOTORCYCLE       TOTAL       KNOWN

           REGISTRATIONS  REGISTRATIONS  REGISTRATIONS  PLATES

      1914      37              6             43        20 - 33

      1915      49             15             64        34

      1916      49              8             57

      1917      70             14             84         7 - 78

      1918      85              7             92        16 - 23

      1919      83              6             89        32 - 76

      1920      74              7             81        39 - 74

      1921      77              5             82        50 - 85

      1922      81              5             86        48

      1923      93              2             95        80 - 85

Commercially-made embossed plates began in 1924, at which time numbering started at #100 instead of at #1.  There were 107 registrations in 1924, with the highest known 1924 plate being #206, representing the last plate issued.  The earliest known motorcycle plate (and non-passenger plate of any type) is a 1926 #2.  We suspect that separate motorcycle plates began in 1924, taking over the numbers from #1 to 99, thus accounting for the number shift on passenger plates to #100.

The 1914 law also specified that motorcycles use owner-provided rear plates instead of the territory-issued plates, but it is possible that, in 1914-23, plates were still given to motorcycle owners in case they opted to use them.