| 1. Yukon | | | | 600-volt operation replaces its originally intended |
| The Yukon, the vast, | | | | 550-volt current, and the installation of railroad wheels |
| rugged, thinly populated expanse of land located | | | | permits it to run on the White Pass and Yukon Route |
| above the 60th parallel in northwestern Canada which | | | | Railroad’s 36-inch tracks, although it had been |
| shares its border with Alaska and accurately earns its | | | | designed, with its original trolley wheel base, to utilize |
| self-proclaimed slogan of “larger than life,” is | | | | the narrower, 34.5-inch rail width. |
| a topographically diverse, serenely beautiful, and | | | | Because of the equally |
| intoxicatingly attractive territory of barren, treeless | | | | standard-gauge body, it permits four-abreast, |
| plains, boreal forests, rugged mountains, glaciers, and | | | | two-two, seating, sporting a varnished hardwood |
| mirror-reflective lakes and rivers inhabited by | | | | oak, mahogany, and cherry interior with original signs |
| Canada’s First Nations people and abundant | | | | still in Portuguese. |
| wildlife. Because of its high latitude, it experiences | | | | The Whitehorse Rapids Fish |
| more than 20 hours of daylight in the summer, but | | | | Ladder and Hatchery, located five minutes out of |
| fewer than five in the winter, replaced, instead, by | | | | town, had resulted from the late-1950s construction |
| the northern lights known as the “aurora | | | | of the Whitehorse Rapids Hydroelectric Facility by |
| borealis.” Aside from the major “cities,” | | | | the Northern Canada Power Commission. The |
| most communities are only accessible by floatplane or | | | | Alaska and Klondike Highways, linking many |
| dogsled. | | | | communities and obviating the need for the then-vital |
| The Yukon’s history is, | | | | sternwheeler river transportation system, ultimately |
| in essence, that of the Gold Rush. Sparked by the | | | | led to the transfer of the Yukon’s capital from |
| August 16, 1896 discovery of a gold nugget in | | | | Dawson to Whitehorse, and its population expansion |
| northwestern Canada at the confluence of the | | | | could no longer be supported by the downtown |
| Yukon and Klondike Rivers, it began when some | | | | diesel generator electricity method. Construction of |
| 100,000, seeking wealth and adventure, set off on | | | | the greater-capacity hydroelectric dam, commencing |
| what had later been designated the Klondike Gold | | | | in 1956, formed Schwatka Lake, and this produced |
| Rush Trail between 1897 and 1898. The event, | | | | the city’s first electricity two years later, in 1958. |
| which produced an instantaneous population boom | | | | Although the facility |
| and ultimately shaped the territory, traces its path to | | | | improved the quality of life for the human population, |
| five significant locations in both the United States and | | | | it proved the detriment to the salmon species in the |
| Canada. | | | | river. Salmon had traveled up the Yukon River to |
| The first of these, Seattle, | | | | spawn for thousands of years, laying their eggs in |
| Washington, had served as the gateway to the | | | | gravel which, after the winter gestation period, |
| Yukon. Advertised as the “outfitter of the gold | | | | hatched into alevins in early-spring, and fed and |
| fields,” it sold supplies and gear stocked ten feet | | | | developed in the cold, clear waters for up to two |
| deep on storefront boardwalks, grossing $25 million in | | | | years. Swimming out to the ocean, they returned |
| sales by early-1898, and was the launching point for | | | | several years later to the exact location of their |
| the all-water route through the Gulf of Alaska to St. | | | | births to lay their own eggs and begin the process |
| Michael, and then down the Yukon River to Dawson | | | | anew. |
| City. Despite the high fares, which few could | | | | In order to circumvent the |
| afford, all passages had been sold out. | | | | new hydroelectric dam and permit them to continue |
| Dyea and its Chilkoot Trail, | | | | their life cycles, the world’s longest wooden fish |
| the second location, had provided a slower, more | | | | ladder, at 366 meters, had been built in 1959. |
| treacherous, alternate route, via the 33-mile Chilkoot | | | | Progressively rising in steps by 15 meters from the |
| trail which linked tidewater Alaska with the Canadian | | | | Yukon River to Schwatka Lake, it enables salmon to |
| headwaters of the Yukon River. | | | | safely pass round the dam and continue their |
| Skagway, Alaska, the third | | | | migration process. |
