When my wife and I just stepped off a luxury crusie ship in Skagway Alaska, we were excited to be revisiting some her family’s history. In 1897 her grandfather Jim and her terrific uncle Albert, joined almost 100, 000 gold-rush prospectors who have been going to the Klondike looking for gold. They were among the 30, 000 or which means that prospectors who actually reached the Yukon. The journey was longer and arduous and they walked most of the way as their pack horse was used to carry their supplies. The Canadian Northwest Mounted Police insisted that every Klondiker must bring a year worth of supplies with each other before they were allowed to venture to the Yukon. There were two routes in the mountains to Whitehorse to the Yukon River: The first route was the Chilkoot Pass trail which was too steep for load up animals. Klondikers had to period their supplies and leapfrog into carry their year’s worth of supplies in the steep icy trail. Many prospectors abandoned their own quest here or perished in the extremely cold weather. Jim and Albert find the second route called this White Pass Trail, which climbed to almost 3, 000 feet in elevation out of Skagway and was in the same way steep and treacherous, but could accommodate pack mounts. This information was involving doubtful value as over 3, 000 pack animals were killed on this trail which was nicknamed “dead horse trail”. Jim and Albert lost their packhorse in the climb but eventually meant it was to Bennett Lake with the supplies. They rafted off the Lake and on to the Yukon River even though undergoing many difficulties together with adventures, but reached Whitehorse and Dawson City and this goldfields. Unfortunately most of the gold claims had ended up staked by locals and early prospectors and they ended up working as miners for the next two years until on the list of earned enough money to return home. The fact they survived the extreme cold and harsh conditions was a tribute to their strength and indomitable spirits. Although they didn’t bring home any gold, they brought home a lifetime of stories to pass onto their grandchildren.

After we toured historic Skagway we then embarked to the most fantastic train ride of our lives – The White-colored Pass and Yukon Method or WP&YR. We booked an for hours excursion to Bennett Station British Columbia. The rail cars were authentic 1900 parlor cars or changed into look authentic and we joined our luxury crusie ship passengers on a wonderful narrated tour back up history. The scenery was incredible also, you had to marvel at the engineering prowess of the railroad builders because they constructed tunnels, switchbacks and hanging trestles in the steep mountain pass. The slow journey in the mountain gave us ample possibility to view the steep together with treacherous White Pass trl that Jim and Albert possessed climbed. We saw skeleton horse heads to the trail but whether we were looking at of 1897 vintage or have been placed there by the local tourist board is not to do to say. We eventually reached Bennett Station where we had a box lunch and were given a guided tour just before making the return process to Skagway. It was an unbelievable journey which prompted me to do somewhat more research on the WP&YR and its links to the Klondike silver rush.
The WP&YR is a narrow, 3-foot gauge railway that connected the port of Skagway Alaska together with Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon. It is the most heavily used tourist railroad in existence today and carries over 400, 000 passengers on a yearly basis during the May till October season. The railroad is isolated not connected to any other system. The original line was over 110 miles in length but the most commonly used section today is the main 40 miles between Skagway together with Bennett Station, although plans are to add some excursions to Carcross, Yukon. Originally the intention was to link Skagway at the northernmost end of the medial Passage to the gold mining districts of the Klondike. British investment was secured and construction was were only available in 1898 and finished with July 1900. Three companies managed the railroad termed the WP&YR:
- The Pacific & Arctic Railway from Skagway to your British Columbia border in close proximity to White Pass.- The BC-Yukon Railway from White Pass to your BC Yukon border in close proximity to Pennington.- The English Yukon Railroad to Whitehorse.
Traffic to the WP&YR dropped significantly after the gold rush with the severe decline in the population of the Yukon Areas. Tourist trade saved the WP&YR because they began promoting recreational travel off the steamships that stopped with Skagway. The Second World War brought about the necessity to build the Alaska Highway linking Alaska in the Yukon and BC to your lower 48 states. The WP&YR was the best way to move supplies to this highway site. The US Army leased the railroad from 1942 to help 1946 and ran several daily supply trains in that period. After the showdown, increased mining activities in the Yukon maintained the track traffic to 1982. Numerous spur lines were opened and closed to mines in the district. The WP&YR pioneered some of the first transshipment of cans from ships to rail in the post-war period. In 1982 extremely frustrated metal prices forced this mines to close along with the railroad shut down with October, 1982. However by 1988 increased luxury crusie ship traffic to Skagway encouraged the WP&YR to reopen with 1988 and traffic has increased on a yearly basis.
The WP&YR rolling stock is made of approximately 20 diesel-electric train locomotives, 2 steam engines together with 70 antique and synthetic version parlor car type motor coachs. 11 diesel-electric locomotives are generally ALCO 251A’s built just by GE between 1954 together with 1966, and 9 are generally ALCO 251D’s built just by ALCO between 1969 together with 1982. The two steam train locomotives are Engine #73 the industry fully restored 1947 Baldwin 2-8-2 Mikado school unit and recently rebuilt Engine #69 the industry Baldwin 2-8-0 steam train locomotive originally built for WP&YR with 1907. The parlor cars are generally antique or replicas of antique coaches through an average age of 50 years and with an average of approximately 40 seats for each carriage. The parlor cars are named after lakes and rivers in Alaska, Yukon and BC along with the oldest car is Lake Emerald which was built in 1883.
The future of the WP&YR railroad looks promising while using the continued increase in luxury crusie ship traffic visiting Skagway. I urge all readers to visit Skagway and travel on one of the most scenic and historic train routes functioning today. 

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