The George Black was in service on 511Yukon as of our reading on 29 September 2026, and still free to ride. This is the tail of its season: the Government of Yukon says the ferry runs from mid-May to mid-October, weather permitting, and it can trim the hours as the end approaches. No last sailing for 2026 had been confirmed in the sources we could read.
Season and hours from the Government of Yukon ferry page dated 19 August 2026; service status from 511Yukon, last updated 11 September 2026 and read on 29 September 2026. The 2026 season ends in mid-October, subject to weather. 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. On the 29th it still read In Service, an entry last changed on 11 September 2026.
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. That is the practical reason to watch 511Yukon closely in early October: once the George Black is listed out of service, the next crossing will be on the ice, weeks later.
511Yukon had it In Service on 29 September 2026, under a status entry dated 11 September. The Government of Yukon expects the season to run to mid-October, weather permitting.
The territory's August 2026 notice said 24 hours a day, seven days a week, but warned that hours may change near the end of the season. In 2025 the October pattern was 07:00 to 23:00, with a Thursday maintenance stop from 05:00 to 07:00.
We could not find a confirmed date. Last year's final scheduled sailing was Wednesday 15 October 2025, and the government describes the season as ending around mid-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 511Yukon the Yukon River ice bridge has been shown as closed for the season since 16 April 2026.