The USS Dawson City was a Federation starship in service to Starfleet in the 23rd century, designated as a mining ship.
On Reynaud II, trishot images of large mining ships like Dawson City were used by Starfleet recruiters to attract young officer candidates and crewmembers. Tatyana Trofimov remembered the large and impressive vessels like Dawson City that were shown to her while she decided to join, as she ended up as captain of a much smaller vessel with a crew of three, the Sulek-class prospector USS Jefferson Randolph Smith. (TOS novel: How Much for Just the Planet?)