| location, quickly replaced Dyea as the “Gateway | | | | A two-hour boat cruise on |
| to the Klondike” because of its more navigable | | | | Schwatka Lake by the appropriately-named m/v |
| White Pass route which, although ten miles longer | | | | Schwatka, a 28-ton, dual-decked, 40-passenger boat, |
| than that of the Chilkoot Trail, had entailed a | | | | provides an excellent introduction to |
| 600-foot-lower climb. The trail, quickly destroyed | | | | Whitehorse’s wilderness side and sails through |
| because of overuse, had ultimately been replaced by | | | | Miles Canyon, the turbulent “Devil’s |
| the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad whose | | | | Punchbowl,” and the Yukon River itself. |
| construction, financed by British investors, had | | | | Several interesting |
| commenced in May of 1898 and had extended to the | | | | attractions are located along the Alaska Highway, up |
| White Pass Summit by February of 1899, Bennett | | | | Two Mile Hill Road. |
| Lake by July of 1899, and Whitehorse by July of the | | | | The Copperbelt Mining |
| following year. Skagway itself had been | | | | Railway and Museum, the first of these, provides a |
| metamorphosed from a cleared, tent-dotted field to | | | | 1.8-kilometer figure-eight loop from its red McIntyre |
| boardwalk-lined streets sporting wooden buildings | | | | Station building through the skinny spruce forest, |
| with 80 saloons in the four-month period between | | | | using an abandoned spur line of the White Pass and |
| August and December 1897. | | | | Yukon Route Railroad located in the historic |
| At Bennett Lake, the fourth | | | | Whitehorse Copper Belt mining district. Its two |
| location, 30,000 stampeders awaited the spring thaw, | | | | engines, 10- and 20-hp Loke diesels, were |
| constructing 7,124 boats from whipsawn green | | | | manufactured by the Jenacher Werks in Austria in |
| lumber and launching their flotilla on May 29, 1898, | | | | 1969 and 1967, respectively. |
| fighting the Whitehorse rapids before following the | | | | The Yukon Transportation |
| Yukon River to Dawson City. | | | | Museum depicts the territory’s Gold Rush |
| Dawson City itself, the fifth | | | | transportation heritage, displaying unusual travel |
| location, had been the site of the first gold nugget | | | | modes associated with the north, from the |
| discovery and had begun as a small island between | | | | snowshoe to the dogsled to the airplane. Exhibits |
| the Yukon and Klondike Rivers hitherto only occupied | | | | include a Canadian Pacific DC-3 mounted on an |
| by the Han First Nations people, but exploded into | | | | outside pedestal; a full-size riverboat, the |
| Canada’s largest city west of Winnipeg and | | | | “Neecheah,” and a steam locomotive. Inside |
| north of Vancouver with up to 40,000 gold seekers | | | | exhibits include a gasoline-powered Casey car, which |
| covering a ten-mile area along the river banks. | | | | transported workers on the rails; a passenger car |
| Thirty cords of firewood were used to burn shafts | | | | used by the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad; a |
| through the permafrost to the mines themselves. | | | | White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad model train |
| Of the 4,000 who actually discovered gold, only a | | | | layout; a Ryan B-1 Bougham designated “Queen |
| few hundred ultimately emerged “rich.” | | | | of the Yukon,” a sister ship to Lindbergh’s |
| 2. Whitehorse | | | | “Spirit of St. Louis,” which served as the first |
| Whitehorse, the | | | | commercial airplane to have operated in the Yukon |
| Yukon’s wilderness capital on the banks of the | | | | after its purchase from the San Diego factory by |
| Yukon River with a population of 23,000, had itself | | | | Yukon Airways and Exploration, Ltd., in 1927 for |
| been shaped by the gold rush and the transportation | | | | $10,200.00; dog sleds; a 1927 Chevrolet convertible; a |
| means which developed to facilitate it. Named for | | | | five-cylinder Kinner engine; a Lycoming R-680 engine; |
| the rapids on the Yukon River, which resembled the | | | | a 1965 International Travelall ambulance; a welded |
| flowing manes of charging white horses, the area had | | | | steel frame from a Fairchild FC-2W2; a Smith DGA-1 |
| first served as a fishing encampment of the Kwanlin | | | | “Miniplane” homebuild; a bus from the B.Y.N. |
| Dun First Nations people. In 1987, the | | | | Bus Lines; military vehicles, including a |
| tent-comprised Canyon City served as the | | | | seven-passenger Dodge Carryall used by the US |
