Of the many arduous routes to the Klondike Gold Fields, the "White Pass", named for Sir Thomas White, Canadian Minister of the Interior, was destined to become the "Gateway" to the Yukon and Alaska. The trail wound up the Skagway River and thru a canyon later to be called "Deadhorse" Gulch, where in after years the whitened bones of hundreds of pack-horses might be seen from the parlor car of a railway train. From the summit the trail continued thru swamps to the head of Lake Bennett where it joined the "Chilkoot" trail. The bulk of foot travel followed the Chilkoot Pass, as the route was considered easier. Approximately 25,000 persons came over the Chilkoot in 1898.
At Lake Bennett, named by Lieut. Schwatka for James Gordon Bennett, boats, scows and rafts were constructed of rough boards whip-sawed from native trees by man power. A navigable water way lay before the gold-seekers all the way to Dawson City, approximately 550 miles. Many a tale is told of partners who quarrelled, separated and
meticulously divided their outfits in halves, including their rudely constructed boats. As many as 5000 were camped at the head of Lake Bennett at times, and there were tent stores, restaurants, saloons and bunk tents. A church erected by the stampeders still stands at Bennett. The colored glass windows from this church building are now installed in the Air Base Chapel at the Whitehorse Airport.
Various transportation companies were started in connection with the
Skagway route during the winter of 1897 and 1898. A large portion of supplies were transported over then "Brackett" Road from Skagway to White Pass City, a distance of 13 miles. The toll for driving your own team over this road was $20.00 per ton. Pack horses and dog teams were also used, and many gold-seekers relayed their outfits to the summits, on their own backs.
In the spring of 1898 a number of small steamers were constructed at the head of Lake Bennett. These steamers were operated from Bennett to Canyon City, a point about one and one-half miles above the present Canyon bridge, which, incidentally is the only bridge across the main Yukon river. The construction of two tramways with wooden rails and wooden cars with flanged metal wheels was completed in the spring of 1898. These tram cars were hauled by horses and mules in tandem. The freight tariff was three cents per pound for the five miles distance around Miles Canyon and Rapids. The remains of the wooden rails may still be seen and one of the tram cars is still at Canyon City. The tramway on the east side of the river was called "The Whitehorse Rapids Tramway Co." The two tram lines had the right of way thru the river valley and the White Pass & Yukon Route had to pay a steep price to the tram owners for the railroad right of way. Early in 1898 some of the smaller steamers were taken thru the Canyon and rapids, and operated on the Whitehorse-Dawson run, and soon thereafter additional steamers arrived from the lower Yukon.
The tent encampment below Whitehorse Rapids at the northern terminus of the Rapids Tramway Company was located on the east bank of the river near the present ferry landing, and the old log building that may be seen there today was the first edifice and living quarters of the Government Telegraph Service of Canada. This settlement shortly after the construction of the railway commenced was known as "Closeleigh", after the owners of the railway. When the railroad came thru, the town of Whitehorse, named from the white caps or white "horses" of the rapids, came into being, and some of the buildings from Closeleigh were moved across the river. The lower portion of the Masonic Hall in
Whitehorse was the "Savoy" hotel of Closeleigh.
In the early spring of 1898, Michael J. Heney, a young Irish Canadian of
much experience in railroad construction, had perceived the necessity of a railroad from the Pacific Ocean to the Yukon River. Alone and unaided he had made a cursory survey of the terrain from Skagway to Lake Bennett. It was indeed fortuitous that in the St. James Hotel in Skagway, M. J. Heney attracted the attention of three men who were in Skagway on a similar mission, on which they had practically decided to make an adverse report. These men were Sir Thomas Tancrede, an Engineer representing Close Bros., of London, England; Samuel H. Graves, their U. S. representative, and E. C. Hawkins, an American Engineer. Heney had the vision, the faith and the enthusiasm, and the other three men could and did produce the finance, so the White Pass & Yukon Route was created, with Graves the first President of the new company; Heney, the contractor; and Hawkins the Chief Construction Engineer. Mr. V. I. Hahn, recently retired Superintendent of the Railway, was on the Engineering staff.
On May 27th, 1898, men, horses and material were landed at Skagway, and the following morning the ribbons of steel were pointed north thru the White Pass. On July 21st the first trains were put in use and operated for a distance of four miles. This was quite an historic event as it was the first railroad train carrying passengers ever operated in Alaska, or so far north anywhere on the American continent. The railroad reached Summit of White Pass on February 18th, 1899, and the head of Lake Bennett on July 6th, 1899.
In August, 1899, my mother and I came to Skagway on the s.s. "City of Topeka", accompanying my father who was again en route to Dawson City. (His first trip was made via the "Stikine Trail" in 1898.) We stayed at the "Fifth Avenue" Hotel in Skagway, and made the trip over the new railroad to the Summit, with an uncle Muray B. Miles, who
was the first Conductor on the railroad.
The construction of the railroad between Caribou Crossing, (now
known as Carcross) and Whitehorse was completed on June 8th, 1900, and the Bennett to Carcross section received the golden spike on July 29th, 1900.
The building of the White Pass railroad was attended by more than
ordinary difficulties. It was a thousand miles from supply bases and there were no telegraph lines connecting this area with the States.
