On the Klondike Trail -- the White Pass Railroad

The gold seekers of 1898 started out at either Skagway or Dyea (pr. di-EE) and then took one of two trails -- either the gentler but longer White Pass Trail, or the shorter but more arduous Chilkoot Trail.  We would be taking the White Pass Railroad, which was completed in short order by 1899, and ran between Skagway and Lake Bennett.  The Chilkoot Trail, a mere 33 miles from Dyea to Lake Bennett, is arguably the more famous of the two trails, however, thanks to the efforts of a number of photographers who documented it.  In particular, there are numerous images of the infamous "Golden Staircase".

One of the most famous of the many photographs of the Golden Staircase

The Golden Staircase was a steep 1400 foot climb that would have been difficult to do even once.  But the Klondike miners each had to make the trip 20 times.

Most people associate the Klondike Gold Rush with Alaska.  However, the Klondike is well into Yukon Territory.  To avoid unnecessary loss of life -- and unnecessary use of Mountie time and energy spent in rescue operations -- the government quickly took over at the Alaska/Canada border and instituted a number of safety measures.  The most famous of these was the requirement that every single person crossing into Canada was required to bring with them a full year's worth of provisions.  The total weight of each person's provisions was right around 2,000 pounds.

The scales at the base of the pass.

On average, unless he or she could afford to hire local Chilkat Indians to help transport goods, a person carried about 100 pounds at a time while ascending the Golden Staircase.  At the top, they each created a 'cache' for their goods and then slid down the mountainside to load up and begin the climb all over.  An estimated 20,000 to 30,000 people traveled the Chilkoot in 1897-98, a number of them being women.  Many, if not most of them were saved from almost certain disaster by the stiff regulations imposed by the Canadian government.

At the top of the Chilkoot Pass

Still other miners followed the longer White Pass Trail.  In contrast with the Chilkoot, which was open all year round and steep, the White Pass Trail was longer and gentler, but also closed down for part of the year.  Miners in a hurry were more likely to take the Chilkoot, regardless of conditions.  The White Pass Trail also proved to be a far better location to build a railroad.  Within weeks of the start of the rush to the Klondike, discussions were under way to get a rail line through to Lake Bennett.  Construction began on May 27, 1898, to build a rail line along an old wagon road, and reached the summit of White Pass on February 18, 1899.  A bottle of scotch, some fancy talk, and a little trickery later, the line continued into Canada.  The tracks were completed there on July 6, 1899.  Currently, they go as far as Carcross.

The narrow gauge White Pass Train, starting at Skagway

Views along the White Pass Trail up to Lake Bennett:

Shot from the end of the train.  The tight curves this train takes make going slow (we covered the 40 miles in around 6 hours, which includes our lunch stop), but they are great for photographers!  The space between cars was open and we were free to shoot without interference from glass.

The thin, pale green line across the center of the picture is part of the original White Pass foot trail.

Wooden trestle, part of the original rail line.

Abandoned station at the approach to Bennett

Lake Bennett and Bennett, where the White Pass Trail and the Chilkoot Trail meet

Station and our train at Bennett

Lunch at the Bennett railway station

Lake Bennett

The Presbyterian church at Bennett is no longer in use.  At present, there is only one family in full-time residence in the town of Bennett.

Lake Bennett

Artifacts left by miners

The end of the Chilkoot Trail

Lots of folks pack the Chilkoot Trail these days, starting at Dyea and then catching the train here at Bennett into Carcross.

Hiker and her dog, at the end of their 4-day trek.

From Lake Bennett, miners could build a boat and float down the Yukon River to Dawson.  Here again, the Mounties, under the command of Sam Steele, took over.  They hired local boat-builders to teach the miners how to build craft that would be watertight and strong enough to withstand the rapids.

This is a reproduction of a typical Klondiker's boat.

The miners may have floated on down to Dawson on the Yukon River, but our route took us on to Carcross.  It was the end of the line for the train and from there we boarded a coach to take us on to Whitehorse.

Carcross

 

As we spent almost no time in Whithorse -- next stop: Kluane

Note:  Thanks to Google Image Search for historical photographs of the Chilkoot Pass.  I sincerely believe these images to be in the public domain and hope that if that isn't the case, whoever owns the rights to them will contact me so that I can remove them from the blog.