In September 1896, Joseph Ladue staked a townsite between the Klondike River and the Moosehide Slide. William Ogilvie laid out the townsite and named it Dawson City after geologist George Dawson. The full site stretched from the shore of the Klondike River on the south, to the base of the slide in the north, beyond the peak of the hill behind the present location, and to some buildings across the Yukon River to the west. Dawson proper was divided into two "estates" belonging to Ladue and Arthur Harper. Ladue purchased his 178-acre estate from the federal government at $10 per acre, selling lots for $100 to $10,000 each.
