The discovery of gold in the Yukon in 1896 marked the beginning of a grand adventure for The Canadian Bank of Commerce. As prospectors flooded Dawson City, the Dominion Government asked the bank to open a branch in the burgeoning town. Two groups of specially trained bank employees set out from Toronto in April 1898 to make the arduous journey to Dawson. They arrived nearly two months later, having travelled by steamer, dog team and canoe. The first few years of banking in the Yukon remain the stuff of legend. Poet and former Commerce employee, Robert Service, epitomized them in a book of poetry titled "The Songs of a Sourdough".

The Dawson City branch processed nearly $44 million in gold between 1898 and 1908.