Thursday, August 10th.
We were already docked at Skagway when I got up. After breakfast I got off the ship and went wandering around this very small touristy town still fashioned in the style of the days of the Klondike Gold Rush. Today I took the famous White Pass Railroad over the coastal mountains to the area where the ‘stampeders’ travelled to to get to the gold fields. It was built in 1898 during the Gold Rush as an easier method of getting people and goods in and out of the Yukon. However, it was by no means an easy railroad to build and cost about ten million dollars. It climbs almost 3000 ft in just 20 miles and features steep grades of up to 3.9% cliff hanging turns of 16 degrees and two tunnels and numerous bridges and trestles. The terrain is very rocky requiring tons of dynamite. In order to save some money and get around the mountain, it is a narrow gage track. There is a steel cantilever bridge that was the tallest in the world at that time, but it has not been used since 1969 and although you can still see it, it is in ruins. The train climbs from Skagway, Alaska, across the border into Canada in British Columbia and then into the Yukon. The tour I picked is the longest one and goes to the small town of Carcross, and the deserted town of Bennett on Lake Bennett, where the would-be miners massed to build their boats to cross the lakes in the Yukon. At 9:30 I met my group and the bus driver who drove us up and over the White Pass Road. This road is a more recent construction and travels through the valley on the opposite side from the railroad. Our driver told us the history of the area in a long monologue as we drove northeast. We exited from the US and drove another 12 miles before we got to the Canadian customs which was just a small outpost. A customs officer got on the bus to check passports. Then we continued. The views and scenery were stunning as we drove through the temperate rainforest of the Tongas Rainforest of Alaska, to the tree-less subarctic tundra of the high passes to the boreal forest of the Yukon. When we got to Bennett, I wandered around checking out the information about the miners and the goldrush. It is impossible to fully realize the hardships that the men went through in a mostly fruitless search for gold. Before they were allowed to climb the White Pass on foot they were required to buy and carry 1000 pounds of supplies up and over the pass on a very narrow treacherous path. This required shuttling some of the supplies to a point, dropping them off and then going back to get more, as many times as necessary. I got to wondering how many times the miner got back up to his stash and found someone had pilfered it. The Canadian government didn’t want thousands of starving people in the Yukon and a Mountie was stationed at the border to make sure that each man had the required supplies. Some of the stampeders used horses to carry their loads and over three thousand horses died on the trek over the White Pass from overwork and neglect. There was a church built here from wood in 1899. At the time of its construction there were thousands of gold seekers encamped here building their rafts and boats for the long journey along rivers and lakes from Lake Bennett to the Klondike. With the spring thaw the armada set forth leaving the little church without a congregation. It has stood silent and empty ever since. At Bennett the White Pass Train picked us up and we took the return trip from the Yukon, through BC, back into the US and Alaska over the numerous bridges and the mountain pass. Spectacular journey of 64 miles. We arrived back in Skagway about 5:30 and I walked around town for a bit again before boarding the ship. Tonight, I treated myself to a surf and turf dinner in the dining room and then settled in stateroom to blog and sort photos, listen to music and read.
Wow....you are a fountain of knowledge, Nomadicjj! Very interesting (though i won't remember a thing) and as always, extremely well written.
ReplyDeleteGreat shots and commentary, Joe. I had read that the Canadian government had stipulated that gold miners had to have 1000 lbs of supplies to enter the Yukon but the logistics of doing so mystified me. Your entry describes how they went back and fourth, thereby explaining how it was possible to eventually accumulate the 1000 lbs necessary in order to meet the government's requirement. And, by the way, the train ride itself back to Skagway must have been worth the price of your excursion into the Yukon.
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