The White Pass

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Klondike Gold Rush, and Skagway, here's a brief run-through. The gold rush started in 1897 when news of a gold strike in the Klondike reached Seattle and San Francisco in July; within months thousands of people dropped everything, and spent all they had to reach the Klondike. Although there were several overland routes, the main two that the stampeders travelled were the "Chilkoot" and the "White Pass". These trails were treacherous, with freezing temperatures and heavy snowfall, only 30,000 of the original 100,000 who set out for the Klondike actually made it. (Many turned around, and many perished.)


Here's one of my first adventures - Skagway is the gateway of the White Pass Trail, I think around 10,000 stampeders came through here. Imagine this landscape in the dead of winter - when most stampeders made the trip.


History aside, I've had a great time here so far! Meeting some great people and seeing amazing things. Still a lot to explore, though! I took this trip with another trainee, we went up here with a ranger who pretty much gave us a one-on-one program all about the gold rush. Seeing as how my camera malfunctioned the second I stepped off the plane in Juneau, these photos were actually taken by my fellow ranger-in-training, Jaclyn Pace. Enjoy! I'll try to include the history where I know it! (Keep in mind that's what I'm here for, so feel free to just skim through the pictures!)

Well here's view of Skagway as we were leaving town. It's only about 4 by 23 blocks - a pretty small community! The main street is called "Broadway," where most of the historic structures still stand. See the cruise ship in the bay there? This is a slow day... on Tuesdays and Wednesdays the park sees an average of 3 - 5 cruise ships - each with thousands of passengers eager to stretch their legs and explore. That means a lot of business for the Visitor's Center, where I'll be working all summer! Beyond the mountains in the background is the ocean; to the left, or to the north of Skagway, begins the White Pass trail.

A view of the valley where the stampeders made their camps and travelled. Don't let the beauty of these mountains fool you - the river below and surrounding area is rocky, and in the winter slippery and steep, and often muddy, making travel extremely difficult.

The Skagway River below runs through the valley; its source is the water from melted glaciers and snow on the mountains.

The White Pass wasn't just hard for the stampeders... I would say it was even harder for the pack animals that they purchased and used to transport their goods. (They were required by the Canadian North West Mountain Police to have a years worth of food and supplies to continue into Canada - meaning around 2000 lbs to lug more than 30 miles) The horses were often not in the best condition to work or load, anyway (many were on their last leg - bought up by eager stampeders heading north). Men loaded them with hundreds of pounds and drove them through the mountains - if the horses fell, broke their leg, or became useless to the stampeder, they were often left where they fell. So intent were the stampeders to reach their goal quickly, many neglected to put their horses out of their misery, and when they weren't moved off the path, became a part of it. In the valley just to the left of the mountain in the foreground was White Pass City, a temporary tent town used as a stop for weary travelers. Just beyond that was Dead Horse Gulch, where many horses perished in the deep, rocky valley; collapsing from exhaustion into the valley below. We have several accounts from men who swear they witnessed a horse commit suicide by intentionally walking off a cliff - but it may have just been delirious from exhuastion and pain. I think almost 3,800 horses were registered before starting the trail, and an estimated 3,000 died. Jack London has a famous quote describing the conditions: 

"The horses died like mosquitoes in the first frost, and from Skaguay to the Bennett they rotted in heaps. They died at the Rocks, they were poisoned at the Summit, and they starved at the Lakes; they fell off the trail, what there was of it, or they went through it; in the river they drowned under their loads, or were smashed to pieces against the boulders; they snapped their legs in the crevices and broke their backs falling backwards with their packs; in the sloughs they sank from sight or smothered in the slime, and they were disemboweled in the bogs where the corduroy logs turned end up in the mud; men shot them, worked them to death, and when they were gone, went back to the beach and bought more. Some did not bother to shoot them,–stripping the saddles off and the shoes and leaving them where they fell. Their hearts turned to stone–those which did not break–and they became beasts, the men on the Dead Horse Trail."

 A view of the nearby bridge on the Klondike Highway. It's only attached on one side to accommodate earthquakes, the supports on the left hold the bridge up with wires. Before this, many travelers used the railroad that was completed in 1900 that went to Whitehorse in Canada. (The gold rush was over by 1899, so it didn't get much use by stampeders! Today it's a scenic railway.)

 Thanks to Jaclyn Pace for letting me use her pictures! :)