Performer: Larry D. Mann (1964) Scott McNeil (2001) Appears in: Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964) Rudolph and the Island of Misfit Toys

Yukon Cornelius is a protagonistic character from the 1964 Rankin/Bass television special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. He is an arctic prospector who leads the audience to believe that he's searching for either gold or silver, but is actually seeking peppermint as revealed at the end of the original version of the special. His greedy behavior inspires the song "Silver and Gold", sung by Sam the Snowman. (Originally, Yukon was going to sing it himself before it was decided that the special should have a narrator.)

Yukon is a blustery but benign character and ends up helping not only Rudolph and Hermey, but the Abominable Snowmonster, or "Bumble" as he refers to him as well. He can be seen throughout the special tossing his pick ax into the air, sniffing, then licking its end that contacts the snow or ice. The removal of the scene near the end of the special (for subsequent telecasts) in which he discovers a "peppermint mine" by that method near Santa's workshop left audiences assuming that he was attempting to find either silver or gold by taste alone. The scene was reinstated in the special in 1998.

Yukon oddly didn't reappear in Rudolph's Shiny New Year or Rudolph and Frosty's Christmas in July, but he did reappear in Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and the Island of Misfit Toys.