The George Black is closed for the season: 511Yukon switched it to Closed For Season on 14 October 2026, in line with the Government of Yukon's mid-May to mid-October season. Until the river ice can carry traffic, West Dawson has no road link to Dawson City. When the ferry returns in spring it is free to ride, on foot, by bike or by vehicle.
Season and hours from the Government of Yukon ferry page dated 19 August 2026; 511Yukon status Closed For Season, updated 14 October 2026 and read on 26 October 2026; no 2027 opening date published; checked 26 October 2026 Government of Yukon – Find sailing times for Yukon ferries · 2026-09-29
In the spring of 1967 a steel ferry arrived in Whitehorse in sections, on White Pass & Yukon Route flatcars, from the Vancouver yard of Allied Shipbuilders. According to reports in the Whitehorse Star collected by the Yukon historian site ExploreNorth, it was assembled on the riverbank, launched on 3 June and sent down the Yukon River to Dawson, where it has carried traffic across the river every summer since.
The boat took the name of George Black, who had come north as a young New Brunswick lawyer in the 1898 gold rush and went on to be Commissioner of Yukon, the territory's Member of Parliament from 1921 to 1945, and Speaker of the House of Commons. He died in 1965, two years before the ferry named for him entered service.
Nearly six decades on, the ferry does the same job for the Government of Yukon's Department of Highways and Public Works: a free, first-come crossing of 6 to 7 minutes that joins Dawson City to West Dawson and the Top of the World Highway.
The territory operates two ferries, this one and the Pelly Barge at Ross River, and charges nothing on either. The George Black takes pedestrians, cyclists and vehicles alike without a ticket.
| Vehicle and driver | Free |
| Foot passenger | Free |
| Cyclist | Free |
Free, per the Government of Yukon ferry page of 19 August 2026 Government of Yukon – Find sailing times for Yukon ferries · 2026-09-29
Mapped from ramp to ramp, the crossing runs about 400 metres, from the Dawson waterfront to West Dawson. It is the hinge between the North Klondike Highway, which brings you up from Whitehorse, and the Top of the World Highway heading west. There is no bridge. When the ferry is out of the water, the only way across by road is the ice, and on 511Yukon the Yukon River ice bridge has been listed as closed for the season since 16 April 2026.
The town-side ramp is where the North Klondike Highway meets the river. Vehicles form a single queue and board in the order they arrived; the government is explicit that nobody can reserve a place. Expect the line to be longest in the morning and the evening, and budget more time with a motorhome or trailer, since oversized rigs take up deck space and can wait through more than one trip.
On the far bank the road climbs away as the Top of the World Highway. Heading back into town, the same first-come rule applies. Once the ferry is hauled out for winter this ramp leads nowhere until the river ice is thick enough to drive on.
The ferry's published maximums are 65,000 kg (143,000 lbs), 25 metres (83 feet) long and 5 metres (17 feet) wide. Anything oversized needs a Yukon permit first, and a big rig may wait for a trip with enough free deck.
Walkers and cyclists ride the same crossing as cars, free, and join the same first-come line.
Animals are allowed if they are leashed or confined.
The government warns of slightly longer waits in the morning and evening, when traffic is heaviest.
The 511Yukon ferry list is where the Government of Yukon posts whether the George Black is in service. It has read Closed For Season since 14 October 2026; the Yukon River ice bridge entry also still read closed on 26 October.
Its calendar has always been set by the river. ExploreNorth's account records that since 1967 the service has ended anywhere between 10 October and 11 November, and resumed between 10 and 26 May; each autumn the ferry is pulled up wooden ways onto the dyke to sit out the winter. The Government of Yukon's own rule today is simpler — mid-May to mid-October, weather permitting — and in 2025 the last scheduled sailing fell on 15 October.
Between the ferry's last trip and the day the ice will bear traffic there is a gap when West Dawson has no road link to town at all. In 2026 that gap began in mid-October, when 511Yukon listed the George Black as closed; on 26 October the ice bridge was not yet open either. Over the border in the Northwest Territories, the Dempster Highway's Peel River ferry is free too and leaves the same kind of gap between its last sailing and the ice crossing.
Not by ferry. 511Yukon has shown the George Black as Closed For Season since 14 October 2026, and on 26 October the Yukon River ice bridge was also listed as closed.
The Government of Yukon describes the season as mid-May to mid-October, weather permitting. No 2027 opening date had been announced on 26 October 2026; watch 511Yukon in May.
511Yukon changed the ferry's status to Closed For Season on 14 October 2026. The territory's own page could not be read to confirm the exact last crossing; in 2025 the final scheduled sailing was Wednesday 15 October.
Nothing. Both of the Government of Yukon's ferries, the George Black and the Pelly Barge at Ross River, are free.
The limits are 65,000 kg, 25 metres long and 5 metres wide. Oversized vehicles need a Yukon permit, and waits for them can be longer when the ferry is busy.
A lawyer from New Brunswick who arrived in the Klondike in 1898, later served as Commissioner of Yukon, represented the territory in Parliament from 1921 to 1945 and became Speaker of the House of Commons. He died in 1965; the ferry was launched in 1967.
Only by the ice crossing, once it is declared safe. On 26 October 2026, 511Yukon still listed the Yukon River ice bridge as closed for the season.