I’ll call today the “White Pass & Yukon Route” (WP & YR) Train Day.
At 7:30 AM we climbed onto a 15-passenger shuttle that took us ~70 miles north
to the small town of Carcross in the Yukon.
We hopped onto (okay – we didn’t hop) the vintage WP & YR train
and headed back to Skagway.
Along the train route we stopped at the historic town site of Bennett on Bennett Lake
(accessible only by train)
– except for the Train Depot and a church, there are no buildings left.
The 33-mile Chilkoot Trail ends here also so we picked up the trail hikers,
including William.
Historically 30,000 stampeders spent the winter of 1898-1899
at Bennett Lake building makeshift boats and rafts to take them across the lake
and down the Yukon River (which flows north) to the Klondike Goldfields.
-----------------
The 1897 Gold Rush and the WP & YR Train are Skagway’s History,
so here we go again:
There were two different routes to the Yukon Gold fields from the Skagway area.
Each had its hazards:
The Chilkoot Trail (~33 miles) was shorter but steeper -
the White Pass Route (~70 miles) was less steep but longer.
Most gold seekers were inexperienced in the ways of this rugged country.
Many who chose the White Pass route bought pack horses to carry their supplies;
3,000 horses died of the tortures on the trail.
Eventually investors from London were convinced that a train could be built
over the White Pass.
It was completed in 1900 as Gold Rush was ending.
Enough dialogue - on to the pictures!
Chilkoot Trail Pictures from William
(Wm said it was raining and foggy at the actual Chilkoot Pass so there are no pics)
Looking up Bennett Lake
A Glacier along the trail.
A camping site Tent Pad
(doesn't look to padded to me!)
Footbridge over the Taiya River.
Lindeman Lake
Small pond along the Trail.
On to the White Pass & Yukon Route
Tthe Bennett Lake Depot from the 1900 era.
At 7:30 AM we climbed onto a 15-passenger shuttle that took us ~70 miles north
to the small town of Carcross in the Yukon.
We hopped onto (okay – we didn’t hop) the vintage WP & YR train
and headed back to Skagway.
Along the train route we stopped at the historic town site of Bennett on Bennett Lake
(accessible only by train)
– except for the Train Depot and a church, there are no buildings left.
The 33-mile Chilkoot Trail ends here also so we picked up the trail hikers,
including William.
Historically 30,000 stampeders spent the winter of 1898-1899
at Bennett Lake building makeshift boats and rafts to take them across the lake
and down the Yukon River (which flows north) to the Klondike Goldfields.
-----------------
The 1897 Gold Rush and the WP & YR Train are Skagway’s History,
so here we go again:
There were two different routes to the Yukon Gold fields from the Skagway area.
Each had its hazards:
The Chilkoot Trail (~33 miles) was shorter but steeper -
the White Pass Route (~70 miles) was less steep but longer.
Most gold seekers were inexperienced in the ways of this rugged country.
Many who chose the White Pass route bought pack horses to carry their supplies;
3,000 horses died of the tortures on the trail.
Eventually investors from London were convinced that a train could be built
over the White Pass.
It was completed in 1900 as Gold Rush was ending.
Enough dialogue - on to the pictures!
Chilkoot Trail Pictures from William
(Wm said it was raining and foggy at the actual Chilkoot Pass so there are no pics)
Looking up Bennett Lake
A Glacier along the trail.
A camping site Tent Pad(doesn't look to padded to me!)
Footbridge over the Taiya River.
Lindeman Lake
Small pond along the Trail.On to the White Pass & Yukon Route
Tthe Bennett Lake Depot from the 1900 era.
We met up with William!Not much worse for wear but a little smelly!
All the Chilkoot hikers rode in their own train car back to Skagway.
Whew!
When we arrived at the Bennett Train Depot;an all-you-can eat-family-style lunch was waiting for us:
Beef stew, coleslaw, homemade bread
and
"Canadian" apple pie (we were in British Columbia).
Again the hikers "got" to eat in their own room!
The Summer cooking staff spend 10-days on and 4-days off.
Skagway's tourist season is May - September
so there are a number of young folks that work for the summer in Skagway
and leave in October.
A view down Bennett Lake.
The only building left at the actual town-site of Bennett:St. Andrews Presbyterian Church.
This was the center of Bennett's social & spiritual life for the 30,000 transient miners.
A beautiful Mountain Stream
Last, but of course not least,the beautiful Wild Lupine!
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