| operational base of a horse-drawn tramway which, | | | | Army’s Northwest Service Command during |
| for a fee, carried people and goods, particularly gold | | | | construction of the Alcan Highway; and a log rail |
| rushers, round the treacherous White Horse Rapids | | | | tramway which used parallel logs as “tracks.” |
| on log rails. | | | | The Yukon Beringia |
| Three years later, in 1900, | | | | Interpretive Center examines Beringia, a |
| the tracks of the White Pass and Yukon Route | | | | sub-continent of the last Ice Age which had been |
| Railroad reached the city, today the only international | | | | located in the Bering Strait and had encompassed |
| narrow gauge railroad still operating in North America, | | | | Siberia, Alaska, and the Yukon. Although the |
| and passengers transferred to the extensive | | | | remainder of Canada had laid under massive ice |
| riverboat service, which completed the journey to | | | | sheets, Beringia itself had been untouched by glaciers |
| Dawson City by the Yukon River. | | | | because of the 125-meter reduction in sea levels, |
| In 1942, the US Army | | | | producing tundra whose tough, dry grasses had |
| completed the 1,534-mile Alaska Highway in a record | | | | supported a wide range of herbivores and carnivores. |
| eight months, 23 days, and Whitehorse had been | | | | The woolly mammoth, |
| incorporated as a city in 1950. Three years later, it | | | | among them, had been the predecessor to the |
| replaced Dawson as the capital of the Yukon. | | | | modern Asiatic elephant and the museum sports a |
| Whitehorse itself is | | | | full-size cast of the largest example ever recovered. |
| accessible by multiple travel modes. The paved | | | | The short-faced bear, which had been one foot taller |
| Alaska, Haines, and Klondike Highways provide road | | | | than today’s grizzly counterpart, had been the |
| access within the territory and to Alaska, while the | | | | largest, most powerful land carnivore in North |
| gravel Dempster Highway connects Dawson City | | | | America during the last Ice Age. The museum also |
| with Inuvik above the Arctic Circle in the Northwest | | | | features a reconstruction of the 24,000-year-old |
| Territories. The Alaska Marine Highway and multiple, | | | | Bluefish Cave archaeological site. |
| daily cruise ships serve Skagway and Haines, Alaska, | | | | The earliest human |
| during the summer season. The White Pass and | | | | inhabitants, following bison and mammoth herds |
| Yukon Route Railroad connects Skagway with Fraser | | | | 24,000 years ago, had migrated from western |
| and Bennett Lake, British Columbia, with service soon | | | | Beringia to current Canada. |
| to be extended to Whitehorse. And the | | | | 3. Kluane National Park |
| Whitehorse airport offers daily service, via Air North, | | | | One of four contiguous |
| Air Canada Jazz, First Air, and Condor, to Yellowknife, | | | | national and provincial parks, inclusive of the |
| Dawson, Fairbanks, Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, | | | | Yukon’s 21,980 square-kilometer Kluane National |
| and Frankfurt, Germany. Floatplanes provide remote | | | | Park, Alaska’s 52,600 square-kilometer |
| community access. | | | | Wrangell-St. Elias National Park, Alaska’s 13,360 |
| The story of Whitehorse | | | | square-kilometer Glacier Bay National Park, and British |
| can be traced by its many diverse sights and | | | | Columbia’s 9,580 square-kilometer |
| attractions. | | | | Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park, Kluane National |
| The MacBride Museum, for | | | | Park itself is topographically diverse, encompassing |
| instance, toted as “Yukon’s first | | | | massive mountains, valleys, lakes, boreal forests, |
| museum” and housed in a log structure with a | | | | valley glaciers, and ice fields. Of the two mountain |
| sod roof, had been established in 1951 by historian Bill | | | | ranges—the Kluane and Icefield—the latter |
| MacBride in order to explore the Yukon’s | | | | sports Canada’s highest peak, Mount Logan, at |
| history. It features stuffed wildlife in its upper | | | | 19,545 feet. The largest non-polar ice field in the |
| gallery; “Rivers of Gold,” an exhibit depicting | | | | world, a remnant of the last Ice Age, is also located |
| Yukon prospecting and placer mining since 1883, and | | | | here. |
| Yukon’s First Nations people, in its lower gallery; | | | | Of the two types of |
| and early copper mining equipment, blacksmithing, and | | | | populations—human and animal—the former |
| Sam McGee’s original, 1899 cabin in one of two | | | | includes the Southern Tutchone people, who had |
