White Pass Railroad

After thousands of Stampeders had already died in the Alaska Gold Rush of 1896, a group of enterprising businessmen decided to build a railroad up to the Klondike. There were two possible trails. One route, less steep but much longer, went up through White Pass. The other was a shorter and much steeper route that went through the Chilkoot pass. The businessman chose the shallower grade, and by 1898 there was a railroad carrying gold prospectors up through the White Pass north as far as the town of Fraser. Today we were able to retrace the path of the Stampeders as we rode the White Pass Yukon Railroad up into Canada and into the Yukon territory. The scenery was spectacular as the snow began to fall. Many majestic views escaped our cameras because we were traveling in clouds. Nevertheless, what we saw was magnificent.

At midday we stopped at a beautiful lodge made of logs. Its walls were made completely of glass, inviting the majestic snowcapped peaks into our dining room. Although the dining room was not heated, its walls shielded us from the wind at least, and our jackets kept us comfortable. Our hosts served us a wonderful bowl of hot bison chili covered with cheese and a bun as big as a softball. We washed it all down with steaming coffee. After lunch Randy and I walked across the suspension bridge hovering 200 feet above the creek below. Rushing down from glaciers forty miles away, its sub-zero blue water barely escaped freezing. On the other side of the creek, we saw more exhibits about how the Stampeders built log cabins, preserved their food and survived the chilling winters of the Yukon.

I encourage you to read the rest of the story of the Alaska Stampeders of the Gold Rush years. When they reached the Yukon, they still had another 550 miles to go before they got to Dawson City, where the gold had actually been discovered. That final distance had to be traveled by water. Prospectors needed to hire leaky boats or to build makeshift rafts. A significant number of the fatalities of the Alaska Gold Rush occurred when boats sank or rafts disintegrated in rushing frigid waters. Though the scenery here is magnificent, as recorded by such writers as Robert Service, most of us tourists here today spent at least a few pensive moments considering the foolishness, greed, tenacity and tragedy of the Alaska Gold Rush.
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