Steamer sailings were irregular, and freight space at a premium. On August 8th, 1899, 1500 employees during that day and the succeeding few days, threw down their picks and shovels and started off pell-mell on a gold stampede to Atlin, British Columbia. Thus, only a few men were left on the job and it was necessary at once to begin filling the vacancies left by these men, and it was alse necessary to break in the men who did fill the vacancies. Nearly all the work between Skagway and Summit was in the solid rock. Immense quantities of powder were used for blasting. In one cliff 120 feet in height, 70 feet in depth, and 20 feet in thickness, was blasted away, In some instances the mountain sides were so steep the men had to be suspended by ropes to prevent their falling off while cutting the grades. A short distance from the Summit a deep V shaped canyon is spanned by a steel cantilever bridge, 215 feet above the creek bed. 16 miles from Skagway occurs the first and only tunnel on the line. This tunnel is two hundred and fifty ft. in length, but probably no tunnel in the world was ever built under difficulties any greater than were encountered in boring this comparatively short tunnel. Supplies and
machinery had to be packed up the steepest trail imaginable.
At Lewes Lake, 61 miles from Skagway, a location had been made along the east shore of that lake but the ehoreline was so indented with coves that in order to obtain a better line the surface of the water was lowered 14 feet. This was done by
excavating an outlet channel. However, the unforseen happened. The water, after remainig stationary for a short time, cut its way thru the sandy outlet, forming an enormous canyon in the lake bed. This reduced the lake level over 70 feet, and left about a dozen small lakes separated from the main body, in many of which trout are still living.
All told there were 35,000 men at work on the line, from say, the first of June 1898 to the first of October, 1900, and of this number there were only thirty-five deaths from all causes, including sickness as well as accidents, A very intelligent class of workmen were employed. A large proportion were men anxious to reach the Gold Fields, who did not care to start down river untiil the opening of navigation. Many who worked during the summer months were those whose funds had become exhausted and were working to replenish their capital, to enable them to return to prospecting. No Asiatic labor was employed on the railroad.
From sea level the railroad ascends to a summit of 2885 feet in 21 miles, but its highest elevation is reached at Log Cabin, a station at Mile Post 33, which has an elevation of 2,916 feet. The average grade from Skagway wharves to the Summit is 2.6%, the steepest grade about 4%. The cost of the road from Skagway to the Summit of White Pass was over $100,000.00 per mile. From Summit to Whitehorse, while the cost per mile was less, it was still greatly in excess of what similar construction of a railroad would have been in the States. The railway is 110.7 miles long; 20.4 miles in Alaska; 32.2 miles in British Columbia, and 58.1 miles in Yukon Territory. |
After the railway was finished, M. J. Heney took a well earned rest, but his busy brain was still planning a new wilderness to conquer, and in 1906, with many of his personnel of White Pass construction days, he started to build the 131 mile Copper River and Northwestern Railway, from Cordova, Alaska, to Chitina, Alaska, and a little later a 65 mile branch from Chitina to the famous Kennicott Copper mine. This railroad was constructed for the Guggenheim interests and one hundred million dollars' worth of copper ore is said to have been hauled from the Kennicott mine. The C. R. & N, W. was abandoned in 1938, as the ore bodies were exhausted. Rex Beach's novel, "The Iron Trail" is a story of the C. R. & N. W.
Heney was the idol of the construction gangs, and was known as "The Irish Prince". His men would steal, beg, or fight for him at the drop of a hat, and their welfare was always foremost in his mind. On October 5th, 1910, M. J. Heney died in San Francisco, succumbing to an illness probably incurred thru exposure to the icy waters of the North Pacific in the wreck of the s.s. "Ohio".
As you ride in a comfortable coach over the railroad today, it does not
take much imagination to visualize some of the scenes of construction days along those grim, rugged canyons; the long lines of men, the pack trains, the dog teams; the roar of blasting powder and crash of falling rock; the blizzards howling down the Pass, the rush for bacon and beans at the crude mess-house.
It seems long, lone ago but there at Skagway is the statue erected by
the old-timers to "Molly Walsh" who operated a welcome haven of light, warmth and food at the first rest out of Skagway up the Pass.
At the foot of Reid's Falls, Frank H. Reid and "Soapy" Smith are buried in the old cemetery.
At Black-Cross Rock, near the 11 Mile Post, a huge granite boulder weighing a hundred tons is a monument to two workmen buried beneath by a blast.
At Inspiration Point, Mile Post 17, is the famous monument which bears this inscription:
"The Dead are Speaking. In Memory of us three thousand pack animals that laid our bones in these awful hills during the Gold Rush of 1897-1698. We now thank those listening souls that heard our groans across this stretch of years. We waited not in vain." Placed by the Ladies of the Golden North and the Alaska Yukon Pioneers. Inscription
by 'Packer Jack' Newman, 1929. Inception of Memorial by Florence Hartsharn."
Forty-four years later, the "White Pass" was the scene of another stampede, when the U. S. Army Engineers, under General Wm. M. Hoge, commenced construction of the Alaska Military Highway, and hordes of men and shiploads of material poured into Skagway. In September, 1942, the railway was leased to the U.S. Army, who provided increased personnel and equipment to handle the tremendous tonnage arriving.
In addition to an adequate steamer service on the Yukon river and tributaries, the White Pass & Yukon Route now operate a fleet of trucks and busses on the Alaska Highway.
On March 9th, 1946, another historical event will occur, when the FIRST WINTER CARNIVAL EXCURSION TRAIN arrives at Whitehorse from Skagway, to usher in a new era of progress.