| outside exhibition areas. The other contains | | | | previously lived a nomadic lifestyle, but continue to |
| overland stages used by the White Pass and Yukon | | | | practice a culture which closely revolves round the |
| Route between Whitehorse and Dawson, an 1895 | | | | natural world, and the latter includes grizzly bears, |
| Northwest Mounted Police Patrol cabin, and Engine | | | | lynx, mountain goats, moose, wolves, black bears, |
| number 51, built in 1881 and used on the White Pass | | | | caribou, coyotes, 180 species of birds, and the |
| and Yukon Route Railroad seven years later in 1898. | | | | world’s largest concentration of dall sheep. |
| The Old Log Church | | | | Haines Junction, which is |
| Museum, an Anglican cathedral built in 1900, is one of | | | | located two hours from Whitehorse via the Alaska |
| the oldest buildings in Whitehorse and tells the story | | | | Highway and serves as the national park’s base, |
| of the early Yukon missionaries, including that of the | | | | is a year-round, full-service village whose modern |
| priest who survived a winter expedition by eating his | | | | history began in 1942 with the completion of the |
| own boots for sustenance. | | | | Alaska Highway itself at Milepost 1016. A year later, |
| Perhaps the most popular | | | | a branch road, over the Chilkat Pass, connected it |
| sight, and one which serves as the very city symbol, | | | | with Haines, Alaska, and Kluane National Park had |
| is the S. S. Klondike, a National Historical Site of | | | | been designated a preserve in 1972. |
| Canada. The largest of the 250 sternwheelers to | | | | Its few sights, always |
| have plied the Yukon River at 64 meters long and | | | | flanked by the breathtaking, purple-hued St. Elias |
| 12.5 meters wide, it had been constructed in 1920 by | | | | Mountains, include the Village Monument, a local |
| the British Yukon Navigation Company, a subsidiary of | | | | wildlife sculpture; the eight-sided log St. |
| the White Pass and Yukon Route Railroad, in the city | | | | Christopher'’s Anglican Church; and the Our Lady |
| of Whitehorse itself, and had been an integral part of | | | | of the Way Catholic Church, which had been |
| the inland water transportation system which | | | | constructed in 1954 from an old army Quonset hut |
| connected Whitehorse with the remainder of the | | | | remaining from the Alaska Highway project. |
| territory and hence served as the principle element | | | | The ubiquitous slender, dark |
| of its own growth. | | | | green spruce, encountered during my own tour of |
| The design, which traced its | | | | the national park, lined either side of the deserted |
| lineage as far back as 1866 when the first such | | | | Haines Highway, the vertical ridges of the St. Elias |
| steam-powered riverboat reached Selkirk, the S. S. | | | | Mountains of Kluane National Park on the right side |
| Klondike I, with a 1,362.5-ton gross weight and | | | | hues of purple, chocolate brown, and velvet-green at |
| powered by two 525-hp compound jet-condenser | | | | their bases. The silver surface of Kathleen Lake |
| engines, had featured a revolutionary hull which | | | | reflected between them. |
| enabled it to offer 50 percent more cargo volume | | | | Kluane National Park and the |
| than previous configurations without sacrificing | | | | adjacent Wrangell-St. Elias National monument across |
| shallow draft instability, enabling it to accommodate | | | | the border in the United States had been jointly |
| more than 300-ton loads for the first time, along with | | | | nominated to the UNESCO World Heritage List in |
| 75 first and second class passengers. Of its three | | | | 1979. Together, the properties present an |
| decks, the first, or main, deck housed the engines, | | | | unbroken, pristine natural system, with a rich variety |
| boilers, and cargo; the second the lounge, | | | | of vegetation, patterns, and ecosystems. |
| communications office, dining room, galley, and sun | | | | The first stop of my own |
| deck; and the third the bridge and the crew quarters. | | | | drive revealed a pebble beach, which, acting like a |
| Succeeded by the | | | | threshold, led toward the emerald green water of |
| dimensionally identical Klondike II after the initial vessel | | | | Kathleen Lake, bracketed on either side by tall, silent, |
| ran aground in 1936, itself completing the 460-mile | | | | fragrant spruce, the water itself interfacing with the |
| downstream run from Whitehorse to Dawson in 36 | | | | green-carpeted mountain on the far side in seamless |
| hours with only one or two wood-replenishing stops, | | | | transition, taking the eye up to the brown, |
| it had been operated as a cargo boat between 1937 | | | | vegetationless top, from which a slender “s” |
| and 1952 and had ultimately been converted into a | | | | of snow still snaked, a remainder of the long winter |
| small cruise ship for service until 1955. | | | | and short summer “pause” between the |
| The current dry-docked | | | | next frigid cycle. Since it had been August, that |
| boat appears in its 1930 guise. | | | | beginning had not been very far way in these |
| The Whitehorse Train | | | | northern latitudes. |
| Depot, which replaced the originally constructed, but | | | | The Kokanee salmon, living |
| later fire- consumed structure, reflects the typical | | | | in the fresh water lake for the first three years of |
| western Canadian architecture of the early 20th | | | | its life, swims the short distance to Sockeye Lake in |
| century, although alterations had been made during | | | | the fourth year, at which time it dies. In the 1700s, |
| World War II and during the Alaska Highway | | | | the Lowell Glacier had surged across the Alaska |
| project. After scheduled railway service had been | | | | River, blocking its drainage into the Pacific Ocean and |
| discontinued in 1982, the Yukon government had | | | | thus creating an enormous lake. When the dam |
| purchased the building and restored it, its passenger | | | | suddenly burst in 1856, the waters had been released |
| waiting room now reflecting its 1950s heritage. | | | | in torrential floods, draining the basin. |
| The Whitehorse Waterfront | | | | Kluane National Park sports |
| trolley, using the narrow-gauge White Pass and | | | | both glaciers of ice and rock, the latter formed in |
| Yukon Route Railroad tracks and paralleling the Yukon | | | | cold, alpine environments on mountain slopes. During |
| River with stops at Rotary Peace Park, the Tourist | | | | the last 8,000 years, brittle bedrock shattered into |
| Information Center, the White Pass Train Depot, | | | | fragments by the freezing and thawing action of the |
| Wood Street, Shipyard’s Park and Kishwoot | | | | winter-summer cycle. Lubricated by meltwater and |
| Station, and Spook Creek, provides an excellent | | | | riding a core of glacial ice, a continually accumulating |
| introduction to the city, using a single trolley car, | | | | mass of rock slowly ground its way down the |
| number 531, for its hourly round-trip service. | | | | mountainside, forming rock glaciers. |
| The car itself, in its original | | | | The huge, deep blue of |
| yellow color scheme, had been partially built by the | | | | Dezadeash Lake, encountered at another stop, had |
| J.G. Brill Company of Philadelphia in 1925 for the Lisbon | | | | been surrounded by considerably-distanced |
| Electric Company which subsequently assembled the | | | | mountains, whose soft-curved, inverted bowl-like |
| kit in its Santo Amaro shop. Of the 202 cars | | | | peaks had been reduced to gray and green, almost |
| constructed there, 24 had been of the car 531 type. | | | | indistinguishable silhouettes in the early-afternoon |
| Trolley 531 had operated in | | | | beneath the high, unobstructed, gleaming sun. The |
| Lisbon until 1976, at which time it had been acquired | | | | sky had been a flawless blue. |
| for the Lake Superior Museum of Transportation in | | | | Klukshu Village, dotted with |
| Duluth, Minnesota, where it remained until the Yukon | | | | tiny log cabins and a gift shop, had been an important |
| government had purchased it in 1999. Flatbed truck | | | | place for many Champagne and Aishihik families, |
| transport, through bitter cold and ice, enabled it to | | | | particularly during salmon-spawning season between |
| reach the White Pass and Yukon Route engine | | | | June and September when king, sockeye, and coho |
| restoration shed in Whitehorse on January 6, 2000. | | | | salmon migrate up the river. |
| The double-ended tram car, | | | | 4. Conclusion |
| with controls at either end, has two 25-hp General | | | | The Yukon, with its capital |
| Electric motors and two k.3 controllers, and had been | | | | city of Whitehorse and wilderness Kluane National |
| intended to operate off of overhead electrical lines | | | | Park, indeed provides an interesting journey through |
| with a power pole, but the lack of such facilities in | | | | its Gold Rush legacy and the transportation means |
| Whitehorse necessitated the temporary provision of | | | | which had developed to facilitate it. |
| a trailer-installed electrical generator. The present | | | | |